iris seeds
- To: propagation@lorien.mallorn.com
- Subject: iris seeds
- From: A* R* <b*@mars.ark.com>
- Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 01:41:31 -0800
These instructions come straight off the net, courtesy of Coble and Bauer,
Ensata Gardens, who were generous enough to share their method with the
Canadian Iris Society. I apologize for the length, but I followed them to
the letter last year, and got excellent germination. I did Iris siberica,
douglasiana, and graminea. I don't have blooms yet, and things got a bit
mixed up, but it was a successful method.
"We collect our seed pods when ripe and starting to split,
usually early September. The seeds are stored in paper
envelopes-but for no more than a month. Be sure to shell
your seed pods and search for and kill any worms. As
soon as all seeds are collected, the seeds of each cross
should be wrapped in pantyhose material (maybe
cheesecloth would do). These little tied up bundles are
then put in a large bowl and covered with water - a saucer
on top to hold the bundles down. The water should be
drained and changed every day for at least two weeks.
This soaking and rinsing treatment is to remove the seed
germination inhibitor present in the seed or seed coat.
Outdoors, the fall rains and melting snow in winter do the
same thing over a 3 to 4 month period.
After the final rinse the seeds are covered with a 10 %
solution of bleach for 1/2 hour. (10% solution created by
mixing 1 part bleach with 10 parts water) Pour off the
beach solution and rinse quickly with water a couple of
times. Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and secure
with a rubber band (do not seal with an air tight lid) or we
transfer the tied bundles to a plastic bag and secure them
with a twist tie. The bleach treatment is to reduce the
mould population that will want to grow on the wet seeds
during the next stage, which is refrigeration
(stratification).
The wet rinsed bundles in bowl or bag now need to be
refrigerated for 12 to 14 weeks. Fewer than 12 weeks
will find fewer seeds germinating. After the 12 weeks
refrigeration the bowl or bag can be removed to room
temperature (kept closed and moist). Some seeds may
have already germinated in the refrigerator but most will
start after the third day at room temperature. After the
third day, we get more germination if the seeds are
warmed to 90-100 degrees F. for 1/2 to 1 hour each day.
You can set your covered bowl of bundles in another
bowl of hot water and let the seeds gradually warm up
and cool back down. We fill the bowl of bundles with
warm tap water, let sit until room temperature and then
drain off the water until the next heat treatment the
following day.
Tall bearded irises and day lily seeds are handled the same
way through the soaking and refrigeration stages but not
the warm water treatment after refrigeration. Bearded
irises germinate best at 55 degrees F. Once your seeds
start germinating handle them as best fits your needs and
situation. This will depend on the number of seeds that you
are handling, the size of your house and those you share
the house with!
At about the fifth or sixth day at room temperature we
open each bundle and remove the germinated seed to
plastic cups half filled with wet sand and cover with plastic
wrap. (separate cup for each cross) We continue this
every other day for about a week. The ungerminated seed
can then be returned to the refrigerator for a minimum of
two more weeks and then the room temperature heat
treating treatment repeated.
The germinated seed can be potted whenever you want.
The other ideal of this system is that only germinated seed
are planted. No trays of empty cubes from ungerminated
seed. We raise the germinated seed on wet sand in plastic
cups near a window. When we have sufficient number of
seedlings with green shoots about one inch tall we
transplant them with tweezers to seedling trays filled with a
soilless seedling potting mix. The trays are set about six
inches below fluorescent lights; ideally the bulbs are about
1 to 2 inches above the tips of the plants. We use cool
white bulbs and run the light 24 hours a day. We raise the
lights until the plants are 8-10 inches tall. Then we let the
seedlings grow to the lights and start mowing off the tips
every couple of weeks as they grow into the lights. We
fertilize every two weeks with a Miracid solution of one
teaspoon per gallon of water.
Hopefully by mid-May the danger of frost is past and the
seedlings can be hardened off outside for a week in the
shade and gradually moved to full sun. Watch these tender
plants, they will probably need watering every other day
while outside, every day in the sunshine. Line out your
seedlings in good organic rich soil and keep them watered
all summer their first year (and mulched). The next spring
you will have bloom.
Edited from AIS Region 6 Newsletter, January 1995
issue. Also appeared in the July 1995 issue of the CIS
Newsletter. Coble and Bauer run Ensata Gardens in
Michigan state and have introduced many new
varieties of Siberian and Japanese irises. With climatic
conditions nearly identical to what we have here in
most of Canada, their tips/hints on growing iris
seedlings should be very helpful to most of our readers
across Canada.
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