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Can you grow Sempervivum from seed?
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Posted by kim31kim z6 Mid-TN (My Page) on Sun, May 2, 04 at 22:28
| I am in the process of starting a rock garden around my mailbox and would like to have lots of Sempervivum growing there. Are these difficult to grow from seed? How long do they take to mature from seed?
Also, does anyone know the best place to purchase a big quanitity of them for a decent price?
Thanks!
Kim |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Can you grow Sempervivum from seed?
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| You certainly can grow Sempervivums from seed but the problem is that most of the seed available will produce nondescript hybrids which are not nearly as interesting to look at as the named varieties. Those who do raise new varieties grow huge numbers of plants to track down just one that is worthy of being given special status. You might not feel that it is worth the effort to track down seed collected from species plants which would come true to form. Semperivivums do not cost a fortune so I would suggest that you go for the option of buying plants. They are quite cheap if you get them by mail order from somewhere like Squaw Mountain Gardens and many of them cover the ground quite quickly. |
RE: Can you grow Sempervivum from seed?
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| Thanks Robert! I just checked out that website and they have some wonderful varieties there! I think I might try using seed in some of the area that won't be seen as much and then buying the nicer varieties for the main areas. If I use seed, do you know which type might grow/spread the fastest?
Thanks
Kim |
RE: Can you grow Sempervivum from seed?
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| I think that you're only going to find packets of mixed Sempervivum seed Kim, that will give you a range of sizes and colours. Try it and see. I assume that Sempervivum seed will be as readily available in the US as it is here in the UK. |
RE: Can you grow Sempervivum from seed?
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| I grew some from a mixed packet from Park's Seed. I started them in early February and they're now about two inches in diameter. There are maybe three or four distinct varieties, and they are probably not as dramatic as ones you might get as plants, but some have nice reddish tints. They were very easy to grow and grew faster than the seed packet instructions suggested they would. I'm not a sempervivum connoiseur, but I am very pleased with the results. The packet has a lot of seeds. You would have to start them indoors are at least in a weed free bed with very fine tilth, or else you'd probably overlook them, as they are very tiny when they first appear. cranebill |
RE: Can you grow Sempervivum from seed?
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| Kim, Walmart in the Indy area has the strawberry planters FULL of them.. overflowing. I would say there were probably around 15 of the big ones with tons of offsets. They were under $10. You can pick out the semps, put them under your mailbox, and have a nice terra cotta planter! -Chad |
RE: Can you grow Sempervivum from seed?
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| I grew some from seed this winter/spring and can't say I recommend it for a beginner or anyone without some patience. The packet probably had around 2-300 seeds. These seeds are ultra tiny. I germinated them using the baggie method (put seeds in wet coffee filter, fold then stick in plastic baggie until they sprout). They germinated much faster than the packet indicated (2 weeks vs 2 months), but they are so small that handling them was difficult. I ended up scraping them off the filter into the seed starting mix. They grew well enough, but it seemed like only those that germinated in the baggie ever germinated (around 10%). From there it took a few months before they reached 1" in size an now I have them set outside in the veggie garden and pretty much ignore them. They are surviving with no care, but every single one is a plain green rosette that looks identical to teh one next to it. Compare this to the variety pack I purchased last year from an internet vendor of about 20 sempers and planted under my mailbox. Those things are interesting to look at, multiply at a good pace (although not as fast as I would like) and as I type several have flowered and I have to say they are the most interesting things to look at when they are in flower. If I could find some strawberry containers loaded with them for $10 I would probably buy 10 or more of them as it sounds like an absolute steal. |
Source for 'variety pack'
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| Dave zone 5, Would you mind telling us the source of your 20 semp "variety pack". All of my more unusual-looking semp seedlings ultimately didn't make it. It didn't help, I'm sure, that the squirrels repeatedly dug them out of their containers so that I had to replant them several times. I did have a sufficient number of the green semps so that some survived the decimation by the squirrels' repeated assaults. By the way, the squirrels didn't seem to eat them - they were just looking for a "sandbox" to play in, I guess. Anyway, this year I'd like to expand my collection, and your variety pack sounds nice. Thanks, cranebill |
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