Lathyrus niger (black pea)

[gray1720]

I bought some seeds this year, followed, the instructions, nowt. I blamed the compost, made up some more with a different base, still nowt. I usually mix my own seed compost, based on the available multi-porpoise, this year I couldn't get my preferred initially, and wasn't impressed with the substitute, hence the different mixes.

Has anyone got these to grow, and can you offer any advice, please? The second lot are taking up space in the propagator I want to use, and I still have a few seeds left.

[saddad]

I'm struggling with my normal peas too, I think it's the compost... but it has been a funny season so far!

[Tee Gee]

are taking up space in the propagator

Is this the clue?

I don't know this plant as such but if it is anything like other lathyrus you may be trying to germinate in conditions that are too hot/warm for it. Another thing is; was soaking them prior to sowing recommended in the instructions?

What I found with sweet peas for example is; it is better to surface sow in cell trays and wet them regularly until they chit then cover them with compost.

From experience what I often found was that with sweet peas if soaked and covered in compost is they " cook" for want of a better word and turn to mush if the temperature is too high!

Think of it this way; if these were being germinated in the wild the seeds would fall onto the surface of the soil below and get weathered and possibly covered in natural detritus then germinate.

This is only a suggestion ! As I mentioned I have never grown them before.

[gray1720]

Hmm - that's a good call, I'll check the destructions on the packet. It may well be that the propagator is too warm, and room temperature would be plenty.

My ordinary peas aren't germinating all that well, either, though it has indeed been a very odd spring!

[Tee Gee]

though it has indeed been a very odd spring!

Indeed! Quite often too warm for my liking! Seedlings want cool frost free hardening off conditions, not heat waves!

[gray1720]

The destructions are:

Sow indoors Autumn-Spring. Sow directly after danger of frost has passed. Prior to sowing soak seed for 24 hours. Drain. Indoors, sow 3 seeds in 8cm pot, 10mm deep into moist well-drained soil. Propagate 20-25°C. Germination takes 7-21 days. Once germinated grow on in cooler conditions. Acclimatise and plant out after danger of frost has passed. Directly, sow into drills of prepared soil, 25mm deep, 8cm spacing.

That is, as far as I can see, exactly the same as other sweet peas in the catalogue (Chiltern), which SWMBO has simply stuck into root trainers in the greenhouse and most, barring some very elderly seed, have grown (I will check she didn't soak them first!)

I think I'm going to try your surface sowing tactic, Tee Gee, and do them on the windowsill where I can keep an eye on them.  If there's still nothing... I shall swear!

[Tee Gee]

I think I'm going to try your surface sowing tactic, Tee Gee, and do them on the windowsill where I can keep an eye on them.

Keep one of these handy! I find this is the best way to not over water. Regular misting I find keeps the shell of the seed moist until germination (chitting) takes place.

[gray1720]

You may be right about the cooking - propagator 1 turns out to be running at 26-7C (the two arms of the max-min don't agree!), and No 2 is running at a stupendous 27-29!

The last four seeds are on the surface of a pot on the window sill, under a lid.

I wonder what else failed because I cooked it?

[gray1720]

Hmm. My seed storage conditions (in the passage at the back of the house, which I refer to as the back passage for obvious reasons) may not be ideal either. Two opened packs of seed beans have gone mouldy in storage, and an unopened pack of dwarf borlotto has done the same. Confusingly, the not-sure-whether-they-are-dwarf-or-climbing borlotto* and the yin yang in the same box next to them are fine. I suspect more care is needed in handling, I suspect they got a bit damp when I was sowing last year - though that doesn't explain the unopened pack.

*I keep getting "dwarf" borlotti that climb, and I never remember to make a note on the pack. It might be these ones, or I might have finished them and bought a fresh pack. You wouldn't believe I'm a scientist in the day time, would you?