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Re:starting pelargonium species seeds

Greetings from Sweden!

Hi Diana,

First of all you need to separate the Pelargonium species into two
categories, Wintergrowers and Summergrowers, they come from Winter rainfall
areas and Summer rainfall areas respectively in South Africa.....well, not
all species Pelargonium come from South Africa, but the majority does.....
So...you sow the Summer rain fall Pelargoniums now....in a draining
seedmix...they dislike being sown in a purely peatbased mix as this often
tends to retain too much moisture.....most species are xerophytic in
Nature.
Also you might improve germination by an overnight soaking, but I don't and
manage fine anyway.
You will need to keep the temperatures fairly low..around 20 C or about 70
F....not more as this will inhibit germination. And they aren't too fond of
humidity either...so I try to keep mine cool and moist though not
humid..;-) best I can.
I also remove the parachutes as they might get tangled in each other., and
as they react to moisture they might pull each other out of the soil. They
are meant to corkscrew the seed into the ground when it rains....and it
doesn't do that everyday where they come from :-)

If you sow the Wintergrowers now, they'll germinate and will just go
dormant, and you are faced with the task of keeping tiny tiny dormant
plants alive over Summer, so, it is better to store the seeds and sow them
in September. Also something nice to look forward to. Or you can sow them
in January, to make them grow a bit larger before dormancy.

Good Luck!

Ingrid ( grey, cold and just where did Spring go?)
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