[Pepetuna]

Kia ora

I’ve had several people tell me they have difficulty germinating milkweed seed, both Asclepias curassavica and Gomphocarpus spp. I have found a very helpful guide to growing these here http://www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/prop.htm. It seems that Gomphocarpus may need "vernalisation" i.e. putting in the fridge for a few weeks, then growing in a warmed seed tray, but according to these notes, A. curassavica doesn’t. Germination of A. curassavica is apparently improved by soaking in warmed water overnight before planting. But don’t take my word for it – I wasn’t completely successful last year, especially with the Gomphocarpus, so that’s why I was looking up the culture notes.

[arpitkakkar1]

hii marry, I heard about a technique, if you don’t germinate seed till now than you can try it. the technique is specially develop for germinate seeds. you can try with germination chamber to develop seeds of milk weed plants.

[Darren]

I’m glad it helped MaryL.

Actually I might need to redo that page, as I just bought a packet of “Jiffy-7” pellets from a nearby large red shop and noticed they looked a lot smaller than they used to. I weighed them them and sure enough, instead of 7g dry weight these were only about 5g. The amount of water they would absorb was also much lower.

[MaryL]

Hi Darren ,I followed your advice on planting seeds in the jiffy pots I just sat them on my Kitchen floor in there icecream containers while I was away in Auckland for 3 weeks and a week after I arrived back home they were all up 24 in all I did have these seeds in the fridge for some time before planting. I was so excited as it is the first time I have planted swan plant seed. I have now put a whole lot more out in the garden to see how they go and I have also planted more seed in a pot inside that wasn’t put in the fridge to see what happens with them Thankyou for all your advice

[Darren]

Glad it helped! 🙂

btw, the photo of the egg carton on that page is part of an experiment on seed viability I was doing at the time. Briefly I compared seeds that had gone cocoa brown and had their pod open naturally to pale green seeds that had been collected from a pod that was developing a brown tint but hadn’t opened. The brown seeds germinated about 2 days earlier that the green, but the total germination rates were very similar for both types. A note of caution however, every third cell working from the top left was a green seed that had been stored for six months, and as you can see from the photo the germination rate was zero. So my preliminary results are that green seeds are ok for immediate planting but not for storing. I am about to repeat the experiment using seed from the same batches to confirm.

[Pepetuna]

Thanks Darren. I put the seeds in the fridge for 3 weeks, and in the last week I have used your set-up (Jiffy 7s in icecream cartons in hotwater cupboard) and so far it’s been incredibly successful! Best results I have ever had. About 90% germination so far, but may prove to be even higher…they are still coming up. Your guide is very clear.

[Darren]

see also
https://www.monarch.org.nz/forum/topic/seed-germination

This is my setup, which works very well for me
http://dgedye.wordpress.com/a-beginners-guide-to-butterfly-gardening/a-beginners-guide-to-germinating-seeds/

[Author]

Replies