HYB: technique - seed germination
- Subject: HYB: technique - seed germination
- From: L* M*
- Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 11:29:27 -0400
Little sprouts coming up like crazy on the most recent batch of seeds.
Best germination ever, by far.
The routine that seems to give results for me, the one I will try again
next year and see if it works as well, is (1) harvest and air dry seeds,
(2) soak seeds in the flusher for 2 weeks, (3) line seeds out diagonally
on a damp paper towel, fold the towel over the seeds, roll it up,
folding the ends, stuff the roll into a foldup plastic sandwich baggie
(or use a dry towel & dunk it in water before bagging it), then stack
them all on end in a jar in the fridge for 3 months, (4) plant in
sand/potting soil mix, 5 seeds per cell in leftover bedding plant 4
paks, seeds covered twice their diameter with the soil mix, and place
outdoors about the time of the last (mid March? or later) unexpected
killing (temps less than mid 20s F) freeze , (5) water twice a day
unless it rains or is below freezing. And I will add (6) now that they
are up - use liquid fertilizer once or twice a week (depending on how
much it rains - more often if it rains a lot).
I think I may have 100% germination in some of my crosses. Unheard of.
Compare that to whatever it was last year - <5%?
Only thing I can figure for the low/delayed germination in previous
yeasrs is erratic moisture and temperatures - I think I remember reading
somewhere that some of these germination inhibitors can be removed by
chill & leaching only to get turned back on by warm temperatures or
drought at the just the wrong moment.
Thanks to everybody, both on this list and in the series of articles
here and there in various iris pubs for helping me find a better way to
get my seedlings off the ground. Too much fussing around if I was still
working, but retirement allows.
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
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