Re: SPEC: i. setosa seeds not germinating

Diana Louis wrote:

> I germinated I setosa seeds last year but I put them in the fridge
> with diurnal cycling (in the fridge over night and out of the
> fridge during the day) for 5 weeks before they started germinating.
> The SIGNA seed germinating instructions say a minimum of 3 weeks in
> the fridge is required for any iris seeds.

Diana -

Have been following the thread on sprouting setosa seed, and saw your
reference to "diurnal cycling". I am curious about that procedure.

Do you use it for all seeds you stratify, or just certain ones? Also, is
it a procedure to hasten germination? Is setosa seed considered light
sensitive for germinating purposes? I know there are certain perennials
seeds that require light for germination, and thus are left uncovered,
but this sounds like something a little different.

I've never known the minimum stratifying time required for setosa, as I
always sprout them in one way - I seed them into pots in the fall, and
set them outside all winter to let the weather work on them. They sprout
by themselves come springtime. Your note that they will germinate in 5
weeks is handy - just in case I have to fill in for old man winter
myself sometime!  

Also, a last question - I've read comments many times where people will
say that setosa are among the easiest seed to sprout, and they commonly
have close to 100% germination. Quite often, I will have more than
several seeds in a pot that germinate the second spring, not the first.
I don't know if it is my method which produces this phenomenon, or it is
just a survival technique of the setosa varieties I'm growing - sort of
a "not putting all one's eggs in one season's basket" so to speak. What
sort of germination rates are you getting with your method?

Kathy Haggstrom
Anch AK/ Zone 3
hagg@alaska.net
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index