The New Deno Supplement

[George R Stilwell, Jr.]

The book deals with "Seed Germination Theory & Practice". Not
surprisingly, it does not
mention storing tubers or other "already germinated" material.

The section on dry storage discusses the effects that dry storing seed
has on certain species.
As you know, dry storing Helleborus seed is asking for trouble. But, dry
storing Strelitzia reginae
germinates in a week or two providing it has been dry stored at 70F for a
year. Fresh seed fails
to germinate at all. Deno discusses another species with this strange
behavior as well.

I store my Arisaema tubers in the ground where they're growing. No
worries about fungus, etc.
Carl-Otto Zita stores his the same way in Sweden where the ground freezes
down 4 feet in winter.

I would only caution that one needs two cycles of growth on some species
to be sure they will
survive well in a cold climate. The forcing technique described by Craig
Stubbs assures this.
And, excess water in winter can damage tubers as well, so good drainage
is important for some
species. On the other hand, I have A. tortuosum growing in a shady pine
bark raised bed
and in a sunny low lying section composed of heavy clay that stays soggy
all winter.
Both sets of plants grow wonderfully well. The only difference is the
bark-shade plants cycle
is about 1 to 1 1/2 months earlier than the clay-sun plants. The length
of time growing is about the same.
The clay-sun set has produced seed twice while the bark-shade set has not
even though the
age is the same. I've about concluded that A. tortuosum is
indestructible.

A. ringens and A. sikokianum have the habit of arising with perfect
timing to be clobbered
by a late frost. Re-locating them on the north side of the house helped
delay emergence.

So, my motto is store them in the ground where they grow. After all, they
are wild flowers.

Ray
<GRSJr at Juno.com>