• A short update one temperature treatments for germination of peony seeds. As was noted a constant temperature was better than fluctuating temperatures. The seeds which went into the warm treatment later did show a difference in that the one that were left in my house at some 22-23°C had hardly made any progress and showed as good as no…Read More

  • Temperature treatments for peony seed germination

    It's a well-known fact that for good peony seed germination there's a sequence of temperatures required. The usual procedure is to give an extended period of warm temperatures as soon as the seeds are harvested in late Summer. This...

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    • Thank you Koen for this usefull information!
      I also got better results for the seeds that were placed in a constant warm place for at least 3 months.

    • Thanks, Koen! Very illustrative photo’s.

    • Thanks Koen, I have also better results when I placed my seeds in constant temprature in my ‘home made’ climate chamber. In the past I did some trials with gibberellin treatments, do you have experience with this treatments?

      • Yes. But I’ll have to admit that I haven’t done a decent trial comparing seeds treated with GA3 and a control group. When soaking the seeds 24-48 hours prior to the warm treatment in vermiculite, the water has a concentration of 200 ppm (parts per million) GA3. Given the standard weight and concentration of GA3 tablets (10 gr tablets, 10% active ingredient), there is normally 1 gram of pure GA3 in them each time. Thus you need 1 tablet for 5 litres of water. (5 litres = 5 kg = 5,000 grammes and 1 gram GA3 is thus a concentration of 1/5000 or 200/1.000.000 if you convert, thus 200 ppm or mg). I can see you’re a member in the hybridizer’s corner, have a look at the paper: Diversity of Treatments in Overcoming Morphophysiological Dormancy of Paeonia peregrina Mill. Seeds. In it several treatments with differing concentrations of GA3 have been tried and 200 ppm (=mg) seemed to give the best result. Given those results I simply used that concentration and then forgot to make a control to see if it also the best solution for other species/crosses than P. peregrina, but I reckon there won’t be too much of a difference.

  • Another great article Koen on seed germination. I really enjoy your work with peonies and the fact you share it with all of us. Thank you!
    I have also experienced similar results with consistent warm temperatures and better germination. My temperatures fluctuated about 2-3 degrees Celsius between daytime and nighttime, and the results for good…Read More

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  • Dutch peony market 2024

    Peony market satisfactory, crop protection remains challenging. Translated from: Van der Lee, H. 'Pioenrozen staan tegenwoordig overal.' In: Greenity, no. 185, November 27th, 2024. The fact that peonies made the eight o'clock news last year after the hail damage says something...

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