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| I am so happy I have finally solved my delphinium seed sowing problem! You see I did wintersow some for the last 2-3 years and managed to get a Magic Fountain Delphinium to sprout & bloom last year. It survived this past horrible winter and grew and bloomed beautifully for me. I wintersowed some Magic Fountain and Pacific Giant seeds this year but no sprouts whatsoever! The PG Delphs were old seed from 2011 and the MF Delphs were from 2013. I kept the seeds in a sterilite box like all my other seeds. I was very disappointed and scoured the internet for any pointers and clues to seed failure. I read on this site and several others that I might be able to break their dormancy if I stuck the seeds in the freezer for a week or two. I then would take them out of the freezer and wrap/fold them into a moist coffee filter or paper towel inside of a Ziploc bag and pop them in the fridge for another week. Nothing happened again. With further research I came to an understanding that my seeds were just too old. I came onto a post on here that Dollar General was having their annual 90% off seed clearance and set off to find all the PG Delphinium seeds I could find! On or about July 20th I sowed the seeds in some organic potting soil in cell packs. I left the cell packs outside on my roofed side porch. I made sure they had no direct sun since it was stated during my research that they need darkness to germinate. I misted the soil every single day. First sprout 08/03/14
I was so happy I danced a little jig!
My conclusions are as follows: I will be transplanting them to pots this weekend and planting them out in a few weeks when the weather cools down. I am not giving up on the old seeds mind you. I will be wintersowing them again in December because I NEVER want to give up on experimenting. Gladys |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by RyseRyse_2004 5 (My Page) on Sat, Aug 23, 14 at 10:24
| I keep delph seeds for years and have good germination every year with Winter Sowing. I do think they need to be kept in the frig and in zip lock baggies. They shouldn't be frozen or allowed to dry out. This is true for almost all seeds. There is no reason why a seed only a year old (that is properly stored) shouldn't sprout. |
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| I have varied results with winter sowing delphiniums. This year I am going to fall sow some for warm, cold, warm. Will also keep seeds in the frig in seed baggies. Thanks to you both for sharing your experiences. |
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| Gladys - your seedlings look great! I really do think the freshness of the seeds is key, or maybe Pacific Giant is a more reliable germinater? I tried an experiment earlier this year when I was starting a packet of PG seeds under lights - split them into 3 groups: room temp, fridge stratify, and frozen. (Of course I didn't write down any of this when I did it, so I can't exactly remember all of the variables.) I think I may have soaked some overnight as well. In any case, I planted 2 or 3 seeds that received each treatment and I ended up with a lot of seedlings...by spring I gave 3 plants away and planted about 10. I can't recall any individual treatment that particularly worked better than another, though I do remember thinking that the room temp seeds had a better germination rate than expected. Here's a pic of a weird little seedling that came up as a fused dicot. Its first true leaf is popping up on the left. |
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- Posted by ladygladys z5b/6a NEPA (My Page) on Sat, Aug 23, 14 at 17:18
| Ryse, should I keep the new seeds I bought in the fridge then? If yes should I take the seeds out of their paper packets and transfer to those tiny seed plastic baggies? Arlene, your seedling is a cutie! Good job on your seed sowing this year! |
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- Posted by carolinaflowerlover 7bNC (My Page) on Sat, Aug 23, 14 at 22:30
| Congrats! I never could get the DG Delphinium seeds to sprout. I will try again next year. :):) |
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| i always try to use fresh seed and seems to have best results but all garden advice should probably have the postscript-this works in my garden. this year for the first time ever i have delphinium volunteers-will be interesting to see the flower quality. these are second year plants from seed. |
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