Lilium from Seed (my second attempt)

[Dazed_Lily]

As Shakespeare once wrote, "Once more unto the breech.." Last year's efforts did not go well at all. It is possible a few seedlings remain alive but not thanks to anything I did.
The main thing that drives me nuts about starting lilium from seed is soil. And the next thing is damping off. Peat is bad--holds too much water; vermiculite can burn asiatics and on and on. The medium needs to be "light and airy".
Last year I used sphagnum moss as a topper because it was supposed to discourage damping off. Ha ! The moss would look dry but it wasn't dry underneath--baaad idea !
So I am now considering using cactus medium(not that soily Hyponix brand stuff) that is very dry with little shards of rock and I suppose sand. And mixing it with the usual soiless medium-Expert or whatever. The key will be to also have a layer of that cactus medium on the surface. I am hoping that will discourage damping off.
Has anyone else out there gone nuts trying to figure out a medium to start lily seeds in ?
(This would be mainly trumpets and asiatics..don't get me started talking about germinating orientals, or I might have a panic attack -LOL!).

[vicki]

Cathy,
Have you tried mixing your soil mix with perlite?

[Dazed_Lily]

Thanks Vicki !
I mistyped when I said vermiculite burns asiatics; actually, it is perlite. All I was told about vermiculite by a lily grower is that "it can be toxic to certain plants". She indicated that ,'The ideal mix is is bark,pumice and peat.' Now if pumice is related to perlite than the pumice is out as well. She mentioned a local mix called Growers Gold, but since I don't live in the PNW I doubt I'll ever see it here.
I forgot to mention my fear of damping off. Now, Glen of BC did mention that cold plays a part. Point taken.
I am wondering if sprinkling an ever so small amount of sulfur dust or rootone F on the surface would be OK.
:confused:

[Ann B.]

Cathy,

I don't understand about the perlite or the vermiculite thing. I know that I have propagated many scales in vermiculite, and I have grown many bulbs, asiatic, oriental, etc., in a mixture of peat, vermiculite and perlite.

Do a search on Landspro on damping off, and you will find a thread that will help, and yes, it does have to do with cold. I rarely, if ever, have had problems with damping off.

Just make sure that everything is sterile, especially if you have had problems with damping off in the past, and watch out for cold temps.

I am still having difficulty with their comments about vermiculite and perlite. I do believe that something else is going on...

I have dusted the bulb scales with Captan, and that works great.

I don't think I would sprinkle the soil with Rootone F, though. I don't think it would help, but I don't think it would help, just not a good use of the product.

Sulfur, I don't know...

[Ann B.]

Cathy,

How long have you had the lilium seeds?

I suspect that they are like Amaryllis seed and have a limited shelf life. They are thin and would dry up quickly.

Just wondering...

[Dazed_Lily]

Thanks Ann. The seeds I planted last year , early 2004, were from the 2003 crop. I am in the process of purchasing more lily seeds that, OK hold onto your hat, have been frozen. From what I am hearing, unlike DL seeds, lilium seeds can be frozen.

[Dazed_Lily]

Here’s what I did this weekend: I planted an Asiatic Loretto cross; Lilium Regale selfed (I think) and interdivisional seed. This method cannot be used for Orientals! They are a whole other ballgame!
I used Expert potting soil(soiless) placed in 16 oz drinking cups(holes in bottom). Lightly watered the soil—mixed it with a fork. Placed about 7-9 seeds per cup—lightly sprinkled more soilless soil on top—spritzed like mad and placed Saran wrap over the tops. Placed in cool basement. They don’t need sun right now but do need temps around 70 or slightly less. Trying to forget them. When growth appears will place in sun.
Got this method from Joe Halinar-has a site at Cascade Bulb Company.

I noticed in looking at the seeds under light that some looked like they were empty---hmmmm- can lily seeds be ‘candled’ like eggs ? Now, that being asked I think one has to be careful cause I did see a little swirl following the seeds edge that might be the ‘embryo’ but could easily be discarded thinking nothing’s in there. Does anyone have more info on this aspect?

[Rebecca]

I haven't planted Liliums seed, yet, but I can tell you what happened to me when I sowed Hosta seeds in a barren pot of soil that was just sitting around.

Hosta seeds are very similar to Liliums seeds, thin and papery. I didn't think to much about the fact that there really were a good number of "seed cases" as most of them looked empty. Brother, was I ever wrong!

After tossing the seeds into the pot, I gave them a bit of a stir to fluff the soil over them and then I misted the dickens out of them, then promptly forgot about them. Until a week later when I noticed tiny green specks on the soil surface. Okay! They did sprout! So I start to keep the watered, etc and in a couple of weeks I decided to move out all the bigger seedlings. There weren't but a few left, so I moved them around the pot to space them out better. Within days I started seeing even more sprouts, disturbing the soil had brought more seeds closer to the surface. In another couple of weeks the pot was so crowded again that I transplanted every tiny speck of a seedling I could find into jiffy pots. What I had originally thought were perhaps a dozen good seeds has exploded into 49 of the little buggers!

Now if the daylily seeds I've planted over the past 2-3 weeks would just sprout! Last time I looked, I had one tiny green tip poking through the soil. (I didn't pre-soak any of them, so I expect them to be very slow to sprout, but this is really pushing it!)

So, I wouldn't worry about the Liliums seeds, you'll have more sprouts than you'll know what to do with!



Rebecca

[vicki]

I know this is an old thread, but wondered if you had any success Cathy?

I harvested a bunch of seeds off several orientals and would like to know what to do with them. What did you mean a whole different story?

:)