double seasoning

Rodger Whitlock totototo@telus.net
Sun, 27 Apr 2014 12:05:14 PDT
On 26 Apr 2014, at 8:59, Richard wrote:

> I have some young Erythronium multiscapoideum that sprouted in early January
> in the greenhouse and have died down. If i dry them out for a few weeks then
> put into cold moist conditions for 3 months will they go through another
> growth cycle again?

Sounds like your greenhouse got too warm, forcing your seedlings into premature 
dormancy. In your shoes, I'd move the pot to a shady location outside and just 
let it be. Trying to get another cycle of growth going now would push them into 
having active growth as the summer winds down and things gradually cool off.

Certainly, somebody somewhere has successfully done what you propose, but my 
own belief is that most seed and seedlings do better if exposed to natural 
conditions. (There are exceptions.)

I've stopped sowing heaps of seed, but in the days when I did, the pots would 
go into a coldframe as soon as sown, so they were exposed to the natural cycle 
of warmth and coolth. Western erythroniums germinated well under those 
conditions and entered their first dormancy, if anything, a little late.


-- 
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Z. 7-8, cool Mediterranean climate



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