Re: HYB: CULT: On Delayed Germination

In a message dated 12/20/2006 9:58:56 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
flatnflashy@yahoo.com writes:

  I'm frustrated that 06-103 has germinated 13 seeds all of which  failed by 
the third leaf. Naturally it's not a junk cross.


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Well, unless you are doing something wrong in growing them--and I mean that  
only in the nicest sort of way, Christian---maybe it really should be 
considered  a "junk cross." 
 
These communion cups of which you have spoken: Are those the little shot  
glass type of things the dentist uses to serve one mouthwash? Flexible plastic,  
about an ounce, give or take? Something similar? So you are putting a hole in  
the bottom and transplanting into these? I did something similar once for a  
batch of about fifty tectorum. Here is one potential area of trouble.  With 
small pots, especially those grown on heat, it is entirely  possible for the 
soil on the top of the pot to look moist while the soil at the  bottom has dried 
out. Yes, I know this is counterintuitive, but the next time  something croaks 
on you, do a postmorten not only on the seedling, but also on  the soil in 
the pot. Smell it too; sometimes it gets too compacted and fudgy and  sours. 
Seedlings need air at the root as well as moisture, and most of  them want to be 
warm and have some air moving around them.  
 
Likewise, be mindful that it is possible to get a bad batch of potting  soil. 
Lloyd Zurbrigg got one famously bad batch once, and I got a bag this past  
summer that was clearly off; everything I transplanted into it--annual,  
perennial, cutting, was stunted. 
 
I like vermiculite for sowing seeds because even though one has to  
transplant them comparatively soon, there is no problem with waterlogging, or  with 
damping off. No soil means no soil pathogens. And the little plants  just lift 
right out of it with the full root system intact. You must water pots  of 
vermiculite from the bottom, of course, then let them drain. 
 
It seems to me that with any cross that you are highly invested in, it  might 
be well to attempt to germinate only half of your  seed at once. Where nature 
does not provide such a  germination safeguard, you can. Later, you can 
follow nature's way and  sow outside. That has been known to work when elaborate  
artificial procedures fail. 
 
If you eliminate all the places where culture can fail, and they still  die, 
don't angst about it.
 
Cordially,
 
Anner Whitehead
Richmond VA USA Zone 7 

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