Topic: candleabra primroses

[shirlton]

When do you take the seeds off the plants  and when do you sow them. Have got a lovely orange one and want some more

[Tee Gee]

Now if the seeds are ripe!

see here; http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Primula/Primula.htm

[shirlton]

I will have to wait a while then cos mine are still green. Just hope I dont miss them ripening

[Robert_Brenchley]

Green primula seed will often grow. It has a very short life, so it's probably better to plant a little too early if anything. I have very little luck with them; cowslips seed all over the place but the plot dries out in summer a lot, and it's too much for other types.

[laurieuk]

Primula seed germinates best if kept moist and one of doing this is with a porous house brick. You need one that has a frog (dip in the top). You fill the dip with compost, stand the brick in a tray that will hold water. Using a rose on the can water over the brick and compost you need about 2cm of water in the tray. Do this the day before sowing the seed. You look across the soil not down on it, if it shines it is too wet you want it moist. You sow the seed  and only just cover , all the time you keep water at the same level in the tray the compost stays moist and you get a very good germination. I have done various small seed like this to avoid the surface drying out and losing the very small seedlings.

[GrannieAnnie]

Primula seed germinates best if kept moist and one of doing this is with a porous house brick. You need one that has a frog (dip in the top). You fill the dip with compost, stand the brick in a tray that will hold water. Using a rose on the can water over the brick and compost you need about 2cm of water in the tray. Do this the day before sowing the seed. You look across the soil not down on it, if it shines it is too wet you want it moist. You sow the seed  and only just cover , all the time you keep water at the same level in the tray the compost stays moist and you get a very good germination. I have done various small seed like this to avoid the surface drying out and losing the very small seedlings.

How deep does the dip in the brick have to be, or, how deep does the compost have to be? I've never heard of this method although we often find nice plants germinated between the bricks in our walkway which gets tricky trying to extricate them from the cracked mortar.

[shirlton]

Do you know Laurie that is a really good tip. I will definitely try it.

[laurieuk]

I am sorry if I am not being clear about the brick but I am a gardener rather than a builder. Many bricks have what is called a "frog" it is a dip in which the cement goes. I think they are all about the same depth and you just fill that level.

[shirlton]

We have quite a few bricks like that lying around Laurie. Looked at the seedheads again today but still quite green

[valmarg]

We've got a candelabra primula which sounds very much like yours.  I don't know where it came from because we certainly dindn't plant it where it appeared (in amongst the runner bean row). ;D

It quite readily self-seeds, and has grown in several other places in the garden.

I find primula is one of the seeds best sown fresh, ie as soon as ripe (keep looking). ;D  Once you've got the ripe seed, sow it in a tray of compost on a layer of vermiculite, and leave it outside over Winter.  That way you will replicate the 'self seeding' conditions.

Another method of increasing your stock, is to dig the plant up and split it into florets.

valmarg

[shirlton]

Thanks for the info Valmarg. They ain't ripe yet though

[Pesky Wabbit]

All frogs are the same. All bricks with a frog in them are made by the London Brick Co. - its their trademarked style. You'll probably find their name embossed in the frog.

The London Brick Co. first started making bricks with frog in 1899. Although their now made mainly in Bedfordshire, they are still called London Bricks. They reckon about 5 million houses in the UK are made from London Brick, many of the houses bombed in WW2 were rebuilt with London Brick.

Note Froglegs and froglets are not cavities in bricks and you should not insert seed in them for propagation purposes.  Just like to make that clear. ;)

[Robert_Brenchley]

Don't try to build them into walls either.