Green Shiso germination problems - Perilla Frutescens Crispa

Hi there,

I live on the north coast of Brittany, France - so oceanic climate with mild winters and mild summers. I bought a green coloured shiso plant a few years ago and it did well in my garden. My wife and I adored the taste and used it often in our Asian recipes. The plant eventually went to seed and died off but I was delighted when baby shiso plants came up in late spring the following year. I hoped that this cycle would continue but sadly the year following nothing.

No worries I thought to my self, If they self-seed and grow so easily on their own in my garden then all I have to do is buy a packet of seeds. After some scratching around on the web I also discovered that in parts of the USA shiso is invasive and can even grow up between the cracks in the pavement. People complaining that it self-seeds everywhere!

Thoroughly reassured, I bought myself a big pack of green shiso seeds from a supplier here in France and sowed half directly into the garden in autumn hoping to mimic the natural process. The rest I sowed the following spring onto a peat based compost, half the pots covered with a little vermiculite. I soaked the seeds for 24hrs in rain water before sowing. When sowed on they went to the kitchen table in front of the window. Nothing came up! Not in the pots and not in the garden. This year I tried again with new seeds and still nothing. What am I doing wrong? How can a species that is so invasive in other parts of the world, and that self-seeded once in my garden, by so difficult?

I have had much better luck with the bicoloured Perilla frutescens seeds but the taste of the plants leaves is just not the same. Equally, I can get a handful of different Basil varieties to germinate including tropical Thai basil.

 

I noticed this article about growing perilla in the Guardian a few weeks back - might be some help: How to grow the herb shiso perilla

ETA: Alys Fowler's advice is usually reliable in my experience.

 

OK, that's given me some ideas, thanks.

 

Using the bicolored Perilla Frutescens my best results where with soaked seeds, peat based compost, light covering of vermiculite, in a transparent plastic box on the kitchen table in full sun.