Starting from seed.

Boyce Tankersley btankers@chicagobotanic.org
Tue, 31 Aug 2004 15:02:40 PDT
Hi All:

For those who prefer to grow their geophytes from seed, Cathy Thomas, the plant propagator at Chicago Botanic Garden recently published an article in the Combined Proceedings International Plant Propagators' Society, Volume 53, 2003 pages 593-594, entitled "Decreasing the Production Time of Seed-grown Lilium and Dodecatheon. 

I believe she has successfully used similar techniques for other geophytes grown from seed.

If you send me your fax number (by private email please), I'll fax you a copy of the article.

Boyce Tankersley
btankers@chicagobotanic.org

-----Original Message-----
From: ken@wildlanders.com [mailto:ken@wildlanders.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 2:41 PM
To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [pbs] Starting from seed. Seed collection methods.


For those that grow from seed and now that we are in the middle of seed season, 
I am curious how folks collect their seeds?  Especially those that release seed 
slowly over a long period of time.

I currently use nylon mesh bags. I tie them around seed heads and clumps.  They 
are not elastic so none of the problems with nylon stockings and they will not tear 
like paper bags. They are very fine nylon mesh and will even capture very tiny 
wild onion seeds and they still allow some sun in and natural air movement for 
more natural development of the heads. They are also excellent for drying pods and 
seeds. Rather than trays that take up room, I just tack them to the wall up high - 
give them an occassional quick tap to move the seed around for more even drying. 
I can also roll the tops and clip with a clothes-pin and put them in the dehydrator at 
95F. Air moves through the mesh. A lot less handling of the seeds.

They can also be washed and disinfected though I guess some chemicals may 
dissolve the mesh. I am not certain how much heat they will take but they do ok in my
household clothes dryers.

In any event, I would be interested in other methods folks use. I do have extra bags 
here if folks need them.


Kenneth J. Boettger
ken@wildlanders.com




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