I received a few seeds in trade,followed the directions to the letter and a month later,I still have no signs of sprouts. Should I give up on them? They're on the top shelf of my light bench/shelf.
Peggy
Lapageria..when to give up
I wouldn't give up yet--I always give things at least a few months. I've heard these can be tricky to start so it's definitely possible they won't come up but it doesn't hurt to give them a bit longer.
Okey dokey
From Thompson-morgan.com:
Sowing Instructions
Use an ericaceous (Lime free) compost and cover seeds with its own depth of compost. Sow immediately. Germination can take 1-3 months. Sometimes the seed will have started to germinate when we despatch it. Examine the seed and if there is any sign of shooting sow in 7.5cm (3in) pots of ericaceous compost, seal in a polythene bag and place in a temperature of 15-18C (60-65F). Remove the bag when well established. If there is no sign of shoots, soak the seed in lukewarm water, sow as described above, seal in a polythene bag and place in the fridge (not freezer).
I sewed them in Volkman Bros african violet potting mix....so there will be lime in it ,I'm just not sure how much.
You should be OK, I'm pretty sure AV potting mix is acidic so it wouldn't have lime.
don't have the bag any more to check.
I never had luck with limited attempts with dried seed of Lapageria, but once got fresh seed in a moist paper towel from Chile, and that germinated easily when put in a ziplock on a new moist paper towel in the fridge. Took quite a while, but it works, then I potted them up when I saw roots emerge. Lapageria likes cold to germinate. They are not fast growing when young, they form a small plant a few inches high, then they sit there until cooler weather, then a new vine emerges and grows longer.
Mature plants are not that hard to grow, just keep shaded (they hate hot sun) and well watered, and they prefer cool temps. My two flowering sized plants came from Sonoma Horticultural Nursery when I was on a visit to California--going against commonly accepted wisdom that they go into shock if barerooted, I washed all the soil off the roots with a hose the day before I was to fly back, packed the roots in moist paper towels in gallon plus ziplocks, coiled up the vines to put into luggage, and repotted them the next day when I got back to NY. They were none the worse for the wear, (it probably helped that this was at the end of summer so the cool Sept weather that they like facilitated reestablishment). They bloom on and off whenever they feel like it, and right now one is doing so in my classroom, where they spend the winter under lights in a large north window. Summer is spent out in the backyard with a some sun but mostly shade from other pots and a large tree. The flowers are awesome, they feel like they are made of wax. Oddly the two plants almost never open flowers at the same time, which frustrates my efforts to set seed, they seem incapable of self seeding on the same clone.
cong,
I received my seeds in a small vile in water w/ pulp still on them. Left them in the vile stored in frig until I was ready to sew then I dumped them out into a tea strainer ,cleaned them then sewed immediately into a lidded container. I put them on top shelf of light bench. It stays bout 70 in here because I'm in here a lot in the winter and I don't like to get over heated.
P
Fruit pulp often inhibits seed germination, so the best plan would have been to wash it off the seed when it arrived then put it in the ziplock on moist paper towel in the fridge till roots form. You could bag up the pot the seeds are in now and put it in the fridge, if the seeds don't germinate soon where you have them.
Good luck!
Ok