So I ordered seed today for the Spring... I think I might have gone into sage overload.. here is my nice order.
Nolina texana
Lycium pallidum
Larrea tridenata
Fallugia paradoxa
Ceratoides lanata
Atriplex canescens
Artemisia tridentata
Artemisia ludoviciana
Artemisia filifolia
Artemisia cana
Amorpha fruticosa
Argemone pleiacantha
Ipomoea leptophylla
Penstemon whippleanus
Sorghastrum nutans
Amorpha canescens
Sooo any tips here on getting these to grow from seed? Do they need cold or? ? ? Any tips would be very helpful! I bought them from the Plants of the Southwest Online... There will so many wonderful seeds on there but I stuck to my budget and only bought these...
I am a bad ... one little cold snap and I start looking for Spring seeds...
Sage Crazy...
I can help with these because I've germinted them from seed before but most of what you have is indigenous to your area but there are a few up there that are also indigenous to my area too-
Artemisia ludoviciana
Amorpha fruticosa
Sorghastrum nutans
Amorpha canescens
A. ludoviciana- real teeny tiny seeds so just sprinkle them on top of your medium. I'd probably sow these on damp (not moist) medium in a food storage container with a lid and I'd stick them in the frig for about 30-60 days and then take them out and try to germinate them. I don't think these should be allowed to dry out at all so possibly a double tray method on this. Drill tiny holes in the bottom of the food storage container to allow water from a tray to wick up. I winter sowed mine and they did fine. I might have gotten my hands on older seed because I don't recall my germination rate being all that great on this. Somewhere around 25% maybe? I generally do better than that so I could have screwed something up. Somewhat of an aggressive plant by me but they rip out easily if too much of a good thing becomes too much of a good thing.
S. nutans- this was an easy seed to germinate for me. I've winter sown it but I've also used damp paper towels and wrapped the seed in the towel then placed that bundle in a ziplock and tossed the whole kit and kaboodle in the frig for 3 months then simply placed the seed after it was stratified on top of my medium in a tray to germinate. This is an easy seed to germinate so you could probably go out and broadcast it by hand into the area where you want it to grow right now and let Ma Nature take over.
A. fruticosa and A. canescens can be germinated same as S. nutans. One thing though on the A. canescens, if you don't get germination the first go around... wait for 90 days then cold stratify them again and try to germinated them again. Seems to me I remember having to cold stratify those twice.
One thing, I'm way up north and you're way down south. Much will come into play regarding genotyping on the seed you have. I'd ask the people you bought the seed from how long of a cold stratification period you need. Maybe it's only 30 days for you or maybe you don't need to cold stratify at all. I've seen that happen before with seed based on where it was collected and Drosera anglica comes to mind for me. D. anglica from Hawaii needs no stratification what so ever while D. anglica from Minnesota requires a 4 month cold stratification period.
Have fun! I see you may soon be in need of a 12-step seedaholic recovery program!
thanks - you (from what I have seen here) are the only one tried any of them... One of those things I guess. I am thinking about the rest of them just winter sowing... and seeing what works.
4 out of your entire list isn't the greatest. Wish I had tried to germinate the others but I didn't. I would think that winter sowing all of them would be a great game plan. There are times that I go for the "sink or swim" approach. The only thing you might want to do is try to look up photos of what your species look like after they have germinated. The reason why I mention this is because I have "weeded" out desirable species because I was unfamiliar with what I planted was supposed to look like. I thought I was reducing competition and had actually weeded out what I had sown.
Note taken.. note taken. I am thinking winter sowing will be the way to go... after all they are all natives right so it might take two years but will be worth it.
Some of those may not be double dormancy. You'd have to check each one out individually to find out. I think there's a site out there that helps you check. Perhaps Tom Clothier or something similar? Not every species will appear on that list but many do.
been there and some are there... most not..
Do you have the link to his site? I keep forgetting what it is exactly and can never seem to find the darn thing. Thanks!
http://www.virtualseeds.com/Germination.html - this site is good.
but here is Toms site - http://tomclothier.hort.net/index.html
That's it!
I like the information in the first link very much!
Thanks!
good one right? love those.. I guess I should print them off to use in the garden
I have Penstemon whippleanus--ordinary winter sowed, in "azalea" type pots--6-8 seeds per pot. Minimal moisture. Germinated in less than 30 days.
Mitch, I think that Tom Clothier guy is quite interesting don't you? I like his idea if planting in the pine compost, but I didn't understand what kind of cloth barrier he put on top pf the ground to prevent leaching of nutrients, do you?
No idea - Josephine.. just loving the site and trying to make it work for me here.
I hope to have several of each grow - with at least one for you Josephine so just know you are going to need a little room :-) That being if you want them. I need to Dmail you latter about a few others I just recieved you might like to have a few seeds of too...
A good site that includes what a lot of seedlings look like:
http://www.theseedsite.co.uk/
Another good germination database (click on the germination guide):
http://onrockgarden.com/
I have grown Amorpha canescens native to Isanti County (east central Minnesota). Cold stratified in frig, was all they needed. I may have scarified them, I don't remember. That may be the reason why EQ had to go two "winters" for germination: to break down the seed coat. I know a couple different people who have told me that they were successful with whippleanus with simple winter sowing, but that was winter sowing up here in Minnesota.