auricula

[leona]

does anyone know where you can get auricula seeds from?ive seen a few seed mixes but would like to get seed for particular plants.

[Alice]

I would have thought you would get seed for auricula in any good garden centre but if that fails you can get them from www.seeds.thompson-morgan.com £2.19 for 90 seeds.

[leona]

yeah ive seen that but thanks. as i said, ive seen mixes but nowhere where you can buy specific seed from specific plants.i can obviously buy plants and split them but they are very expencive and id rather grow them..its more fun!

[Alice]

Why not buy one of the kind you want and save the seed to plant for more. Fresh seed is much more viable than seed from packets anyway.

[leona]

yes but if i did that i could just split the plants and have more that way. no idea how to save seed from them tho. they have all finished flowering now. only one has a flower left and the seeds are so small they are almost invisible.

[Alice]

Yes, that's right Leoni, the seeds are just dust and if you bought them they would be just the same. To harvest your seed
Doing this from memory but think I am right - nothing to loose
Fill a 3 inch pot ( or thereabouts) with damp compost
Take your spent flower head with the seed and tap it over the compost to collect the seed
DO NOT cover with compost (the seeds are too small)
Cover the pot with something to exclude the light (a beer mat, a bit of brown paper, anything)
Put the pot and its lid in a poly bag and clip it closed with a crocodile clip, elastic band or anything.
Stand the pot outside on a north facing windowsill (or spot) where the sun never shines.
Leave for 2 weeks and have a look. You may be lucky.
If nothing ,but surface of compost looks dry spray over gently. If compost seems dry water from the bottom by standing in some water.
Put the pot back where it was and check at weekly intervals.
If seedlings appear remove the light excluder and gradually remove from the poly bag. Grow on until real leaves appear then transplant each seedling to 3 inch pot and grow on til end of summer and plant out to flower next year.
If seedlings dont appear you have 2 choices
You can keep the pot going and hope they will appear next spring (sometimes this happens)
Or throw it away and say the seeds weren't viable and try again next year.
OR the plant may have done it all by itself, have a good look round about it later in the year. Whichever way, good luck with your Auriculas, lovely plants.

[leona]

thanks for that! ive got one plant with a flower on it so il try that. thanks

[Lesley Jay]

Leona take a look at this site they sell single colour packets of seeds and also named varieties as plants. It might be worth getting their catalogue. www.ashwood-nurseries.co.uk/auricula.htm

[leona]

fantastic thanks v much for that!

[nick the grief]

Hi Leona. If you wan't particular plants you'll have to buy them & then propagate from cuttings. If you grow from seed you'll get all sorts some good some not so good & it'll be a bit longer term. try this site as well

http://www.popsplants.co.uk/

I've checked & if you type Auriculas into Yahoo & Google it will give you a list. (in joke Leona )

Be warned though, they are very very adictive! Once you start on them you'll not stop!

[leona]

thanks,
i did type it into yahoo but not much came up.i had an article in GW about them and i did buy a few plants from a nursery advertised in there but they are £4+ a plant so its not really something i can afford.

[sewer rat]

Leona
There is a nursery on Loch Ness-side that specialises in auriculas - called Abraichan Nursery but website is www.lochnessgarden. Might be worth having a look there too.

[leona]

i just thought i woudl update that i sowed a small packet of seed and 3 weeks later i had 3 seedlings. 2 have died but the last one is quite strong.

[Alice]

Hello Leona, don't give up on your auricula seeds yet. They are a bit eratic from seed packets and do much better from fresh seed planted straight away. Keep your tray of seeds all the way through to next spring and they might germinate then. Good luck.

[leona]

i did sow some from one of the flowers but then i went to ashwood nurserys in the midlands and the guy there who breeds them said it was totaly the wrong time of year and nothing would happen so i binned them. he was very nice though and let me buy a load of seedlings so ive got a whole tray of mixed seedlings anyway but it would be really nice to grow some from seed