Seed cleaning and slugs

[Anne Chambers]

A word of caution - I think most arisaema seedlings would take that
treatment but I have tried to lift seedlings of speciosum v. mirabile on two
occasions and have lost all of them. This seems to be quite a difficult
species to move at all stages.
Anne

----- Original Message -----
From: "Martin Ashworth" <martin at MASERVICES.FSNET.CO.UK>
To: <ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL>
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 5:50 PM
Subject: Re: Seed cleaning and slugs


> George
> You need to drill some holes, then you will lose seeds through holes. You
> cannot win. I would probably cover the area over the 'lost' seeds with a
> thick mulch of bark or leaf mould for winter protection. remove this in
> Spring, allowing seeds to germinate in the ground. Lift the seedlings into
> small pots to mature. Good Luck with whatever you decide let me know what
> happens.
> Martin
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "George Schonthaler" <GJSchonthaler at CS.COM>
> To: <ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL>
> Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2004 8:48 PM
> Subject: Antw: Re: Seed cleaning and slugs
>
>
> > Martin,
> >
> > > In UK I leave all 'seed' heads attached to plant for as long as
> possible,
> > >  they usually mature like this.
> > This is also the way the tortuosum (and flavum) seedsheads ripened.
> >
> > >  e head falls to the ground I remove it to a
> > >  safe place to store until mature. I have not yet left heads on the
> ground
> > >  for slugs, so have no experience of 'cleaning' seed by this method.
Are
> the
> > >  seeds viable after slug treatment?
> > I used to harvest them like you described, but lacked the time this year
> and
> > noticed the slugs to do the job for me. The seeds do not seem to get
> damaged.
> > They may contain 'additives' that make them unattractive to the slugs.
> >
> > Anyway, I tried to improve the method in placing the seedheads on a
> plastic
> > bowl, to prevent the getting lost in the soil. This gave some problems
> after a
> > shower of rain. No slugs, just water. I need to drill some holes.
> >
> > George