Seed collection, storage and plug planting

Network Admin
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Seed collection, storage and plug planting

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Create your own meadow or wildflower garden with these practical ideas. A series of four instructional YouTube videos from the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust. They show all the steps required to produce plug plants from seed to create a wildflower meadow or garden. It starts with identifying plants to collect seed, then how to dry, store and then sow seed or plant out your plug plants.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... pYmHoMMRsQ
Amy
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Re: Seed collection, storage and plug planting

Post by Amy »

Plug planting - more tips - timing of planting and details of how to actually plant a plug
From Butterfly Conservation - blog by Dr Phil Sterling - Sept 22 - https://butterfly-conservation.org/news ... -a-drought

....."recommendation is to always grow them to a decent size (filling an 8cm pot, with a good root system) before you plant them out – it gives them a much better chance of survival. If you have the plants already, they should be planted in late September or October, as the cooler temperatures and higher rainfall will mean they can get established before winter. If you’re just sowing now" [Sept] "(which is perfectly fine to do) you won’t be able to plant out until next summer but should be prepared to put in more work with watering them as soil can be very dry. If you can hang off from planting them until next autumn, you’ll have much healthier plants and your mini-meadow will get off to a good start.

......."how to plant wildflower plugs. One of the worst things you can do is to dig a round hole and remove the soil, then pop the plant into it. It’s likely that the plant roots will not make good contact with the soil, and soon dry out and die. Instead I recommend that you use your spade to make a rough x-shape in the ground, to at least 10cm. Then use a trowel or spade to prise open the ground from the centre of the x, lifting it back enough so that you can fit your plant and its roots comfortably inside. I often try to get the base of the plant to be a little under soil level. Then step on it! Yes, you really want to ensure that the ground is holding the plant tightly. So walk around the plant, pressing on the soil at each side to ensure it’s snug. You should definitely still be able to see most of the leaves, but don’t worry if the base of the plant is a little deeper, as the plant will adjust. It’s important to remember that soil moves all the time. When it dries or gets wet, or is exposed to frost and ice, soil changes shape. If your plants aren’t planted well, you can find that the wildflower plugs soon get worked out of the soil by processes like this – or by birds like crows and magpies, which I have seen undo a day’s work undertaken by a community group that didn’t plant well enough."
Amy
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Re: Seed collection, storage and plug planting

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Slow progress in a meadow? - Why seeds may fail or take a very long time to germinate

"Plants produce thousands of seeds but only one seed during the entire lifetime of the parent plant has to come through to maturity in order to maintain the population, therefore in nature a huge loss is expected."

Extracts from Plants for a future (an American website)
Gardening tips - Seed sowing https://pfaf.org/user/cmspage.aspx?pageid=168

"Gardeners usually only sow seeds of garden varieties of flowers and vegetables. Most of these have been bred over the centuries to be quick and easy to germinate. It comes as a surprise to many people that, apart from these mainly annual plants, the seed of most species of plants in the wild does not germinate as freely and quickly as cress. In fact a large number of plants tend to use mechanisms to delay the germination of their seeds." .........
..The majority of plants ripen their seeds in late summer and early autumn when the weather is suitable for drying the seed. However, not many plants want their seed to germinate at that time of year since it would have to face the rigours of winter as a small vulnerable seedling. Therefore various strategies are employed to delay germination until the spring.

These strategies include:-

A hard seed coat that slowly breaks down overwinter and does not allow water to penetrate until late winter or spring (a seed cannot germinate until it has imbibed water).

An immature embryo that does not ripen for some months after the seed has fallen. Sometimes a period of warmth is also required and this can mean that the seed will not germinate until at least 2 winters have passed.

Various chemicals that can inhibit germination. These are gradually leached out of the seed by winter rains.

A sensitivity to cold. Some seeds require a period of cold weather in order for certain chemical changes to take place in the seed. Only after this cold spell can the seed germinate.

Seeds often employ more than one of these strategies which can complicate things no end. Some seeds have so many inhibitory mechanisms that they can take 4 years or more to germinate.

It is possible for the gardener just to sow the seed and sit back and wait for nature to take its course but, although this involves the least work it also has the greatest risks. The longer a seed is kept in a seedpot without germinating the more risk there is of the seed being lost either to insects, birds, mice, the gardener forgetting to water it in the summer and the seed desiccating and a whole host of other possible accidents. Plants produce thousands of seeds but only one seed during the entire lifetime of the parent plant has to come through to maturity in order to maintain the population, therefore in nature a huge loss is expected. Gardeners only get a few seeds and cannot afford to waste them. Therefore they look for ways to speed up the germination process. These methods will now be looked at in some detail.


The article continues to discuss germination tips including - Sowing Green seed

"Sowing 'green' seed If the seed of certain species is harvested before it has fully dried the seed coat will not have fully developed and certain chemical inhibitors may not as yet have been put in the seed. By sowing the seed immediately it is harvested, usually in a cold frame or outdoors, germination can be expected in the spring. This can save a year or mores wait and entails very little extra effort so long as the seed comes from your own plants. The trick is in judging when to harvest the seed. The embryo must be fully developed or the seed will probably shrivel and die but if you leave it too long to harvest the seed will have developed the various inhibitors."

Don't be discouraged. Take photos of your own meadow each season to compare the spread of wildflowers and the wildlife visiting them, send the photos off as records off to https://irecord.org.uk/ - and visit lots and lots of other meadows for life-affirming inspiration - coronation meadows, wildlife trust meadows, National Trust meadows, Moor Meadows and other meadow groups' meadows.
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