On Sat, 30 Nov 2002 20:13:38 +0000, Hussein M.
wrote:

On Sat, 30 Nov 2002 12:17:41 GMT, Janet Baraclough
wrote:

The message
from Hussein M. contains these words:

I also suppose that the best time to sow any seed in situ
is that time when the plant seeded to produce the seeds.

Well...no, it isn't, especially in areas which have cold or wet
winters. Autumn-sown open ground seeds usually have far lower
germination and poorer survival rates than the same seeds properly
stored, then planted in the same place in Spring. Seeds in open ground
do better when soil is warming up not cooling down, and when daylength
is lengthening not shortening.

Aha. Thanks for that Janet, all my hardy perennials seeds are indoors
.. and sown just now. But it's a cold frame arrangements.

I'm sure I have made, or am about to make, a big boo boo somewhere
down the line.

You'll learn after a while. Rome wasn't built in a day and
developing that intuitive sense of what works and what doesn't
(aka a green thumb), as regards seed sowing or any other aspect
of avocational horticulture, takes time -- and any number of
humiliatingly abject failures.

Generally speaking, I find that seeds of composites (Asteraceae)
and labiates (Lamiaceae) do better if held back until normal
planting out time in the spring, or maybe a few weeks earlier.
They seem to require warmth for germination, and if sown now,
tend to simply rot away during the long, dark, damp, chilly
winter. [Note that this is not a Rule engraved on a stone tablet;
rather it is simply what I have experienced under my conditions
and preferred practices. YMMV etc.]

On the other hand, cyclamen should be sown as you can. If you
delay, their germination may be delayed a full year, as most
species tend to germinate at the same season as mature plants
leaf out.

On the whole, I prefer the approach of letting the seed germinate
when it will rather than *making* it germinate when I want it to.
This helps avoid the difficulty of trying to over-winter young
seedlings.

You'll also learn tricks like topdressing seed pots with fine
gravel, sprinkling fine seed on top of the top dressing and
drawing it down via capillary action by standing the pot up to
its neck in water, and so on.

A very skilled seed sower here swears by a drench of a good
fungicide such as captan. as making an enormous difference
between success and failure with many seeds.

As for your failures at sowing hardy perennials, dump the
failures out where any chance later germinations can be rescued.
There is one garden on the mountain slope that overlooks
Vancouver, BC, where for years the owners have dumped out
"failed" seed pots on the grassy verge of the street. The most
astonishing assortment of plants has come up as a result.

Just don't tell anyone what failed. Emphasize the successes.

For the record I have a germination success rate somewhere around
60-75% pot-wise; and often if *anything* comes up in a pot, I
o,ften get about 80% germination, seedwise. Of course, there are
wide variations from year to year and pot to pot.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada