07 January 2008

Springtime

Calochortus bruneaunis
It's not really spring yet -- you can tell by the insane raking light in this early afternoon photo. But I celebrated our first real winter rain with a long night of rendering lard, preserving lemons, and starting this year's seed. I'm trying "the paper towel method" for stratification for the first time; it just seemed easier than trying to sterilize peat. Also, I had kind of a lot of seeds.

The "storm" was negligible here, but we got a nice accumulation of ~3.5 inches, which I figured out no thanks to the NWS, which has apparently abandoned its bay area weather stations. I also learned that we've had 400+ chill hours already this year, twice normal, which explains why my @#*! gas bill is so ridiculous, but not why the 'Double Delight' rose is still blooming when I should be doing its dormant pruning.

*

Anyway, although html tables aren't the best place to keep track of my germination rates, I'm too lazy/stupid to use Excel, so you can stop reading now. Unless you too are a huge dork. All from Northwest Native Seed.

sp.ANsoakstrat.germ.Notes
Calochortus bruneaunisNNS 05-1211/61/7-2/52/3
C. dunniiNNS 04-651/61/7-2/162/15
C. howelliiNNS 05-1361/61/7-3/8y***
C. invenustusNNS 05-1371/61/7-3/8y
C. simulansNNS 05-1551/61/7-1/27~1/26
C. striatusNNS 05-157 (2)1/61/7-1/20~1/18
C. venustusNNS 05-1711/61/7-2/52/3
Dicentra formosa ssp. oregana D*NNS 07-1591/61/7-3/8almost?! 3/8: seed coat split and radicle visible, though not yet emerged
Dicentra formosa ssp. oregana W*NNS 07-159
n/a
n/a[potted up 1/20 because of apparent mold on elaisosomes]
Castilleja applegatei var. pinetorum**NNS 06-1201/71/8-3/8y
Dodecatheon poeticum**NNS 07-1691/71/8-3/8? (too small)
Fritillaria bifloraNNS 05-345 (2)1/71/8-3/8?1
F. eastwoodiaeNNS 07-2501/71/8-3/8 y
Ipomopsis aggregata var. aggregataNNS 07-2771/71/8-3/8 y
Lilium rubescens x L. bolanderiNNS 06-3381/71/8- n
Lupinus microcarpus var. densiflorusNNS 03-4051/71/8-1/17 ~1/14
Penstmon labrosusNNS 05-5481/71/8-2/5 2/3
* half the seeds stored dry, the other half moist and refrigerated (W). W moved to wet paper towel on porch for bright indirect light & diurnal temp var. 1/7

** damp sand in ziplocs; too small for paper towel.

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6 Comments:

Blogger CrisB said...

Hi
It was great to find this blog, I also am experimenting bulbous seeds, and sometimes I feel so alone in this walk. I hope, now I found you, we can learn and talk about our experiments.
I've sown South African and South America seeds, and also some seeds from Portugal and Spain. A big part of them have already germinated, other did not yet.
Kindly
Cris

1/15/2008 9:00 AM  
Blogger lisa said...

Nice assortment you have going there...I like how you tried two different storage methods, too. I like to split up seed packs to try various germination methods and such...too bad I was too social/lazy in high school biolgy, I'd get that damn "A" now for sure!

1/18/2008 1:41 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cris: I wish I read Portuguese better.

Lisa: Actually, it was Ron Ratko, the guy who sold me the seed, who stored it both moist and dry, to see which worked better. Dicentra is apparently very tough to germinate.

1/19/2008 1:01 AM  
Blogger CrisB said...

Hi Mmw, you can try with the translator. In the right top of my blog, you clic there and it translates to you. Of course it's a bad translation, but is something.

Tomorrow I'll sow Rodophialas and Lilium. And my Geissorhiza radians finaly decided to germinate, I'm so happy.
Cris

1/19/2008 5:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

sweet seed data.

3/04/2008 10:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Kind/masochistic of you to read it! I post it here instead of keeping a journal mostly for myself, so I can figure out what I did.

3/05/2008 1:55 PM  

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