Refrigerator time

[George R Stilwell, Jr.]

Paul,

You don't live in Canada. Read Craig Stubbs last posting to see how
forcing drastically changed the death rate on Arisaema seedlings. I lived
through his early trials and tribulations as seedlings died every winter.
The extra "seasons" growth made all the difference.

If you got a few seed of a rare species, wouldn't it be prudent to reduce
the time to flowering and setting seed at the cost of a little
refrigerator space. The producer first to market seems to charge like
crazy in any field and Arisaema are no exception. The first add I found
for A. sikokianum asked $44 per tuber. Within a couple of years that was
down to a few dollars. That one is prolific. Some others are not and
speeding up the process could be valuable.

However, as you noted, the main forcers are in cold climates. Their
principle objective is to grow the less cold hardy plants with minimum
loss of seedlings in the winter.

Ray
GRSJr at Juno.com