Do you remember that I posted about sowing some seeds that I had collected from our indoor cyclamen? That was only last month - you'll never believe it - I didn't - but many of the seeds have already actually germinated.
Since sowing, the pot containing the seeds has been sitting on the windowsill of an upstairs room.
Then I found another seed pod and so more seeds have been sown in the second pot in the background of the photo. I don't know which plant these came from as it had fallen off onto the carpet.
Cyclamen seed capsules contain lots of seed but I had little confidence that many, if any, would germinate and so I popped the whole capsule full in a small pot. I looked at them every day and then one morning I couldn't quite believe my eyes.
Overnight (or maybe, as I check the seedlings each morning, it was over-day) the seeds had germinated like grass. If I had expected such a successful germination rate I'd had sown far more thinly.
Already the seedlings are at various stages of development.
Shortly I'll be faced with the decision of what to do next? No doubt the seedlings will need pricking out but how many (can I restrain myself from pricking them all out)? Where do I keep them? - Will the grow-light have to be employed? What about if the seedlings germinate in the other pot providing me with yet more seedlings of maybe a different colour? What do I do if a different cyclamen develops a temptingly plump seed capsule?
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Lovely decisions to have to make. Congratulations on your cyclamen pups.
ReplyDeleteIt is Liz - why does it always seem to be all or nothing?
DeleteIt looks like you're going to be inundated. They obviously like the conditions in which they're being kept.
ReplyDeleteEspecially if those in the other pot germinate too, Jo
DeleteThis is great news!
ReplyDeleteNow the challenge is to keep some to maturity Tina
DeleteI close my eyes if I have to put not needed seedlings in the compost bins. It is like throwing away your own children after all the effort put in to grow them.
ReplyDeleteIt is a very hard sacrifice to make awpol
DeleteNice to see plants germinating at this time of the year in particular, especially when the weather is so damp and miserable outdoors.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is, Rooko and they are growing fairly quickly
DeleteWhen I worked at Askham Bryan College (a million years ago) they used to sow their cyclamen at a very high density and they used to prick over the trays twice as the germination was very erratic (you don't seem to have that problem!). They moved without check as long as you were careful not to damage the root. With luck your seedlings should give a mature plant by autumn.
ReplyDeleteMy own personal experience is with hardy cyclamen seedlings where I let them complete their first complete year without pricking out and then harvest the tiny corms to grow on either in nursery rows or in small pots
That's sort of what happened with the original seeds that I sowed, Roger. The seeds flowered at the end of the year after an late winter/early spring sowing and this are off to an earlier start as I wanted to sow them fresh. They do seem to grow faster than the hardy varieties.
DeleteThis is amazing!!! Plants will find a way! I find it very hard to compost seedlings too and as a result I end up with far too many. The things I have got stricter with though are the winter veg, anything else I can't bear to throw. I really hope your seedlings continue to thrive :) congratulations on their birth heheeee!!
ReplyDeleteAs long as I don't have to name them all, Anna
DeleteGrow them all...pot them on and then give them away or sell at car boots for people who are going to love and tend to them as much as you do Sue....you really are having a lot of luck with your seedlings of late!
ReplyDeleteKeep them all Sue...pot them up and then give them away or sell at car boot's to people who are going to love and cherish them as much as you.
ReplyDeleteYou really are having some great success with your germination of late!!
Maybe I can Ebay them Tanya :)
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