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Dear Auntie G |
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Dear Auntie G, I purchased 10 packets of BCSS cactus seed this year and not one has germinated after several months. I gave them ideal conditions to grow, what has gone wrong? Frustrated Dear Frustrated Is that your real name? Well now, this is a difficult question. Firstly, don’t blame our Jeff, (the seed distributor). BCSS seed is bought in from a variety of sources, Jeff just distributes it. Regarding the seeds, some kinds are notorious for difficulty in germinating. (These are often from the more extreme deserts: seeds of Tephrocactus, Sclerocactus and Pediocactus spring to mind.) Then some seed may not be viable – it looks good when harvested, but that vital spark of life is absent. No one can tell. Generally cactus seeds remain viable for many years but there are seeds that have only a short life; if they are not sown quickly after collection that life force ebbs away. We hope the supplier is reliable but the seed may have passed its ‘sow by date’. However from your 10 different kinds I am sure that there would be some which should have come up like cress and some that would yield at least a few plants. The picture shows Barry’s BCSS seeds that were sown three weeks before and indeed you can see this pattern of good, bad and no germination (so far). I provided you with more seeds – some I had collected in habitat had produced excellent germination the previous year and some was freshly gathered from my cultivated plants but again you are disappointed. So, what has gone wrong? I have consulted the wise men and we are puzzled. Some of your seeds should have germinated if, as you said, you provided ideal conditions. It is possible that it was too warm (you say a steady 27ºC / 80º F) but that is unlikely. Both lots of seeds were sown in the same compost, (one of those ‘orrible soil-less, peat-less types with added grit and sand). Perhaps a major chemical imbalance or lack of quality control (“a little more Round-up, I think”) poisoned your seeds. However you report that you grew annuals in the same compost. Oh dear, we just can’t tell. Good news is that there are several local growers who sell seedlings at very reasonable cost at branch meetings and our Show. And don’t give up on seed raising, if you can get it right it is very satisfying. A little hint – try some Mesemb seeds. And now I must sow my BCSS seeds. Fancy propagators are fine but they germinate just as well in a greenhouse in late Spring. Or sometimes don’t! Good growing, Your Auntie G Dear Auntie Greenfly, I wonder if you can help me? Sorry this is not really a cactus matter as such, something which you normally handle so adeptly, but more of a cactus related protocol issue. I am a committee member and as such attend a lot of meetings, about five each year. During these meetings, the hosts usually provide drinks and biscuits, normally at least two full plates of biscuits, of many types………, lovely biscuits, which are usually very quickly eaten. I am a very polite person though, so I like to pass the plate around and then wait until everyone has had at least one biscuit, before taking one myself……..but then it often comes back empty, meaning that I am usually left to starve! I only go for the biscuits. Am I being too polite? I’m certainly getting thinner, as times get leaner…so I would welcome your advice please? Jack Spratt Dear Jack I am sure you are a polite person but I notice that you have used the word biscuit five times. Are you obsessed with biscuits? Are biscuits your raison d’être? Biscuits are not compulsory at meetings. I am not really qualified to help with a biscuit fixation, more a sort of cactus obsession expert. However, I have searched the internet for help for you using the words ‘biscuit’ and ‘cactus’. On Google the word ‘cactus’ has 32 million hits, ‘biscuits’ has less at 24 million, but there are only 337,000 hits for both. The cactus-biscuit world is indeed small. However one of these Google hits was under the title ‘Cuddle a cactus with us…’ (strong words indeed!), and I read… Where else can cactus and succulent enthusiasts get an evening's entertainment and a cup of tea and biscuits for 50 pence? Come and see us! The Bradford BCSS has your interests at heart. Go see them! Your Auntie G Dear Mrs Greenfly I noted with extreme displeasure the elongated botanical names terniggellomcahnindiiiatus and etnrgiegllmoacnhniidiiatu in the last issue of your learned journal for Northamptonshire cactophilic aficianados. If botanists are allowed to do just as they wish and create these juggernaut compilations of nomenclatural clutter I feel that hobbyists will be distracted and become unfocused in their pursuit of perfection. Mr Angry Dear Mr Angry, I am sorry but this was a joke. Are you in fact taking the hobby a bit too seriously? Anyone who grows cacti should have a sense of humour. Try relaxing, sup a soothing herbal tea or one glass of red wine, and watch some Ariocarpus grow. However, while we are on this subject of botany John Watmough told me a story in the snug last week… ‘If three friends go out on a botanical expedition, and one is called Brown, one is called Smith, and one is called Featherstonehaugh-Macgillivray, you can guess which name is going to be one that the newly discovered plant is called after.’ Sorry, that is also a joke. Your Auntie G
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The Garden of Wales Ian Priestley |
OK, so you’ve all heard of the Eden Project, near Truro in Cornwall and possibly some of you may have visited this but did you know that it has a Welsh equivalent – The National Botanic Garden of Wales, positioned west of Swansea, just off the M4?
Julie, Elanor and I were holidaying in this area of Wales, early last year and thought it might well be worth a visit. The actual setting is very grand; the world’s largest single span greenhouse, 110m in length by 60 m width, is situated on a tall hilltop, overlooking the former Regency garden and parklands of Middleton Hall. The glass is above ground whilst the interior landscape of 3500 sq m is mostly either at or below ground level.
Normally visitors would walk about 400-600 metres up the hill to the greenhouse, but motorized transport is also available for those who cannot actually make this. There is also a tour, again by minibus, which takes in all of the site and which we also highly recommend, particularly on a nice sunny day, as we thought both views and the commentary about the site and the plans for the future were excellent.
Inside, the interior, like the Eden project is divided into different zones. Julie and I concentrated our sights on the S African, N American and Canary Isles plants. Some nice specimens were on display, a very striking Aloe leucadendron “Safari Sunset” certainly caught my eye, as did some of the Dudleyas, D. hassei, D. lanceolata, D. anthonyi and D. pulverulenta which were bedded. On the down side, I also noticed a few mealies on some of these, although in fairness this had been recognised, and they were preparing to spray, as we left.
In summary, we intend to visit again in a few years time to see what progress has been made. To any new visitor who may be interested in plants generally, we recommend a visit if in the area. True, there is not too great a range of cacti and succulents, but it certainly fills a day.
Ian
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Freshly gathered yarns from the world of seeds Doug Rowland |
A Northants News exclusive - our good friend Doug Rowland (from Bedford Branch) has written for us before but now brings us some insights from his many years selling seeds of curious plants – most, but not all, are cacti and succulents!
1. Letter from Eastern Europe. “Dear Doug, Thank you for sending me your new seedlist. My order is on the backside.”
2. During the festive season and over the New Year period we always get a few cheques with the wrong year on them. As the banks do not like anything in this area more than six months old, they have to go back with a note to recommend they take more water with it next year.
3. Each New Year, cactus collectors’ wives tidy up old newspapers, magazines and reading matter that has collected near the TV armchair. I often get requests for a second seed list as the original probably went out with the post-Christmas clearout to the dustbin.
4. One year we had a compelling letter from a distressed cactus housewife. She said she had had no peace since she inadvertently threw away her husband’s seed list with the Christmas rubbish. ‘Please Doug, send me another seed list as my life has become a complete misery’.
5. They say that we Britishers will collect anything. Well, that is true, there are List collectors about too. There are two enthusiasts that we know who have a collection of all the seed lists that we have issued, in existence. Last year I got them together and photocopied rare 1970’s seed lists of ours for the both of them.
6. There are some real enthusiasts who do not keep any track of time and order from a five year old seed list. All we can do is to send something similar. But a five year Credit Note. Well, that is quite OK and can better stand the test of time.
7. In some countries it is not possible or practical to obtain small amounts of foreign currency for small seed orders, so it’s off to Plan B, bartering as they used to do in the Middle Ages. We have received seeds of one sort or another many times, stamps, local ornaments or what have you.
8. Many times we are told by overseas buyers that their seeds have not arrived. But we know that the Post Office is better than that. Seeds are sometimes held for really no reason at all and addressees are not notified. However after a stay of a couple of weeks, seeds are usually sent on after the initial short delay.
8. In the United Kingdom we are allowed to import most seeds provided they are clean, dry, free of livestock and fungal infection.
9. Canada is a friendly country to send seeds to and for many years we have had no problems there. However, a couple of years ago a consignment went missing for three months. When it surfaced and was delivered the mystery was solved. Apparently, some species of pine are not allowed into Canada and two of these were in the package. These were eventually removed from the consignment and after that life returned to normality.
11. Quite often, rare and valuable seeds arrive from a private collector out of the blue. Such was the case some years ago when seeds of Obetia ficifolia arrived from Reunion. This species is indigenous to this one island and there is just one location near the coast where they can be found, a stand of very old caudiciform elderly trees. We eventually received several importations and hope that there are a few plants around now in collections.
12. Sometimes seeds of a species will make a sudden appearance and then never be seen again. This was the case some years ago when Euphorbia eustacei appeared from South Africa and has never been seen again.
13. We received seeds of Phoenix canariensis some years ago from Australia by surface mail. The seeds were in a sealed plastic bag, and as their journey was a pleasant one they all decided to germinate on the way over. Upon opening the box I had to untangle the roots and stems and pot them all up and for a while I possessed a greenhouse rather full of little palm trees.
14. Over the years I have had many enquiries asking how to raise cactus and succulents from seeds. I used to write individually to buyers of seeds. By 1981 things got a bit out of hand so I published a set of notes. In 1989 I rewrote these and issued a second edition. When this was exhausted in 1993 I decided to bring in a few friends with experience and some drawings, and the third and present edition appeared. Now that is beginning to run out this year I am contemplating a shorter and more brief edition with salient points and a few new drawings.
15. Plant names today are a major problem, and most collectors and enthusiasts are adverse to changing names on plant labels, which can become a long job if you have a large collection. This is especially true of the larger and more prickly items that you keep at the back near the glass. Two main problem groups occur today, Cactaceae and Asclepiadaceae. But do not take the names too seriously, just make sure they are spelt correctly. That is, if your library is not out of date yet.
16. One of the most pressing problems in cultivation is the lack of knowledge about winter growing succulents which are often placed and watered in summer with everything else. These plants live in a world of their own and should be kept separately and watered sparingly in winter. There are enough of these around now to make up an interest all of their own and include Othonna, Tylecodon, Monilaria, Mitrophyllum some Pelargonium, Euphorbia schoenlandii, Greenovia and Dioscorea, and the list goes on. Many nice plants of Dioscorea elephantipes are unfortunately accidentally watered to death in summer. The sales of seeds of this plant have never decreased over the years. We are now able to buy these from plants cultivated in an Australian garden.
17. A lot of the seeds that we grow today are produced in cultivation in countries which have congenial environments to our kind of plants. Mexico has been closed completely now for some years for plants and seeds. We now cannot find seeds of Cephalocereus senilis anywhere. Plants are not common in nursery stock either. Sign of the times.
18. Seeds of Tephrocactus are fairly plentiful, but they are difficult to germinate in cultivation. A couple of months in a domestic refrigerator at 2ºC may help to break the germination problem. But for interested Tephro Types the Tephrocactus Study group is on hand with info and pictures in their quarterly Bulletin. Contact Rene Geissler for details.
19. Often some seeds are expensive because of rarity value. However in Lophophora williamsii the problems are that each berry contains just a few seeds, sometimes and mostly four or five. It takes a lot of fruits to accumulate a thousand seeds. However, at home here in Kempston the mice are very fair minded, they eat the berries and leave the seeds.
20. Euphorbia obesa and E. symmetrica seeds are always expensive and in short supply. Some problems occur when producing these seeds. The capsules are only tripartite and explode upon ripening. These two species are a bit like humans in that plants are either male or female. But plants respond well to pollination with a soft brush, and ripe seeds eventually obtained. Plants with ripening seeds should be placed in a seed tray with a clear plastic lid and allowed to explode at will. Later on you will have the happy task of finding and packaging disappearing seeds.
Doug
More from the world of seeds in the next issue!