Re: Pods/Seeds?

Johnette

I live in a similar climate.

One of our local ladies plants her seed as soon as she harvests it and keeps
it moist. Says she gets good germination. I travel a lot esp in autumn and
my husband doesn't remember to water my seeds pots daily during our very hot
summers and autumns.

I dry my seed, soak then refrigerate for 3 months. So I take the seeds that
have been drying in the envelopes, record the cross , the tie up the seeds
in stockings with the tag. Make sure up make the tie-off between different
crosses nice and tight so they don't accidently mix. I then hang the seeds
in the toilet cistern for 3-5 days to wash off any germination inhibitors.
I then take each cross and wrap it up burrito-like in a paper towel. These
are stacked in a plastic container which has spagmum on the bottom to soak
up any extra moisture but not let them dry out completely. After about 3
months at the bottom of the fridge they are starting to spout, so I plant
them out in pots. By this time it weather is starting to cool down, but I
still water daily unless we are getting regular rain. I try to keep them
somewhere that will get fairly cold. By this time I have quite a lot of
early germination and will get a second round over winter. I usually don't
get a chance to plant out the bigger seedlings in early spring, so if that
is the case I leave it til autumn - early winter to plant out all the
seedlings. I loose too many if I plant out over summer in our hot dry
climate.
When I plant out I take the remaining potting mix and dump that in a little
pile at the end of each cross, because there is often a further round of
germination in that second winter. We use germination inhiditor (Ronstar)
around the seedlings after transplanting so I'm careful not to let any get
on the little piles of potting mix. Apparently very young seedlings don't
like Ronstar so don't use it if you are planting out a few months after
germination.
I do about 200 hundred crosses a year and this is the system that has worked
best for me so far. If I could ensure they would be watered properly over
summer I would prob try planting the seed green. Problem is they only have
to seriously dry out once at that time of year and you've lost everything
that is already geminating.

Have fun, experiment, and remember everyone does things a bit differently.

Regarding plants, if your not getting serious snow, plant the irises in the
garden as soon as you get them, otherwise put them in pots, not the fridge.
We do our main transplanting in autumn and early winter. Remember what works
in the cold snowy climates with a humid summer isn't necessarily what works
in places with mild winters and hot dry summers and vice versa.

Colleen Modra
Adelaide Hills AUST
zone 8/9

colleen@impressiveirises.com.au




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Johnette Woods" <vgatling@cnbcom.net>
To: <iris@hort.net>
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 1:20 AM
Subject: Re: [iris] Pods/Seeds?


> Griff et al,
>     Thanks for the advice on drying the seeds.  I typically dry all my
other
> plant seeds in open paper envelopes and so far, it seems to be working
> nicely for the iris seeds also.  Thanks for the tip about soaking the
seeds
> too, I was unaware of that.  But did someone say something about
> refrigerating them too?  Can anyone clarify that for us beginners?  On
> another subject, if I get my order of new irises before I get my ground
> completely prepared, can I store them in the refrigerator without damaging
> the rhizomes?
>     I live about 30 miles south of Dallas, Texas, so I'm not sure what
Zone
> I'm in, think it's Zone 8, so any advice about best time to plant the
seeds
> would be helpful.  Do I put them directly into the ground ( I have very
good
> drainage) or do pots work better for the seedlings? Do I winter the
> seedlings indoors or outdoors? Thanks for all the advice!  I can use all I
> can get.  :) Johnette Woods
>
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