PCN seedlings in cold zone 5
- Subject: PCN seedlings in cold zone 5
- From: J* B*
- Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 16:29:39 -0500
From: "John Bruce" <jbruce@infinet.com>
In December 1998, I planted nearly 400 PCN seeds. I set the
pots outside in the cold, rain and snow. Last Spring, I had 10 seeds
sprout and grow. I was a little disappointed because I had heard
that PCN seeds germinated readily. The 10 seedlings survived the
hot humid summer in the pots, even growing a bit. I had some room
in the cold frames this past fall, so I just put the pots right back in. My
goal was for some winter hardy PCNs that might survive the summers
as well, so I thought this would be a good test. Very little TLC and let
natural selection do the job.
Well, today it was warm enough to check the cold frames. The frames
were NOT covered with plastic this winter, they simply served to block
the wind. I was amazed to find very robust plants putting on increase,
as well as MANY new sprouts. The temps here have ranged from
15-35 on average at night for the last few weeks, and in January we had
some lows of -15 F to 0F for an extended period. Needless to say, this was
a very pleasant surprise. The seeds were both species and hybrids.
I have no illusions that PCNs will be easy here, or if summer will end the
experiment. Last summer was hot (90F, high humidity) and no seedlings
were lost. Still, this should encourage folks who have always wanted to try
growing PCN to obtain some seed and give them a try.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Bruce jbruce@infinet.com
SW Ohio, USDA Zone 5b, Sunset #35
AIS Region 6, SSI,HIPS,TBIS, SIGNA
President, Miami Valley Iris Society
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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