United States
My frittalaria has bloomed for many years. this year it produced 2 pods. I let them dry and collected many seeds. I would love to propagate them. Can you give me a way to succesfully germinate and grow them?
- 8 Jul, 2010
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Two seed heads from a Fritillaria will produce a lot of seeds, Guest. Inspect the seeds and select the ones with a definite 'eye' in the centre of the seed. You will need some soil based seed compost to which you should add a similar amount of fine grit or sharp sand. Fill a plant pot to just below the rim with the compost and sow your seeds. Then cover the seeds with more of the grit. Label the pot, plunge it in water until the grit shows that it is wet and then place in a shady corner. Don't let the compost dry out but don't over water. Next spring, or maybe the spring after small shoots should start to appear. Don't do anything yet; leave the immature bulbs in this pot for a couple more years until they are getting big and strong. During this time give them regular feeds of liquid tomato feed. When they are producing proper looking plants, wait until they have died back in August time and then, finally, unpot your bulbs. You can replant your harvest into individual pots to grow to flowering size or plant them directly into the garden.
Yes, it does take a long time to grow a bulb, but it is worth the wait.
8 Jul, 2010