HYB: germination observations
iris@hort.net
  • Subject: HYB: germination observations
  • From: L* M* <l*@lock-net.com>
  • Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2011 07:13:47 -0500
No controls for comparison, but thought some of you might be interested in casual observations of germination from this year's experiment.
In the past, I've started chilling by putting fresh, partially split pods in loosely folded baggies in the fridge as they ripen, then shelling them and burrito'ing them whenever I get around to it. I've been potting up seeds as they sprout in the fridge until it looks like no more are going to sprout (i.e., several weeks with no more sprouts), then potting the remainder, putting them outside for the rest of the winter.
This year I wasn't able to do that, so shelled and dried all seeds as the pods started to split. None were pre-soaked, they all were burrito'd in very slightly damp paper towels in baggies in the fridge at ~40oF until the first few seeds started to sprout after about 2 months. All seeds were then potted and put on the sunporch in mid December.
Thanks to the fairly uniformly cold & snowy (overcast) winter this year, the unheated sunporch has provided almost continuous chilling, days a little warmer than nights, but until this past week, only a day or two when it's gotten much above 60oF out there.
There have been three "waves" of sprouts showing above ground - the first started about two weeks after seeds were potted, lasted about a week. The second started about 3 weeks after the start of the first wave. The third started about a week after the second wave finished, and coincided with temperatures hitting close to 80oF on the sunporch a few times before I remembered to open the door to cool things off a bit on the porch (and warm the house up!). On those days, room temperatures probably were in the 50s at night, weren't above 80 for more than an hour or so.
Until this past warm spell, there were two crosses that had not sprouted. Both were either F1 or F2 from late blooming parents. These pots now have sprouts barely starting to show above ground.
A few pots that had most seeds sprout earlier have had one or two additional sprouts come up in the recent warm spell - no obvious relationship between bloom timing of parents with these. Some crosses had one grandparent that was a late bloomer, some had none.
Too few samples, and no controls, but it does look like the later bloomers sprouted at (required?) warmer temperatures than earlier ones.
First wave seedlings are now about 4 inches tall, 2nd wave 1 to 2 inches tall, 3rd wave <1/4 inch. 

For what it's worth.

Linda Mann east TN USA zone 7

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