My 2015 seed growing "blog"

AKA Kangaroo Paw - worth growing just for the name! I only know that as I just Googled it! Great thread. I'm picking up lots of tips.

 

me too......

 

You've missed the Marigolds off haven't you Longk

 

This is what I'm aiming for..............

Whilst I make all the mistakes!

 

Ipomea alba was soaked for 36 hours before potting the seed. Germination started after a week in the heated prop.


The seed of this species is tan in colour, about the size of a five pence piece and very hard.

 

Leucaena leucocephala was also soaked for 36 hours but started germinating in just a couple of days over the fireplace. This photo shows all stages after the soak.............

 

From left to right;
Nepalese Impatiens species (from @Jenny namaste ), Lepechnia bella and Salvia algeriensis...........


The Impatiens germinated really well on cotton wool but the roots very quickly wormed their way in and I lost several when I lifted them.
As you can see the Salvia is not growing well under lights.
All of these germinated in a couple of weeks at the cooler end of the fireplace. The Salvia was old seed (2008) which came from @PeterS .

 

I have tried germinating seeds in a soil-less medium in the past.
But found that potting them up into soil was always touch and go. Had varied success.

 

Yes, it is about experimenting.
With very fine seed for example I quite often leave them in the pot until they're 2, 3 or 4cm tall. I then empty the pot and move the rootball up and down in a bowl of water to free the roots up whilst I tease the seedlings apart to pot up.

 

What a fantastic thread thanks longk! I've only just found it and have read avidly from the first post. So much info and so many ideas. Very inspiring.
I've tried the paper towel in a baggy method with little success. Reading this I'll change to cotton wool, pay more attention to exact temperature, including the possibility of cooler nights, and be more patient.

 

I have a few of these at work so I keep one at home - infrared thermometer...............


The Anigozanthos is a good example of the difference that temperature variation can make.

 

Excellent thread LongK - and thanks for the tag - I wouldn't have seen it otherwise.

What a wonderful selection of seeds - I would love to know how they all get on. I am the opposite this year - growing very few things - I just don't have anywhere to put them when they have germinated and grown up a bit. All those things I grew in the past are getting bigger and leaving me no space.

This year, I have some seeds that need 20 to 22 C to germinate but also Tacca that needs 30C. I have had this problem in the past and not really found a cure. But this year I realised that there was a simple solution:-

In a heated propagator you have heating coils in the base then you put a pot on top with a couple of inches of compost and sow the seeds just below the surface. I then have a temperature probe that I push into the top of the pot that controls the temperature at 23C. However the temperature is not uniform throughout the propagator. Its very hot at the base, but compost is an insulator and the greater the depth of compost the cooler the top layer will be. It the temperature with about 2 inches of insulator is 23C, it stands to reason that if you use less insulator (ie compost) the surface temperature will be higher. So I put my Tacca seeds on a very small amount of compost in a closed container, on the propagator floor, with another temperature probe. The probe read 45C - so I just added layers of newspaper under the shallow container until the temperature was reduced to 30C. So I now have seeds at 23C and 30C in the same propagator.

 

@PeterS - a simple solution when you stop and think about it. Is your heated prop on a timer?

Keep watching! There are so many more to add
Tonight I bagged up Kniphofia triangularis and Xerophyllum tenax.

 

Update on the Strongylodon siderospermeum. It continues to swell and the seed case is cracking open all over (please forgive my curry stained fingers )................






Temperature when I came in was 20.8°c, now 35.6°c.

 

They are big! I thought they were cannonballs when I saw the first picture.