Sowing Nemesia

[Mark Rand]

I tried sowing nemesia seeds last year. A very small number came up, then got damping off or equivalent. I sowed some a week ago on the surface of slightly damp compost, with a scatter of vermiculite on top and at 15°-18°C. They haven't shown any signs of life yet.

I can deal with the damping off with better care, but is there a trick to get decent germination in the first place? Do they need light or dark or some other special condition?

They're nice little flowers in the spring, but I can't work out how to get them to grow.

[Andraste]

They like it dark & warm to germinate - my grandmother always put her seed trays to start off in the airing cupboard

[Mark Rand]

That might be the problem.
I've moved the existing ones into the cupboard under the stairs. I'll sow some more tomorrow and put them in the same place.

[Andraste]

I know these can take anything up to 3 weeks or so to germinate but was just wondering if any of yours are showing yet Mark?

[Mark Rand]

Yes, a few have come up. This then leads to the problem of needing dark to germinate and needing light to grow. There do seem to be some more coming up now that I've put them back in the light.

The new pot that I sowed four days ago seems to have got some mildew on the seeds, which probably means that they're a write-off. I've got some compost in the oven to sterilise, so I can try again...

[Andraste]

Fingers crossed Keep us updated x

[Mark Rand]

There are half a dozen survivors from the first attempts 17 and 9 days ago. The latest attempt from a couple of days ago hasn't gone wrong yet...

[Andraste]

Fussy little blighters I think I'd be tempted to try chitting so they can be dark to germinate then transfer just the sprouted ones to compost & leave the rest

[Jungle Jane]

Nemesia self seeds here outside & I don’t cover the seeds with anything,they’ve always germinated with daylight & a certain temperature (probably above 10 degrees but I don’t know). At the GC the other day along with the vanilla scented,they had banana aroma nemesia little plug plants £1.99 each,I got two plants to try,good luck with your seeds

[Containergardener]

I love the vanilla one. I'd like banana too but OH doesn't like bananas (the smell)

[Mark Rand]

I've now got just over 20 seedlings, all at the seed leaf stage still. It's very obvious that the seeds themselves are the source of the mildew, rather than the compost. At least for the well sterilised compost. It looks like a good spray of fungicide is needed at the time of sowing, not after symptoms show. I've noted this in my little list for next year.

The seeds, incidentally, came from Moles Seeds who I've found to be excellent for quality and price.

[Andraste]

Well done That's really interesting about the mildrew/fungicide