Growing Lantana from seed? (Newbie here)
Sonia.RJ
9 years ago
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Sonia.RJ
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Growing Lantana from seeds - easy to do?
Comments (1)Easy to grow from seed. Germinates in two weeks at 70 degrees with no pretreatments required. Al...See MoreHelp a newbie get torenia growing from seed
Comments (5)Welcome to gardening and the gardenweb forums, haloony. Most garden-related stuff is dependent on your climate, less so with house plants, but it can still be an important factor in some discussions. Climates are divided into gardening zones. You can find your zone here. If you include your zone and state in your profile info, it will show up next to your name automatically when you say something on these forums. That will allow people to better know what kind of advice to give you. Most people include their state, too. The "8b AL" next to my name means I'm in zone 8b, in Alabama. Your question/interest seems to be outdoor-gardening-related but posted to the house plants forum. That's fine even if your intention is to grow the torenia outside and we can discuss that here. But the advice is different, depending on your intent. So, with that in mind, I just had a few observations that could help you to be less frustrated in the future, inside and out. The suggestion to investigate annual seeds is excellent, I had the same idea reading your post. But for most locations, the weather and amount of sunlight that are optimal to grow most annual seeds is winding down for this year. That's not to say that you can't have any luck growing some cool things from seed and shouldn't start now, but your success won't be as good as attempts you will hopefully make next spring. If you do attempt to grow annuals from seed indoors over the winter, even the plants described for shade will probably need some direct sun since the winter rays are so much less strong than summer rays. Plants described for full sun may not do much, even in a south-facing bow window. This is a factor where location (FL vs. VT, for example) would be very important to the info. You can probably (dont know where you are) get some zinnia flowers from seed yet this year. They can go from seed to flower in about 6 weeks. It would need to be outside with lots of sunshine. Torenia is not a traditional house plant. It's an annual, which makes flowers and then dies within the same year. The label "house plant" is usually given to long-lived plants that are known to grow or at least stay alive indoors. However, any plant growing in a home is a house plant, so the fun and experiments are virtually limitless. If your goal is to have something green growing inside this winter, your best bet might be to buy a plant, or ask others who have plants if they are able to take a cutting of their plant for you. Many houseplants are as easy to pass on as snipping off a piece and "planting it" in a pot. Although not all are so easy to multiply from cuttings, that and division are the general methods by which most house plants are propagated. Most house plants are difficult to grow from seeds, do not have readily available seeds to harvest or buy, and/or take a very long time to grow from seeds. If you like avocados, try sprouting some of the pits. There......See MoreNewbie...Growing Concord Grapes from Seeds
Comments (13)Okay, so you got the "grape growing bug" huh? Many people live in their homes for over 20 years and from day one often thought about growing some sort of fruit tree or another yet put it off for some reason. Many of their neighbours could be known to have such trees and could have planted them 10, 20 or even 30 years ago and its odd that most people don't pickup on that and get going themselves. Now for the real speech when it comes to growing grapes. Your best bet is to hit the garden centers in the spring and you'll probably pay about 10 bucks or so for a gallon pail with a vine in it. Buy at least 3 so they have company :) That's the easiest way and most newbies can do it this way. Once your vine(s) starts producing fruit, no matter what you initially paid to get it all going, the amount your vines yield will far exceed the low startup costs. Those thinking ahead to next spring should be doing many many other things right now-during the fall and yep, sometimes some of it can be done during the winter too. There's a fair amount of prep to get ready for your vines that will be available at the garden centers or nurseries next spring. First of all you should check with some of them and find out exactly when they get them each year and they'll give you a close enough date. Before that though, you have to worry about where you'll position these ever-advancing vines, you can't really change them to another location later on unless you are pretty lucky or you get advice from someone with more experience. Soil bed preperation is very very important and you'll need to prepare some kind of trellis-these things get realllll heavy too so be prepared to build strong supports. Choices for supports are the older cast iron plumbing pipes that are often ripped out of renovated homes and you use angle joiners etc. to make an overhead trellis. You can also use thick posts such as 4X4's-the kind used for fence building and build something that resembles a child's jungle gym. If you plan on placing the vines near your home, you can use thick wire or thick nylon mesh, or wooden lattice affixed to the home's walls to support the vines but remember this, the vines and fruit can weigh well into the hundreds of pounds during the years they produce decent amounts. Trust me on this too, you need to read read and then read about proper yearly maintenance-fertilizer, soil testing, cutting/pruning back once in awhile. Yeah I know, its sad to cut back something you desire to keep growing really fast but it IS important to do this, the pruning part is important to get rid of slow or poorly growing shoots and once pruned, the vines seem to take off once again. The dead stuff you ignore, stresses the vine s even more so get rid of the ugly stuff and treat the vines with the respect they deserve. Yep, some people I know have grown pretty good Concords and work at it alot all summer long and then again, some I know just abuse the heck out of them-the usual "I inherited these with the home I bought and I hate the things so I hope they die thing." The latter seem to grow more aggressively and maybe just maybe they're telling the guy something ya think (spite?)? To summarize the yearly yield thing here in as short an answer as possible, they do NOT always grow ALOT each year and some years they seem to just need a break as do crabapple trees and plum trees too. I live in the western part of Canada, we get pretty nice weather starting in May and it usually goes right until Halloween and almost always the grapes have been picked by then. I still have some Concords ripening right now, has alot to do with the fact we haven't had any frost this time of year but its coming. For making wine from these grapes, the first frost seems to help and they've always ripened at that point but frost seems to increase their sugar content without rotting them by then. Lastly, "if" you can find a friend or neighbour or someone in your city who's willing to provide you with some cuttings, try them too, you might be surprised in how well they grow. For this thread, too much to explain at why you could get some right now and keep them in the refrigerator (in peat moss) and they'd be okay to start next spring if so desired. Google it or search around and you'll find out how easy that really is. Yes I know, some things seem quite bizarre but strange things can and do work and I use this example: Where I live almost all seeds for the garden advise against planting anything until after the last frost. Well, on a package of dill seeds it also advises this. This year's dill will drop alot of stray seeds in my garden and come next spring when the garden is near frozen, I've got seedlings going-everywhere! Also, root crops can be planted late in the fall and by next spring they do start growing on their own. Carrots are easy and carrot seeds started now will lay dormant during the 6 months I'll see snow on the ground and then they'll grow with a vengeance next spring. Beets, turnips, some onions etc.-same thing, plant now. I've used these examples because for the grapes, they're even hardier than the dill and carrots so if they can grow here under many different conditions, harsh winters and serious owner neglect, if you are more serious and dedicated to growing your own for jelly, juice and wine etc., then you shouldn't have much to worry about. Personally, I'm quite serious about it and I protect my vines very well each winter-going on 12 years now-they need to be placed where there's little traffic around them and do NOT trample on their beds when the earth is rock-solid frozen if you can help it. Same goes for the spring when they put alot of energy into pushing away their former "winter blues." And for heaven's sakes, put aside the budget-starter-from-seed-thing and pay the nurseries or garden centers for the things they import each year and you'll be glad you did. When you need a helping hand, I'm sure they'll help as much as they possibly can. Grape vines can also teach you alot about patience to be sure. Good luck and I hope this addition reaches those who've asked before me.......See MoreHow to get lantana seeds to grow?
Comments (5)Hi, digdirt and yiorges, thanks so much for your help with the lantana seeds info. Im going to try some tonight. I hybridize cannas, so i know how to get them to grow, im usually on the brugmansia forum. Ive never had luck with the lantana seeds, going to try them this way. Do the lantana seeds grow true to type or not? as with cannas only the species varieties grow true to type. should i expect different looking lantana plants or smimilar to the parent plants? Thanks again so much for your help, i really apprecite it, Siam....See Moreart33
9 years agodbarron
9 years agoSonia.RJ
9 years agojoyfulflowers
9 years agopoisondartfrog
9 years agocold_weather_is_evil
9 years agoHU-593481483
14 days agorosaprimula
14 days ago
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