6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
It is soil temperature. Your soil will equal your air temperature if given the time. If you keep your house at 68 degrees your soil will be also, at least if kept in the house! Recommended temperatures are usually optimum but you can vary colder or warmer several degrees and still get good germination,it may take a few days longer. Al
since a cold period is not needed to germinate sedum winter sowing would not be recomended. also light is required for germination & the seed could be covered during the winter & delay/prevent germination. Finally germination best if soil temperature during the day is 85F & night time temp 70F can not be achieved outside during the winter.
Have germinated seed from plants that are hybrids & the results have been mixed. some plants were better others worse. only way to tell is grade the plants 1-2 years after germination.
I think if we have a normal winter they should be fine in your unheated greenhouse. They should be hardy to at least Z5 but no, that doesn't necessarily apply to newly germinated seedlings with scanty root systems....but it's an almost balmy 57 here today and I don't see anything frigid in the immediate forecast.
Sometimes seeds surprise us:) I haven't had that happen with eryngium, but I have a pot of newly germinated genista tinctoria I sowed for my neighbor I'll have to hold over winter. The databases suggested very hard seed coat, sulfuric acid or boiling water soak followed by an extended stratification. I did the boiling water soak and had seedlings in three weeks.
Depending on the number of true leaves present, if we were to have something like last Decembers storm forecast, I might be tempted to give them further temporary protection for the duration of the storm...like inside a styrofoam camping cooler.
Thank You Morz8,
Going to do as you suggest. Keep an eye on the weather.
Looks like there are going to be quite a number if they survive. Quite excited. I bought some seeds last year from a supplier (Ms. Whilmot's Ghost and alpinum) only ended up with one of each by the time they where ready to plant out. Put the seed through the scarification requirements, with very poor germination.
I have found with so many of the seeds that I have started that if you can get fresh seed and plant it right away the germination is remarkably better.
The Cyclamen, Erythronium,Helleborus,trillium,dodacatheon,
and many more that I have tried over the years all do better if you have the seed.
Don't mean to ramble, but the trying to start different plants from seed and/or cuttings has always interested me.
I managed to get some Romneya Coulteri started, only a couple from a packet of seeds.
Again, thank you for your info.
Ferns produce spores, not seed, and I don't find a lot of information on this one. Ferns in general:
You must sterilize the growing medium or you will have problems of competition from algae and mosses.
For all species you need to maintain reasonably high humidity. (i.e. sealing pots in plastic bags, or sowing under glass.)
Don't sow the spores too thickly.
Most species need good but not direct light.
Here is a link that might be useful: Moss, Ferns & Cryptogams Forum
I tossed out crimson clover two weeks ago. I did not cover it at all. Mine are mostly done sprouting and have their first leaves. If the soil is easily worked, you should be okay. If it's hard clay, you will probably get spotty germination.
Crimson Clover seems to be doing well actually. Rye is another story. It looks like it DEFINITELY prefers to be covered. All the seed that is sitting on top has roots growing out of it but appears rarely to be actually taking root.
That being said, there is some germination going on (little brown twiggy looking things) but it is no where near the amount as the clover. I'm wondering if the rye seed might be pulling itself in somehow.... seems unlikely with all the seed sitting on top, but when I walk out daily, there just doesn't seem to be as much seed sitting on the surface.
Will just keep checking.
Eddie
the ones planted outsid should survive the winter......
As for the flat best to keep in greenhouse. make sure the soil stays damp all winter & cover with plastic, straw, or leaves to delay evaporation of the water..... but hold off till the seedlings tops are dead......
I winter-sowed Lobelia cardinalis in winter 2008, got many seedlings. Planted some and potted some in small pots. The ones that were planted out were promptly eaten by slugs, because that summer was SO wet, but the potted ones did well over the summer. I finally planted most of those out on November 7th (yes that is pretty late, but I keep detailed records and that's what the spreadsheet says!), leaving about half a dozen in small pots. All the Cardinal flower seedlings did fine over winter 2009 and bloomed well this summer. So, in my experience this is a pretty hardy little plant, tolerating colder and drier conditions than I expected.
This year I noticed that the Cardinal flower in my hummingbird garden has also self-sowed here and there, so there is lots of it for the Hummers next year. :)
When you transfer them to individual pots, try planting them deeply, up to their first set of leaves. They'll probably be ok.
Consider investing in a grow light. That way you won't have to trust the weather. I used to start seedlings using natural light, but I had the same problem you did. If they happened to come up during a bit of cloudy weather they'd get leggy. It's nice to have a grow light for a backup at least. They're not very expensive either.
Warm temps can do that too, or can at least make the legginess worse, but that seems more out of our control than light (unless, I guess, you can put your growlight setup in your air-conditioned house). I have my growlight seed-starting setup in the garage, so there's not much I can do about temperature control, but since most of my seedlings are in there in the fall and winter, it's not that much of a problem.
Plants for a Future Database: Aesculus parviflora - Seed - best sown outdoors or in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe. The seed germinates almost immediately and must be given protection from severe weather. The seed has a very limited viability and must not be allowed to dry out. Stored seed should be soaked for 24 hours prior to sowing and even after this may still not be viable. It is best to sow the seed with its 'scar' downwards. If sowing the seed in a cold frame, pot up the seedlings in early spring and plant them out into their permanent positions in summer.
It's all about temperature. Now that we've dropped here in LA, it's perfect spinach germinating weather. But I never bother anymore because we inevitably get a winter spell of 85+ that wilts the whole crop and I didn't like the NZ stuff. And then there's the issue of heads becoming earwig homes. Maybe if I had a good north facing exposure that was relatively bug-free, but no. Definitely not my favorite LA crop.
I just overplant beets and eat the young leaves instead and focus on lettuce, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. And edible flowers, which we can grow lots of, especially my favorite winter addition - pineapple sage.
kinda damp and barely above freezing. Also, not where you keep your apples.
Here is a link that might be useful: My farm blog
Thanks. I thought it might be the light, but they sprang up so fast that they caught me napping. I've got them in a southwest-facing window that gets very good light all year round, so we'll see what happens.
Don't think I can do the fan yet. Still getting them used to not being in a closed environment.
Light from a window may seem like good light compared to the rest of the light in the house, but compared to "outside" it is weak and all to one side. Also the window glass is a poor insulator and within a few inches of the glass the air temperature is considerably cooler. Al
Have the berries aged long enough (on the plant) that the seeds are mature? Wondering because I checked my neighbors last week and they were not, breaking open the berry showed pale undeveloped seeds, should be yellowish brown when ripe.
Callicarpa- Clean of pulp, surface sow (some light may be beneficial to germination) at 70F for germination in 7-14 days.