Surfinia Seeds (lack of......)

Hi harry,i received an email so i thought i had commented on here till i seen it was from 2005 ,i didnt join till 2010 so no idea why i was emailed
Also i know nothing about petunias x

 

I found the reason

 

Thanks jools, I thought I was going mad.

 

Viable to over-winter some, for next year's cuttings, do you think?

 

I'm not sure, I find that they go flowering mental after a certain point, so good cutting material can be impossible to find in late summer.
But, in spring if kept potted on vegetative growth is more common, which makes decent cuttings.
Not sure how the nurseries do it, could be micro propagation?

 

You got a ghost post Joolz !

 

I tell you harry your right!,it dont exist in my content as well as back paging on google I had to search your name to find this thread Are you real harry or am i talking to a spirit so to speak

 

That's what I read. Doubt they could produce them in the numbers they do by just striking cuttings?

 

Does the plant also have a copyright or a patent? also done a mini
search and if I understood it correctly this could last up to 20 years?

 

Yup. Only applies to propagating plants to sell though, so propagating them for yourself is OK (although there are some exceptions - such as if you charge a fee to people visiting your garden I think?)

 

No I always look this frightening Joolz

 

Interesting thread - although ancient.

I've been looking for some Surfinia Hot Pink - to combine with my lobelia in a hanging basket. Not my idea - I saw them in a gardening magazine and they looked quite wonderful.

I saw some Surfinia Hot Pink for sale in a local farm store/coffee shop this morning - £1.40 each - not plugs but fairly large established plants.

Question is - how do I propagate Surfinia? I'd like to build up a stock for next year if possible.

The bottom of the plant label says 'protected by Plant Breeders Rights and Trademark' - which I assume is why they are fairly expensive and difficult to get hold of/in demand - we're copyrighting nature now .

 

When I used to be able to afford warmth over winter [1], I would take Surfina cuttings when my hanging baskets were starting to look past their best (+ Fuscias, trailing Pelargoniums, Bidens, Helichrysum, etc.) and would get around a 50% success rate with the Surfinas, I seem to recall that one problem was they could be 'blind' and there was a bit of a knack identifying viable cuttings.

Never managed to save any seeds.

[1] But that was before the days of affordable growlights, so it just might be possible to overwinter Surfina cuttings indoors under inexpensive to run led lights.

 

You can take a few cuttings now, but it tends to stop your mother plant flowering quite so early.
Just look for stuff without flower buds.