Re: Japanese Iris
- Subject: Re: Japanese Iris
- From: t*@Lanl.GOV (Tom Tadfor Little)
- Date: Mon, 5 Feb 96 14:23:15 MST
Kathy writes about germinating Japanese iris seeds
|I harvest the seed when the pod begins to crack in
|the Fall...storm them in an envelope until Thanksgiving, then soak them in
|water for 15 days
<snip>
|placed in a ziplock bag in the veggie drawer of the fridge for
|10 weeks. After THAT, I germinate the seeds before planting them by taking
|the bag to a sort of warm place, like on top of the refridgerator....I check
|every 2 days or so for signs of life..then plant those in 4" peat pots under
|shop lights (one cool, one warm spectrum).
Just some general comments about germinating iris seeds (all kinds):
The seeds need exposure to cold and wet conditions over several months
before they will germinate. This can usually be achieved by simply
planting them in the ground in the fall and letting nature take its
course. Some types of irises are problem germinators, though--arils
being a classic example. They respond to a more aggressive approach,
like the one Kathy has described. (I haven't ever grown Japanese from
seed, so I'm not sure what the germination rate would be for "natural"
planting.)
An approach very much like the one Kathy describes is used for
germinating arils. A couple decades back, aril enthusiasts got
into embryo culture--surgically removing the embryo from the seed
and growing it a test tube of agar. This was very difficult and
expensive to do properly (sterile conditions and all that), and often
produced weak seedlings that died when planted out in the garden.
Now we do the veggie drawer thing, and get acceptable germination
for an acceptable amount of work.
I've been using natural germination for all my seeds, even the arils.
This is because I don't have much space for them in the house, and
besides I don't have any place to plant the seedlings!!
Tom Tadfor Little tlittle@lanl.gov -or- telp@Rt66.com
technical writer/editor Los Alamos National Laboratory
Visit Telperion Productions on the web at
http://www.rt66.com/~telp/
