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Germinating agapanthus seed
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Posted by Eve_in_Eden SE Qld Aust (My Page) on Tue, Feb 3, 04 at 1:15
| I have 3 or 4 agapanthus plants, but I want LOTS! Any special tricks to germinating them? I understand they are quite small plants for the first two or three years - do I need to wait that long before I can transplant them into the garden? Mine are growing under gum trees, and flowered for a few weeks, but I've seen others in the district that are still flowering - is this because mine are stressed, or inadequate (!), or could it be because I have so few plants, and the other places have lots flowering at different times, and thus over a longer time? Also I saw a NZ Landcare site where they have an agapanthus weed problem along the coastline - anyone in Australia found weed potential in agapanthus? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Germinating agapanthus seed
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| Agapanthus germinate reasonably well from fresh seed. Barely cover, mist to keep moist. I found as seedlings they did not like to be disturbed so try using something deeper than seed punnets so you can grow them on a bit. They develop a huge root system eventually but I would not be inclined to plant out until they are at least 3 or 4 inches tall. Yes they appear to be a bit slow growing at first. In warmer areas some people do regard them as a bit of a weed but they are very hardy. Round our district esp a local golf course they use them a lot in street-landscaping those in sun seem to flower a lot earlier than the ones in shade. They are probably pretty gross feeders but sometimes too much nitrogen leads to all leaves and if you use a "bloom booster" fertilizer in summer you may have more success. |
RE: Germinating agapanthus seed
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| I believe you can't ever have too many agapanthus (or is that agapanthii?), even if the frost in my area make them look like a pile of dead leaves in winter. By dividing, I very quickly produced a border right across the front fenceline of my double block from one small clump. A single plant will produce two or three off shoots each year, given the space to do it, and these plants flower much more quickly than seed grown plants. Have a look at your existing aggies and see what is already on offer. They are quite easy to separate (once you have done your back in digging them up) - as long as each plant has a little bit of root attached, it will grow. If you do this soon after flowering, you are pretty well guaranteed of flowers next season. |
RE: Germinating agapanthus seed
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| I rushed out and had a closer look at my aggies - and yes! there were three little babies, leaves about 3-4 inches, snuggled in near a couple of the larger plants. How exciting! Your advice appreciated. Eve |
RE: Germinating agapanthus seed
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| Whoo hoo!!! I finally got some fresh seed!! My grandson picked the pods off their plants and I hope they were ripe as the pods were green but splitting. I put those in a bag of peat and will keep the rest a day or two and try something else. Maybe I'll give him a bag to catch the rest. |
RE: Germinating agapanthus seed
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| Annabel: I think the seeds might have to be ripe/dry before you plant them - a dry, paperish, brown disc with the black seed in the centre. The pod itself goes brown and dry. Perhaps you could put the next pod/s in a brown paper bag, twist the top and leave in a warm dry place until the seeds dry out and are released from the pod. If the owner of the parent plant agrees, you could slip a piece of panty hose over the developing pod, tie or peg the top and bottom and wait for the pods to mature on the plant. The panty hose will allow air circulation, dry quickly if they get wet and collect the seed for you. |
RE: Germinating agapanthus seed
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| I could not tell Luke that they were too green, but I have got several pods I'm drying out. I had to plant some for him. He gave me about a dozen pods. I think next door to him has some Aggies as well, so maybe he can get some riper ones. Thanks, Ann |
RE: Germinating agapanthus seed
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Wombat - are you perhaps talking about Honesty? Papery brown disc doesn't sound like agapanthus at all. Agapanthus are more elongated like little 3 sided pea pods.
Mine never went completely brown, and there were lots of flat black seeds inside them. If you leave them on the plant until they are blown, chances are they will open and shed their seeds before you can collect them. I pick the stalks at the first sign of ripening and store them somewhere so that if the seeds fall I can gather them.
I had excellent germination from mine. I collected seeds from a friends VERY big dark blue aggies, and my seedlings are a mixture of small and large plants. It will be interesting to see what the produce in the way of flowers, perhaps next summer.
Cheers, Jan |
RE: Germinating agapanthus seed
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| No, no, Sparaxis - not honesty, honestly. Think much smaller. I guess I didn't give a very good description. But the agapanthus seed has a papery covering. |
RE: Germinating agapanthus seed
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| Yes - I see what you mean now - you mean the seed itself, not the pod :-)Like a little spaceship |
RE: Germinating agapanthus seed
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| Trying out my first time to germinate Agapantha from seed .Is there a right time to plant them like when the mature plants are droping their seeds or do you save them till next spring? |
RE: Germinating agapanthus seed
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| I harvested my ag seeds last year. Will they still germinate if I plant them now? |
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