the key to cleome....

I have never been able to get cleome to germinate. I've tried about everything I can think of...lol. What are everyone's methods so I can figure out how to get this to work for me?

Thanks, Kim

I am curious, too... I have never been able to get cleome to germinate, but by gosh it sure self seeds freely! Unfortunately the babies aren't nearly as nice as the parents were.

We've been discussing this over in propagation forum. Mine did not self sow when I had a bunch in the ground a couple of years ago, so I took some in trade in the last 4-5 months and sowed them in a flat of peat enclosed in a kitchen trash bag (which is how I normally do all of my seeds). They were sown several weeks ago and popped right up. Our weather has been varying from the 60's through 80's.
Sherry

I'm just getting ready to start my cleome. I didn't have any trouble last year, and really didn't do anything special. I started them inside about 6 weeks early, and they survived transplanting just fine.

Zarebeth is sure right about the self-seeding! Anybody need any?

La

I always tell people the key is to have 1/2 cup of seed and throw it out where you want them to grow. That's how I finally got them...a million seeds in that 1/2 cup and I got about 20-25 plants from it, but I've had their progeny ever since.

Suzy

I know this is an old thread, but this is just the information I was looking for.

Does Cleome need darkness to germinate? Do they like to be really dry?

I am on my second flat from 2 different packets and I can't get even one to come up!

Cleome needs oscillating temperatures. Fresh seed is less productive than 6 months old and 3 year old seed is dead. Needs light too.
See page 41 and 121 of "Seed Germination , Theory and Practice" by Dr. Norman Deno.

I finally had success here by winter sowing!

Thanks CLScott and blue_eyes.

Cleome is one of those I try every year..... even when I buy a 4" pot, they just never do well. I think I don't get quite warm enough. But maybe I'll try some wintersowing. Thanks for the idea! I did a bit of WS this year and loved the results. I would LOVE to have some finally make it, let alone self sow!

Sanna

Boy, they're coming up like weeds for me. Maybe they need to be cooked in summer ;)

I have one sprout! I guess I shold have been a little more patient.

I had almost 100% germination one year by doing the following that I read about somewhere online.

1. Sow them on the surface of moist seeding mix in a small tray, seal tray in ziploc bag and put in fridge for 2 weeks.
2. For one week, pull it out of the fridge during the day and put back in the fridge at night.
3. Then leave out at room temp or warmer in light to germinate.

Once you get them to grow, one flower will produce tons of seed and next year you can just throw a bunch outside where you want them and enough will germinate naturally probably.

Your advise from OhFiddle is very interesting. I'm going to give it a try when I sow my cleome today. I aleady have pansies in the fridge. Makes sense to me.

I have purchased the plants before and they do self seed very readily. I discouraged them year before last as the spot they were growing in needed a make over and I wanted to add a lot of organic material before winter set in so I could start fresh in the Spring with an entirely different set of plants. I pulled them all out along with some other plants and chopped them up and threw them in the compost pile. I did have a very interesting compost pile last year. I have several piles in varying stages and I didn't get to turning this particular pile over till late in the summer. I had lots of cleome all over it. Since I chopped them up and turned the pile before they went to seed I didn't have any last year and I missed them.

I have never had a problem germinating cleome. I start mine around the beginning of march in my greenhouse. Just put them in a pot of soil, keep em damp, and watch em grow. Nothing special. Im surprised to hear they are hard to germinate. In fact, I found a seedling growing in one of my rhipsalis plants...not sure how it got there.

I had my first cleome in pots on my deck and porch (from a six-pack of small plants), and now I can't get rid of them in my garden! Last summer the unexpected second wave of seedlings actually choked out my zinnia seeds in one garden bed. Between the wind and the birds, those doggone seedlings are showing up everywhere. In fact, two summers later I've even got a little patch of them growing in a gravel walkway (they don't seem to need much depth to root successfully). As an experiment in hardiness, I decided to let the ones in the gravel grow for a while instead of weeding them out. I never watered or encouraged them in any way, and they are doing just fine, though they are certainly a bit smaller than the original plants from two summers ago. I understand that climate differences are probably at work somehow, but based on my experiences I simply can't imagine any problems in germination for this aggressive re-seeder.

Well, they sure didn't germinate in my bed - perhaps next spring they will, unless I pull them up, thinking they're weeds....

I first had trouble germinating cleome under controlled conditions. I then read about how easily they self-seed, so I tried to mimic the spring conditions with high daytime and low night temps and sowed them in ProMix in plastic clamshell containers on my south-facing deck in April. They sprouted like crazy!

Some self-seeded the next year, but there wasn't enough time before the frost for most of the pods to ripen and split open.

They sure are worth growing... what an effect for a 250-foot hedge of pink cleome!

*very* nice!

I love it! OhFiddle mentions reading about germinating cleome on what was probably my website (which is now gone). Here is how I do it:

I have learned, through trial and error, that Cleome seeds need a specific kind of cold treatment AND light to germinate. I can achieve near 100% germination rate in 6 days by doing the following:

1 - Moisten seed-starting mix and press it into a flat (container).

2 - With a butter knife, press shallow "trenches" into the mix.

3 - press the seeds into the trenches to make good seed-to-soil contact, but don't cover them, as they need exposure to light.

4 - Put the container into a plastic Zip-Loc bag.

5 - Every 12 hours alternate between refrigerator and plant lights. For example, at 6 pm put the flat into your refrigerator. At 6 am, take it out of the refrigerator and put it under plant lights. Do this for 5 days, and by day 6, most of the seeds will have germinated. So that I don't forget, I use my computer's alarm clock to remind me every 12 hours!

6 - When the seeds have germinated, remove the flat from the plastic bag.

Of course, if you already have Cleome growing in your garden, the easiest method is to just let Nature do it for you!

This message was edited Mar 15, 2014 6:26 PM

Hello...I am so glad to hear how to germinate Cleome's... we live in NH and they are just beautiful. Has anyone had self-germination in our zone?

I will definitely try the refrigerator/light method in the spring...but curious if they will reseed on their own outside. Hate to keep buying plants as the seed pods are numerous on the plants I have.

Liza

When cleome seeds are self-sown directly in the garden from plants the previous season, it helps to understand that the seeds must land on bare soil. If you mulch your garden, you're out of luck.

Secondly, they start off very slow. The seeds are small, so the seedlings are small. Unless you are watching for them, you might miss them and accidentally hoe or till them under. When summer's hot temps finally arrive, they seem to grow to full height overnight.