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Posted by Lokelani (U8896212) on Sunday, 3rd April 2011
It sounds difficult or at least very slow from the T&M website, even involving weeks in a fridge!
I do have a propagator, but would only normally have it on for another few weeks.
Is it one to avoid or have others had easy success with it?
I wouldn't bother. It's like growing rosemary from seed. Takes forever, and much easier to grow from cuttings. When we moved in here, there was one very very very old lavender plant. I took cuttings, then cuttings from that first generation, then cuttings from the second generation. The mother plant is now all but dead but it lives on via its children.
What kind of seed compost would you plant them in though, if you did?
Mainly grit? 50%?
Harvesting the seed yourself from an existing plant would be tricky.
Sounds like it is as time consuming as they say, I need practice at taking cuttings.
So I'll buy a couple of baby plants & then learn how to take cuttings from them when they're big enough.
I thought lavender spread fairly easily by self seeding itself. Sounds like I am wrong.
Mine have never done that sadly.
They used to just go very leggy if I forgot to trim them, then I had to re-bury them deeper, or in recent years they seem to often just die.
So I was thinking of growing from seed as a cheap & regular way to re- stock.
Cuttings seems like a good compromise though & something I need to learn more about.
It sounds difficult or at least very slow from the T&M website, even involving weeks in a fridge!Â
I didn't use a fridge when I did it last year. Just sow them in a pot or tray of compost and cover with a transparent plastic lid. Put them in a hot, sunny window and make sure the compost doesn't dry out. A few weeks later they will appear.
Transplant them to new compost out as soon as you can, because seeds like lavender and rosemary have a fairly high failure rate (they expire quickly), so some of the seeds will start decomposing right next to the seedlings, and if not removed, the seedlings may be overcome.
I was a bit surprised that people find them difficult. I collected seed from a favourite lavender the other year and every seed I sowed turned into a seedling. I ended up putting lots of them in the compost bin because I had too many. I didn't put them in the fridge or anything like that, I just sowed them in some multi purpose compost. I have also found lavender seedlings coming up in the garden near other plants. One even grew between the slabs on the patio.
Lavender will not grow in my topsoiled garden.
Then I bought some grit and mixed it. One (1) grew, and it survives hard winters.
If the raised plant will not take, why is it that the seed will grow in potting compost, a richer soil still than my top soil?
I have a lavender hedge on the edge of a raised area of my garden. This year I was later than usual to trim it after flowering and it self seeded with gay abandon in the gravel parking area below the wall. They've all survived this winter despite being under feet of snow for weeks. The parents are blue Hidcote and white Edelweiss.
I conclude that fresh seed needs no time in a fridge, just a sunny, well drained spot. Maybe saved seed needs a "winter" to trick it into germination but I would give it a well drained, compost with added grit or vermiculite.
If the raised plant will not take, why is it that the seed will grow in potting compost, a richer soil still than my top soil?Â
I don't think the soil really matters for a seedling - after all you can start a chilli pepper seed on a moist sheet of kitchen towel in a dark cupboard.
It's only when the roots start growing properly, which for lavender, means adapted for fine, dry, poor soil that it matters - think the orangey or grey coloured sandy soil you get in hot countries. Moist, wet, rich soil is its mortal enemy.
I think that you have hit the nail on the head there. My garden is very dry and sandy. My best lavender is one which self seeded between two paving slabs on the path. I didn't have the heart to pull it up and it was impossible to move. It is in the middle at the back of this picture taken during the summer.
I think it varies with the type of lavender.
I home saved some seed of my own last year and that has grown vigorously in the greenhouse with no special treatment
However I brought 3 different types back from a friends garden in France, and with the same treatment, I havent seen a thing.
Koala girl is that a picture of a lavender bush, which is not Lavender at all??
It is the genuine article! Here is a close up of the flowers:
I love it more than the english lavender because it flowers all summer
I have a friend who, before moving house, took several cuttings of his lavender, placed them in a vase on the windowsill and after a few days roots developed. When the roots were about an inch long, he planted them in the ground and he now has several lavender plants in the garden.
I'm no expert. What species variety is it then? It's the height i'm thinking of.
I had a lavender like that once, gorgeous, I think it may have had butterfly lavender on the label, it may have been a helpful hint of what it attracted rather than a variety name of course!
The photo is of French lavender. It has a different growing habit to English lavender.
I had a large bush which I thought was lavender and it turned out not be lavender at all. It was almost a tree, but i can't remember the name of it.
As far as i know lavender does not grow more than about 3' high. I may be quite wrong.
I grew some lavender from seed quite successfully last year. i just put individual seeds in small pots im my green house then potted them on as they grew. I have 2 plants in large pots which have been outside all winter and have turned into quite large plants so i am hoping these will now flower. I also planted some into a bed where i work but these dont look so healthy. I think this is due to the bed being shallow and poor quality soil though.
I'm growing 'Lavande Vraie' (true lavender -- which I assume is like 'officinalis') --planting from seed for the first time, too. It has started coming through after one week. The instructions on the packet said to sow the seed on top of warm, chalky soil outside and firm down. I just put mine on the surface of normal seed compost in a seed tray and placed it on a sunny window sill. So far, so good, as I said, as they're just coming through now. Good luck!
, in reply to message 1.
Posted by mister-grow-it-all (U14591945) on Tuesday, 12th April 2011
its easy plant take, about two years to get to a good planting stage , but as seed is variable unless f1 , you may end up with plants that are all a bit different , cuttings are very easy , soft shoots about 2 inchs long ,an average 2 ltr plant will have loads of cuttings on it , you can chose the variety , and also they should all be the same regards mgia
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