TOPIC: Confused......Seeds

Hi All...that time of year..I hope this finds everyone well!!!!!


Last year being my first year I only bought 1 pound of seed.Now because of the lack of my own land I planted a bunch of small beds over 10 areas...I also made 2ea 4 x 10 beds in the yard for a control and to watch them grow....

The beds in the yard I only had about 20% growth.I figured It was me and wondering what i was doing wrong..I dug up what seed that didn't sprout and some where dried out and some where still moist.I didn't see any signs of a sprout in side the seed...So after have'n a battle with the slugs I'm maybe at 15 % of what was planted from seed.The roots I brought home and transplanted 11 plants out of 12 are doing great!!!!!

The person that I bought the seed from emailed for a new order for this year.So I got thinking I better go check beds that i planted in the wild.WOW what a disappointment.I bet only 10% if that came up in all the beds.I dug those seeds up and still white and moist in the center.I still don't see any type of sprout inside the seed either..

I don't know if this was bad seed or wasn't stratified right or at all..Now you can say about Ph..Now it can't all be wrong out of 12 beds!!!What did come up is green and healthy...Plus all the beds where planted with companion plants in the area.The one bed I picked all the blue cohosh out of a center of a huge bed.In that center I made a bed of of ginseng..Also there is Maidens hair fern mixed in that area..Everything I read It don't get better than that unless wild ginseng is there.....

Ok guys fire away...Please Pm me with a good seed dealer that the seed is what they say..This set me behind a year....Thanks ..Frank

Frank,
I don't know if you have been following the threads about delayed emergence or not, but you need to read them and some other comments in other threads as well. Many of us had the same problem and it sure seems like refrigerating the seeds might be a problem. It could be bad seeds ,but if some of them came up, I would have my doubts about that and look at other problems. I hope you did not dig all of the seeds up that you planted because many of them may survive and come up this coming year. This \"growing ginseng thing\" can really cause you to get twisted into a knot because so many variables can play into what we try to do. It just is not an exact science and we're all learning with you. Good luck and stay with it.
Hugh

Hey Frank,

Glad to see you still kicking. Also good to hear about your success with the transplants. I have to tell you, Hugh is right. We've been booting this issue around since April. I too was not really as happy with the germination I got this year. However, I plant the same seed I sell to folks, and I've had a few phone calls telling me how incredible the germination they got this year was compared to other seed they tried. -shrug-

I will offer this advice, I talked to a commercial grower the other day and he said if you want to see good ginseng germination, you really need to have about an inch of rain a week in May. We didn't get that here. My stuff normally comes up within about a week, but this year it stretched out over a month. In fact, I saw a couple new seedlings just the other day. I think the dry conditions and the goofy weather we had is what caused my issues. I don't know about you, but it might be you were dealing with the same issues I was.

The dried out seed was likely diseased from soil borne pathogens, but the others will most likely remain viable and come up next spring. I've come to believe that once the window of opportunity arrives in the spring when the primary dormancy has broken, if the conditions are not correct for success of the new plant, the seed just goes back into a secondary dormancy. A certain percentage of any batch will be delayed anyway without any adverse conditions, so it might not take as much to bring about secondary dormancy as we previously thought.

Thanks guys

I just spot checked the woods grown beds.I left the beds as is hope'n some would recover next spring.At least I did that right LOL....

The beds in the back yard!!!!I have no clue.It seams the slugs mowed them down as fast as the came up.Maybe more did sprout and the slugs where a issue..I don't know.Being new at this game I'm a bit lost

The beds in the yard I just wanted for seed and to watch them grow.I already got a good lesson in slug control..I'm gonna order 1 year olds to replace the one bed.The other bed try again with seed.

The seed pods or flowers stems are nice and full on the transplants.So far I can't complain about them.

Thanks again .....Frank

FTB, as far as yard seng growing in the shade garden, good luck. I mean the slugs will be a huge problem. Plus the woods holds moisture and your yard most likely is drier so you will have to water. Slugs aren't near as bad in the woods most of the time.
Latt

FTB
here are a few questions to answer so I can help you better.

What percent of seed that you can dig up is still white inside?
What percent are dried out?
What do the dried out ones look like inside?
How do you split the seeds open?
How did you plant the seeds in all the gardens?
How deep were the seeds planted?
Did you check to see that your seed had in fact stratified prior to planting?

guy

guy wrote:

FTB
here are a few questions to answer so I can help you better.

What percent of seed that you can dig up is still white inside?
What percent are dried out?
What do the dried out ones look like inside?
How do you split the seeds open?
How did you plant the seeds in all the gardens?
How deep were the seeds planted?
Did you check to see that your seed had in fact stratified prior to planting?

guy

In the yard The seeds where 50/50 some where still white in side some where brown and some even hollow(nothing in them).The woods ones I only found a few bad seeds Most where white in side and moist.Now that being said the soil in the yard garden is more moist than what was in the woods.Not buy much but a little better.

I didn't take close note what was dried out.That's just a rookie mistake.But (yard) alot of brown and empty shells..

I split them on the seam of the shell I guess you would call it long ways.

Planting them!!!LOL I had a soar back.I didn't trust the scatter/rake method.All got planted by hand..Yes it took forever.Only 1/4 in soil over top and a light covering.I added gypsum between the rows before cover'n.I didn't cover to heavy because the fall leaves where starting to drop..

They said the seeds where stratified.I float tested the bunch and had very few floaters..

I bought Scott Persons book last summer..I got it wore out Plus the info on this site you guys gave me.I was hope'n for alittle better return.It's hard for me to pin point the problem.Being new it could be one thing like the seed or several things...Now we did have a dry spring also and little snow fall.Our water table is way down.We avg here 120 inches of snow here.Last winter I think it was around 38 inches.All the spring rain went north and south of us.

The beds in the yard I mixed 1/3 sand,1/3 peat and 1/3 leaf mulch (mostly maple shredded).My ph was6.4 to 6.7..I added gypsum mixed well.The transplants I have Are twice as green and bigger than when I picked them.That is the reason I really confused.If the soil was that bad they should of been stunned.I would think anyways...

Thanks again.....Frank

I\"m interested in hearing what Guy is thinking.

From what you've said, I would think that the seeds in the yard likely fell prey to a soil borne pathogen before they came up. 50% empty brown shells is pretty high.

The ones you planted in the woods sound like they just didn't get enough rain to germinate this spring. I would recommend you plant deeper than 1/4\" I would say plant them an inch deep. This also helps with the moisture.

It took me a long time to learn to grow this stuff Frank. Don't get discouraged.

Agreed, 3/4 inch to 1 inch deep protects the seed from dry conditions better than 1/4 inch deep.
Latt

Ok too shallow of a planting maybe a concern also....

On the soil borne Pathogens what needs treated there? Or what should the treatment be?....

What is the best for slug control?.......Frank