6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
Maureen,
I start Lantana from seeds and from cuttings every spring. If you are growing Lantana camara, you will have plenty of flowers this year, but you probably want to start early so you won't have to wait until late July or August for bloom.
Germination is variable. They can sprout in just a few days, but can take 3 weeks. Try soaking the seeds in warm water for several hours before planting to speed things up. Once they germinate they grow fast and can quickly fill a pot, so when you pot them on, give them some room.
Happy Spring! Alana
This was what a search came up with
Zones 4-9. Native from the central states of the USA. Surface sow the seeds, light needed for best germination.
I usually start it now. Under floresantlights and warm.
It helps to sprinkle a liitle vermiculite on surface for sowing the seeds. Isn't a perennial for me though.
Hope this helps. Boop
I do use the Excel spreadsheet (see my earlier post in this thread), but the actual seeds I keep in a shoebox with alpha dividers I made by cutting up large index cards. I want to be able to find the actual seeds fairly quickly, but the spreadsheet gives me the data I need (year, name, source, how planted, etc.).
I plan to use some TP rolls this year, too. I am going to fill each TP roll with potting mix, stand them on end in shoeboxes, and plant Parsnip seeds in them. Then in summer I will plant the TP roll/parsnips directly into the garden. (Parsnips are tricky to grow here because of our short summers).
I don't know for sure if it will work, but it's worth a try.
In the past, I've put a folded up newspaper over the ones who needed darkness. Some years I figure that darkness is acheived by being under the soil, so I don't worry. Most of my seedlings have been up for a couple of weeks and under lights. I still wake up in the am and see someone else has germinated over night in the dark and cooler temp.
Good luck!
My fixture at Lowes was $39.00!! There was one for $35.00, but it was only T12, and I figured that if I was already spending over $30.00 I might as well go with the more power saving one and won't be told in 5 years that you can't find the bulbs anymore!!
Anyway, it is nice to see someone having so much fun with their fixtures, and perhaps a little more in love with there plants then I am, my family likes to make me out as a real weirdo!! Like the attention I give my plants and the # I grow is really a very strange thing. Oh well. To each his own!
I am bad..I don;t really thin... I pot em up and whomever makes it makes it. but I pot up 2-3 times so they get handled lots.
I gave up on thinning after the cat knocked over 2 trays one I HAD thinned and one TO be thinned.. The one I had thined was a loss.
If a seedling can survive me and the 2 cats and 4 kids it stays.
It was a sad day for me too. I went to turn off my plants in the basement this morning, and discovered a tray knocked over. Either the cat or my son did it (I sent him down to turn on the lights the night before). Anyway, I lost about 10 plants out of 50 in that tray. Very sad.
I totally understand the comment about not thining, a few of them that I lost, I had just pricked out the smaller the day before, perhaps they would have survived!!
Here you go. Check out the FAQ's there on which seeds require any special treatment. Gourd seeds don't - just dry storage.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Saving Forum
pippajg, Gomphocarpus can take 7 days or so to germinate with a little bottom heat. If she is having trouble growing from seeds, it is easy to grow from cuttings or by wintering over a plant indoors or in the greenhouse. It is important to wait until the seed pods are mature before harvesting.
If she thinks the problem is with the viability of the seeds, email me and I will send her some of mine. It is a great Monarch plant.
You can start them now if using a hoop house. I have mine going now and they will go to the garden the 15th of March. Cole crops are quite cold (not freeze) tolerant and won't tolerate the heat and comes far too soon. Just don't let them get too far along before transplanting them to their final place or they won't head up.
Dave
Ok Dave, then that is what the book I have been reading refers to as buttons.. I think I am going to wish I had built my hoophouse larger..lol