need help with germination of yvonnes salvia

16 years ago

Hi, I sowed yvonnes salvia inside in an APS system around feb 14 and so far no germination. About a week ago i put them on a heat mat and still nothing. Ive misted them and continue to keep checking but so far nothing. Any suggestions??

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Comments (5)

rich_dufresne
16 years ago
I don't know what an APS system is, so I can only offer general advice.

Did you sow the seed on the surface of your tray? Have you maintained a 70 to 60 degree temperature? Salvias usually take 5 to 10 days for the early birds to start germinating, and it will take 1-2 weeks more for the rest of the batch to catch up.

If you have any seed left, put it under a magnifying glass and look for whitish mold.
kimsgarden
Original Author
16 years ago
APs is a seed starting setup from gardners supply, same as any other with the added bonus of a capillary mat-I sowed them on the surface-they are in my basement-temps around 65. Should I take it off the heat mat?????Thanks in advance for any advice.
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I grew this salvia in 2007 and it was beautiful. Last year I was in the mist of moving but kept seeds from the plants. I was in a urban area that hadn't seen hummingbirds in a long time and in 2007 they stopped by my home on migration for the fall to spend time with the salvia. It was so cool. This year I have started them from seed and will be very proud to grow them for Yvonne's memory. I am so sorry for the lose. I am sure she is happily watching us all grow them this year and for many years to follow. I can't wait for the hummingbirds to visit my home this year and the salvia. I know they are (hummers) are here from last late summer and fall when I moved in they will love Yvonne's salvia.
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Ladies, I am so sorry that your experience with Yvonne's Salvia has been so unpleasant. This summer, I planned a salvia garden and received seeds of eleven different types of salvia, including Yvonne's, from a very nice gentleman in Ontario. I had only ten seeds of Yvonne's, which I think is a variety of Salvia splendens, and had 100% germiation. Although the plants remained small for a long time, they are now at least 4 feet tall and still in full bloom. They just 'shot up' in August and though the first few blooms were rather puny on the central stalk, they later sent out side shoots from several nodes down the central stalk. All the blooms are now at least 10 inches long, and they are attracting the humming birds, which was my intention. They are growing in a small section of lawn I took over, but they are a worthwhile addition to the garden, providing much needed colour. Perhaps they are just late bloomers this far north. Not all of the salvias were successful, but there are about 4 which had blooms worth seeing, and I hope to collect seeds from them. If I can spare some, I will contact you when my seed collection is done. Northerner.
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I persevered...........and found a whole shoebox of this year's saved seeds! Yvonne's included. Send me your addresses and I will be able to send some seeds. Now I haven't test germinated them or anything at this point. Before I found the box, I even went out and stripped a few blooms the birds had missed, but they have been frozen several times so I didn't know if they would be viable. Dawn, my youngest gd is now 9 so we are past the little teepees....but our first granddaughter (who is now 14) loved the garden and would follow me around and pick flowers. I enjoyed that so much and never had anything she couldn't pick. I still remember my paternal grandmother saying don't touch Grandma's flower! The only thing I had to stop was them chasing the chickens to catch them and "pet" them. I finally told them they wouldn't lay the next day...and they didn't...but did the next. They were amazed by that. . This salvia is a splendens and I have other shorter red ones that do self seed so I am hoping Yvonne's does. This is a wonderful tribute to Yvonne. I found another picture of them before they got full size. They do require full sun...and we had good rains this year. I use no fertilizer or sprays on them.
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rich_dufresne
16 years ago
You will need heat in any case. Are you using some kind of tray or baby flat, with about 1.5 inch of media, like vermiculite or perlite for the roots to go into, or are you using an ink-blotter type of surface and planning on lifting the seedlings when the tap root gets about 1 inch long and setting it in the growing medium?

The latter technique is used in labs to measure the germination rate of seed batches and to start precious seed of hand-pollinated or rare seed. It is usually done on special seed germination test paper that maintains the required dampness with capillary action. Heating this kind of setup requires care, because there is no media to act as both a heat buffer and storage. It is easy to cook the seed since it will be close to the heat source.

I hope I have not confused you. I am not familiar at all with these seed starter setups. Is there a brand and model name I can look up on the Internet?
kimsgarden
Original Author
16 years ago
http://www.gardeners.com/APS+40/APS_Cat,32-572,default,cp.html
I think that should take you to the link of what Im using. It is from gardeners.com (gardeners supply) Its the tray type youre talking about. The system is called aps 40 made by them. Never had a problem germinating too much of anything, but this is really giving me problems.Appreciate your help. I took the top tray off of the capillary mat and put them on the heat mat.Read somehwere here, may have been one of your posts on misting and thats what Ive been doing.Hope that helps explain and thank you for your help. Kim
rich_dufresne
16 years ago
Well, it has the needed distance from the heat source, and it is supposed to supply the correct amount of moisture, so I might check out the seed for mold.

It should be uniform. Some people might mistake the seed base (gynobase) for seed, since it is about the same size, color, and hardness. However, it is highly irregular in shape.

Salvia seeds vary from smooth black to mini-pock marked (tuberculate) matte dark brown with an elliptical shape segueing towards a slightly teardrop shape.

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need help with germination of yvonnes salvia

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need help with germination of yvonnes salvia

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rich_dufresne

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