Re: Echinacea

susannah@cyber-dyne.com wrote:
> 
> At 09:39 AM 7/22/2002 +0100, Anthony Lyman-Dixon wrote:
> 
> > Echinacea is very difficult from seed unless it is absolutely fresh,
> > the
> > only answer is to buy some plants and harvest your own...
> 
> Did you stratify them?  My experience with seed packet seeds, even
> several years old, is that the germination rate is extremely high with
> stratification.  A few seeds -- maybe one out of 100 -- will sprout
> without stratification.  Could it be that ~that~  is the rate that's
> higher when  the seeds are fresh?  I be interested to know -- there
> are occasions when it's a hassle to wait three months.
> -- Susannah

I have to admit that I am not very good with stratification, either the
seeds get displaced in the fridge by bottles of coca cola or forgotten
altogether, or, when left out on the strat bench, get eaten by birds and
mice (in spite of being covered by fine mesh some small animals always
find a way in) Fortunately with Echinacea it doesn't matter provided I
remember not to store the seed. The E angustifolia sown in the cold of
January  this year only yielded two seedlings out of many hundreds of
seeds, and those got eaten by slugs. I should have sown it in September,
I will try and remember next time. It may be worth mentioning that some
years ago, we bought some E tennesseensis from Johnnies in Maine and had
such a brilliant germination that we didn't know what to do with stuff.

Anthony
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