Aristolochia - Best time to start seeds

Last year the passiflora bug bit me and after looking at all the amazing pictures of the aristolochia I've been bitten by that bug too for next year.

I received Aristolochia fimbriata and gigantea seeds in a trade this year and am wondering when the best time to start them will be for earliest blooms and would appreciate any advice on the best way to start the seeds as I have zero experience with Aristolochia.

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These are a first for me too. I have recently started Aristolochia fimbriata seed and currently have 8 little seedlings. I don't know if the cool nights slowed their development or if they simply take a while to establish some roots before they begin growing but mine are growing slowly. I did bring them inside, put them under a simple fluorescent light by a window and they're begining to grow a bit now. They are still very tiny but other than their size, appear healthy. I recently misted them with a diluted liquid MG fert and bottom watered the little cell packs with the same diluted fert water. The seed germinated about 8 weeks ago.

For soil, I used dampened ProMix potting mix and sprinkled a bit of vermiculite on the surface and misted it before inserting the little seeds, pointy end down. I left the wide end of the seed uncovered and slipped the cells into a plastic bag until the seed began to germinate. Before planting the seed, I wrapped them in a damp paper towel, sealed in a plastic baggie and kept them in a warm'ish spot for a week or so, to allow the seed covering to soften a bit.

I've now got three more seeds in a paper towel in a baggie and will plant them into cells next week. I hope I have as much luck with these as I did with the first group. I plan to plant at least some of them in hanging baskets next spring. My main reason for growing them is as a host plant for the butterflies.

I've had no experience with the other vine.

Best of luck to you. It's always fun to try something new.

Mary

X,

You should start them in the spring or late winter. They will likely take a month or more to sprout, and then they will probably need to grow 6 to 8 weeks before they are ready for the outdoors. I usually plant them in Miracle Gro that I run through a quarter inch screen to take out all the wood chips. I pre-soak a long time (4 to 6 weeks) in wet paper towels placed inside of a plastic shoebox. Then plant the seed flat, and not more than one seed's width deep. I use a heat mat set to 80 degrees with a humidity dome. I transplant the seedlings to individual 12 oz styro cups about 10 to 15 days after they sprout. I put a clear plastic cup over the styro as a humidity dome, and gradually lift it off after a week or two. Once the seedling is a few inches tall, I put a wooden schish-ka-bob skewer in the cup. The seedling should start to twine around it, and when it reaches the top (about 8 inches tall), it is ready to harden off. Most aristolochia bloom in the second or third year when started from seed. They are worth the wait though--I had 10 different varieties bloom this summer, and it was quite a show!

Good luck!
Mark

Thanks for the info .. since they need a long soak I am thinking they are hard coat seeds, have you tried nicking them to see if they wake up sooner? or does the coat have a chemical germination inhibitor that needs to be leeched out?

X

X,

Most of them have somewhat thin coats. The only one I've grown with a really thick coat is grandiflora. I don't nick them, but I have found that seeds with broken edges germinate well. I'm not sure why a longer soak time seems to work, but I'm thinking maybe the late winter/early spring season may be a relatively wet season in the native habitat for most aristolochia. It is certainly possible that the seed coat may contain a germination inhibitor, but I don't know for sure. But the long soak time has worked well for me on more than one occasion, so I'm sticking with it.

Mark

I'll definitely follow your advice .. I'm totally new to aristolochia .. after years of looking at all those awesome pictures, i finally couldn't resist.

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