A Detailed Guide to the Basics of Flower Seed Propagation

Seed cultivation: To get good flower seedlings, the quality of the seeds is most important. Seeds produced from pollination by robust parent plants are also mostly robust. In nature, plant pollination is carried out by insects, wind, water, and so on. To cultivate excellent new varieties, the method of artificial assisted pollination can be adopted.

Harvesting and processing: When collecting seeds, you must wait until the seeds are fully mature before you can collect good seeds. After the seeds are harvested, they should be cleaned up. First, thresh them and remove impurities, then air-dry them, and then carefully select them, choosing seeds that are uniform in shape, plump, glossy, free of pests and diseases, and possessing their inherent characteristics. Store them in a ventilated, dry place at a relatively low temperature with little fluctuation, to be kept for sowing the following year.

Sowing seeds: 1. Conditions for seed germination

(1) Air: Seed germination requires absorbing oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide. Therefore, sowing first requires a well-ventilated environment.

(2) Temperature: Generally, seed germination requires a relatively stable temperature of around 15-20 degrees, and a small number of seeds require high temperatures to facilitate germination.

(3) Moisture: Moisture is an indispensable major factor for seed germination. But the moisture must be appropriate. Too much will cause rot due to poor ventilation; too little will make the seeds germinate slowly, or even not germinate at all. After sowing, especially avoid a lack of water when the seeds are sprouting (commonly known as "bud drying"), which is the key to the success or failure of seed emergence.

(4) Light: Generally, seeds do not need strong light before germination, so after sowing they can first be placed in a place without direct light, and after sprouting gradually moved to a place with direct light. However, the seeds of Gloxinia (Sinningia speciosa), Coleus (Coleus scutellarioides), Impatiens (Impatiens balsamina), Primula obconica, Calceolaria, and Begonia species must have sufficient light to germinate.

2. Sowing soil: It should be well-drained, loose, and fertile soil. To ensure that the seeds emerge robustly without being harmed by pests and diseases, it is best to disinfect the soil before sowing. A simple method is: use a steamer or a microwave oven to sterilize the soil at high temperature, which can kill most pathogens and insect eggs; but for flowers with generally vigorous habits, disinfection may not be necessary, and clean plain sandy soil can also be used.

Sowing methods (1) Direct sowing: General seeds such as wax begonia (Begonia semperflorens) and garden balsam (Impatiens balsamina) can be sown directly without any treatment.

(2) Soaking seeds in warm water: Seeds with harder shells, such as tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa) and Chinese peony (Paeonia lactiflora), can be soaked in warm water at 60 degrees for twenty-four hours before sowing.

(3) Mixing seeds with plant ash: For any seeds with an oily wax coating on the shell, such as magnolia (Magnolia), plant ash can be mixed with water into a paste and mixed into the seeds, so that the alkali in the plant ash helps remove the oily wax.

(4) Filing the seed coat: For seeds such as lotus (Nelumbo) and canna (Canna), before sowing, first file the seed coat on a file, then soak in warm water for twenty-four hours. The hard seed coat can then absorb water and swell, prompting the seeds to germinate quickly.

(5) Freeze-cracking method: For seeds such as flowering almond (Prunus triloba), sow before the ground freezes in early winter and water thoroughly. After the soil freezes in winter, the seed shells are cracked by freezing, and they can germinate the following spring.

(6) Sand storage: For seeds such as osmanthus (Osmanthus fragrans) and rose species (Rosa), after harvesting, mix them with moist sand in late autumn and place them in a flowerpot. After taking them out for sowing in early spring the following year, they can germinate quickly.

Generally, after sowing, seeds must be covered with soil. The thickness of the soil cover should preferably not exceed twice the size of the seed. Tiny seeds such as wax begonia (Begonia semperflorens) and gloxinia (Sinningia speciosa) may not need soil covering.

Post-sowing management (1) Before germination: Place the sowing pot in a relatively shady place, and cover it with glass, plastic film, or thick cardboard on top to help keep warmth and moisture, but leave a small gap for ventilation. When the pot soil is dry, place the sowing pot into a large water basin with a water surface lower than the pot soil surface, and supply water by the immersion irrigation method. Never use spraying, as this will wash over the surface soil and seeds, which is very unfavorable for germination.

(2) After germination: Move the sowing pot to a place with direct sunlight. If sowing indoors in early spring, the seedlings often show a tendency to lean southward due to phototropism. For this reason, the pot should be turned every few days to ensure that the seedlings grow upright; when the pot soil is dry, water with a fine-rose watering can with a swivel head. General flower seedlings should be transplanted after two or three true leaves have grown, so as to avoid the seedlings becoming weak due to being too crowded.

Hybrid breeding: New varieties can appear by crossbreeding cultivated flowers. Natural hybridization may produce good varieties, but it also often produces inferior varieties. To obtain excellent varieties, artificial directional crossbreeding can be carried out. For example, suppose a certain flower has two varieties: one has large flowers but an unsatisfactory color, and the other has small flowers but bright colors; or one has good flowers but no fragrance, and the other has less ideal flowers but fragrance. Through artificial hybridization, it is very possible to breed a new variety with large flowers, brilliant color, and fragrance. When carrying out artificial hybridization, for flowers with both stamens and pistils in the same flower, such as Chinese peony (Paeonia lactiflora), tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa), and Chinese rose (Rosa chinensis), the female parent should first be emasculated (before the flower opens, gently peel it open and remove all the stamens with small tweezers, then cover it with a transparent paper bag to prevent self-pollination). When the flower is in full bloom and the stigma secretes sticky fluid, take the pollen from the selected male parent variety and apply it to the stigma with a writing brush, then put the paper bag back on to prevent interference from bees and butterflies. After the female parent's flower has finished blooming, remove the paper bag. After the seeds mature, carry out selection when they are sown and bloom, and retain the new flower variety you intended to cultivate.

Source: Ailian Shuo