Bluebonnet seeds and scarifying
Grizzly
Hello all
I'm going to try and do something crazy and plant wildflower seeds in
parts of my backyard. I've purchased a 1/2 pound of bluebonnets seeds
and I was was ready to start scattering the seeds, but I decided to do
some web searching beforehand to see if there were any suggestions. I
found a couple of people who have recommended "scarifying" the seeds
before planting. Has anyone ever tried this and possible have any
suggestions? Is it necessary?
thanks alot
Grizz
Don Tveter
Yes, to get good results you need to do something to break the coating
on the seed. In the wild seeds have a coating and it may take one, or
two or three or many more years for the coating to wear off naturally.
Its a nice self-preservation mechanism because then there will always
be a lot of seeds in the soil. If bad weather ruins a crop one year
then there
are still a lot for following years. Once the coating wears off the
seed absorbs water, starts swelling up and growing. With a few seeds
you can take a pin and slightly dent the rounder end. Another plan is
to pour boiling water over the seeds (I never tried this). There is
even another plan to wash them in acid. In case you didn't find my
page on Texas bluebonnets:
http://www.dontveter.com/howtogrow/texasbb.html.
Grizzly
Grizz
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Don Tveter, Chicago, Illinois, USDA Zone 5
d...@christianliving.net http://www.dontveter.com
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starz...@webtv.net
take the time and do the scarifying thing. one year and about the only
time in my life i spent any major amount of money on ordering seeds from
a catalogue i had dreams of a special garden for cut flowers of all
sorts. i was determined to be the flower lady on the corner selling
homegrown bouquets on sunday mornings. i planned the choices
diligently. this was before my accident of course... they came in these
expensive gold foil packets. well hardly any sprouted ! i was so
disappointed. and i consider myself to have a green thumb <?> ;) well
i guess it wasn't in the stars for me at the time.. i hope it turns out
beautifully for you. in the mean time i did find a few of those
varities that did indeed grow. one got to the opposite (north) side of
my property completely where i didn't plant them. i have no idea how
they got there. maybe God was telling me i should have planted them in
that area to begin with...
Grizzly
and wondered why nothing happened. I got the seeds from a local fertilizer
store and the seeds came in a brown paper bag with no instructions. I
really appreciate the advice.
As for the daring idea, let's just hope the neighbors think it's okay for me
to not mow my back yard until the end of May! I can just hear the home
owners association now....
Grizz
P.S. I'm sorry to hear about your car accident and subsequent back
surgeries. I hope you heal well.
Gandy Dancer
Molly McCarty
bookmark. Thanks!
Molly
The Hudsons
your bylaws, they may be none too pleased if you make such a radical change
to your lawn. Homeowners associations are often quite sticky over those
things. And, if they do make a stink you still have to live with them as
neighbours...
Dunc
You're already surfing, why not get paid for it! Check out
http://www.alladvantage.com/home.asp?refid=ekw299
Grizzly <gri...@infidel.org> wrote in message
news:38397F58...@infidel.org...
Grizzly
clippings are swept off the sidewalk, they really don't care if I let my grass
grow in the back (we have these 6ft "good neighbor" fences). Plus, I have great
neighbors on either side and I have informed them of the plan - they said go for
it!
Ann
>You can hear the home owner's association now? If I were you I would check
>your bylaws, they may be none too pleased if you make such a radical change
>to your lawn. Homeowners associations are often quite sticky over those
>things. And, if they do make a stink you still have to live with them as
>neighbours...
Thank goodness HOA's aren't everywhere. I wouldn't live in a
neighborhood governed by one on a bet.
--
Ann, Gardening in Zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
********************************
http://www.annzoid.com
Don Tveter
>
> sounds beautiful... i love daring ideas like that. i would definately
> take the time and do the scarifying thing. one year and about the only
> time in my life i spent any major amount of money on ordering seeds from
> a catalogue i had dreams of a special garden for cut flowers of all
> sorts. i was determined to be the flower lady on the corner selling
> homegrown bouquets on sunday mornings. i planned the choices
> diligently. this was before my accident of course... they came in these
> expensive gold foil packets. well hardly any sprouted ! i was so
> disappointed. and i consider myself to have a green thumb <?> ;) well
> i guess it wasn't in the stars for me at the time.. i hope it turns out
Everyone fails a lot. Sometimes the directions are poor and you have
to innovate. Most well-bred seeds tend to sprout the first year because
(I guess) the breeders ended up dealing with the ones with thin shells
that did sprout first. Research the plant to see where it came from
and give it conditions similar to the ones its used to. I try a lot of
things that are native or nearly native to Chicago and often that means
they need cold treatment.
Don Tveter
>
> Nice site, Don!
>
> Gandy
>
Its developing slowly. I just started adding pictures this summer.
The original idea was to produce a self-organizing FAQ for the group.
Let me urge everyone to make their own web pages on whatever they grow,
its not that hard and you have people in the group that will be happy
to help if you have problems.
starz...@webtv.net
a carpet of blue bonnets and daisies in the spring... they usually are
in full bloom right at my birthday. its so beautiful the yellow white
and blueish purple dancing in the breeze...well grizz thanks for the
well wishes not much progress and pooper scoopers on the neighbors ;)
especially if they are neighbors putting all sorts of toxins on their
lawns poisoning us all as its one of my pet peeves... people and their
precious immaculate intoxicated lawns yet i was thinking this morning...
how in the world are you going to scarify a zillion teensy seeds. this
would be a major discouragement to me. have a scarifying party and
invite all your friends with pins and razor blades ? oh dear... there
must be an easier way....
Grizzly
I received a private email that suggested that instead of scarifying the
seeds, I should soak them in water for 24 hours. So, what I'm going to do
is a little semi-controlled experiment. I'm soaking about 80% of the seeds
in water and scarifying the other 20%. I'm going to roughly grid out where
I put the seeds and see what kind of germination I get. I'm really pulling
for the water condition to work. Scarifying just 20% of a half pound bag is
still a formidable task. Those bluebonnet seeds are not very big. Anyone
out there with plenty of free time on their hands (just kidding!).
Grizz
starz...@webtv.net
Grizzly
already soaked about 80% and have completed scarifying the other 20%
(no small feat). I should have thought of a control condition of doing
nothing (the scientist in me is very dissappointed). I may try and get
some more seeds and just scatter them, but since they would come from a
different batch, it wouldn't be a true and fair comparison. I may do it
anyway. I'll let everyone know how it turns out.
Grizz
Victoria wrote:
> It is not only not necessary, it may be detrimental to the germinate
> rate of
> blue bonnet seeds. Do NOT do anything other than plant them in soil
> and water
> them in (initially). The cool temperatures and moist fall and spring
> soils will
> scarify them. Sometimes it can take up to 2 years for those seeds to
> germinate.
> If you see some rosettes on the soil, you know they have germinated.
> They
> prefer not to be planted on totally bare soil, and would like to be
> inter
> planted with other native grasses like little blue stem, big blue stem
> and a
> side oats gramma.
>
> Victoria
>
> On Mon, 22 Nov 1999 06:57:39 -0600, Grizzly <gri...@infidel.org>
> wrote:
>
> >
> >Hello all
> >
> >I'm going to try and do something crazy and plant wildflower seeds in
>
> >parts of my backyard. I've purchased a 1/2 pound of bluebonnets
> seeds
> >and I was was ready to start scattering the seeds, but I decided to
> do
> >some web searching beforehand to see if there were any suggestions.
> I
> >found a couple of people who have recommended "scarifying" the seeds
>
> >before planting. Has anyone ever tried this and possible have any
> >suggestions? Is it necessary?
> >
> >thanks alot
> >
> >Grizz
> >