Tecophilaea Violiflora

Hello,
Does anybody ever plant tecophilaea violiflora from seeds ? I live in zone 7B and have some of this plant seeds and not really sure what to do with the seeds. Do these seeds need cold treatement? If they do how cold is the temperature for the cold treatement? Can I sow it outdoor in zone 7B? Thank you.

Unfortunately, I have no personal experience with this genus... but, my goodness, they do look lovely!

"Cold treatment", as studied by Dr. Norm Deno (the god of seed germination theory and practice), can be achieved at 35-40 degrees F. When said treatment is administered indoors, such as in a refrigerator (note: seed must be in a moist medium, not just chucked in the frig in a seed packet), he prescribes a standard 3 month period. I don't know whether your climate provides this, strictly speaking, but regardless, nature tends to be the most effective influence for breaking seed dormancy... needless to say. You could always try some seeds indoors and some outdoors.

Here's a link with more info. The link doesn't provide the full answer, but does imply that warm/moist conditions are not the key to your species.
http://www.actahort.org/members/showpdf?booknrarnr=673_13

This message was edited Sep 21, 2007 2:37 PM

I've met Norm Deno a few times. He's a retired Chemistry Professor from Penn State.
He's got an amazing collection of plants at two properties - a small home lot plus a
creek side property nearby. He's opened his home for the Garden Conservancy Open
Days a few years.

But sorry - no help on the actual purpose of the thread.

Tam

Tammy,
Yeah, I'll bet he does! With all that seed-starting experience, his plant list must be huge and fabulous. On a side note, pretty, well-designed gardens are undeniably lovely, but the kind of garden I most enjoy seeing is one full of plants that I can't even identify, LOL!
Lori

I got this species to germinate in the refrigerator on moist paper toweling in a ziploc bag after 30 days. I am still learning about it because they did not survive the first year. I have another batch going at present time.

Joseph

Hi,
Tecophilaea is a winter growing cormous plant, and is best sown in fall as it germinates at cool temps. Otherwise try planting the seed in a pot and placing it in a ziplock bag in the fridge and remove when it germinates.
I successfully started seed of T. cyanocrocus last year, and grew them under lights in a coolish room, then set the pot outside when temps were warm enough in spring. They died back in May, I think, and are now regrowing (I cleaned off the little corms after they went dormant and replanted in fresh medium in Oct/Nov).
Corms must be kept absolutely dry when dormant in summer.
Good luck!
Ernie

Tecophilaea violiflora and Tecophilaea cyanocrocus proceed from different climates. While T. violiflora is native to an equivalent to a USA zone 9b (minimum Winter temperature -3°C, with only surface frost), T. cyanocrocus is native to the lower Andes Mountains (an equivalent to a USA zone 7?).

I hope this info. helps.

Ursula