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- American Winterberry (Ilex verticillata)
American Winterberry (Ilex verticillata)
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Seed Prices
0.5 gram (approx 88 seeds) £0.99
1 gram (approx 176 seeds) £1.35
2 grams(approx 352 seeds) £1.85
5 grams (approx 880 seeds) £3.90
10 grams (approx 1760 seeds) £6.50
25 grams (approx 4400 seeds) £14.00
Use the drop down button below to select the seed quantity
0.5 gram (approx 88 seeds) £0.99
1 gram (approx 176 seeds) £1.35
2 grams(approx 352 seeds) £1.85
5 grams (approx 880 seeds) £3.90
10 grams (approx 1760 seeds) £6.50
25 grams (approx 4400 seeds) £14.00
Use the drop down button below to select the seed quantity
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Germination, Sowing and After Care for
American Winterberry (ilex verticillata)
The seeds of the American Winterberry have a deep dormancy within them, this requires a degree of patience to overcome.
First soak the seeds for 24 hours in warm water allowing it to cool to room temperature.
Next prepare a free draining substrate into which the seeds are to be mixed, this should be a 50/50 mixture of compost and sharp sand. This needs to be moist (but not wet), if you can squeeze water out of it with your hand it is too wet and your seeds may drown and die. Mix the seeds into the stratification medium, making sure that their is enough volume of material to keep the seeds separated.
Place the seed mixture into a clear plastic bag (freezer bags, especially zip-lock bags are very useful for this -provided a little gap is left in the seal for air exchange) If it is not a zip-lock type bag it needs to be loosely tied.
Write the date on the bag so that you know when the pre-treatment was started.
The seeds first require a period of warm pretreatment and need to be kept in temperatures of 20 Celsius (68F) for a period of at least 10 weeks. During this time make sure that the pretreatment medium does not dry out at any stage or it will be ineffective!
Next the seeds require a cold period to break the final part of the dormancy, this is easily achieved by placing the bag in the fridge at (4 Celsius or 39F) for at least 10 weeks. It is quite possible for the seeds to germinate in the bag at these temperatures when they are ready to do so, if they do, just remove them from the bag and carefully plant them up.
When the period of pre-treatment has finished the seed should be ready to be planted. Small quantities can be sown in pots or seed trays filled with a good quality compost and cover them with a thin layer of compost no more than 0.5 cm deep. For larger quantities it is easiest to sow the seeds in a well prepared seedbed outdoors once the warm and cold pre-treatments have finished.
It has also been found that fluctuating pre-treatment temperatures that mimic the natural cycle can give the best germination results and I have myself had excellent results by keeping the mixed seeds in a cold shed through the winter for the cold stage of their pre-treatment and allowing the temperature to fluctuate naturally. Ungerminated seeds can have the whole warm and cold process repeated again to enable more seeds to germinate. Fresh seedlings can keep germinating for up to 5 years after the original sowing date.
Seedlings should be kept shaded for the first year and not kept for long periods in strong sunshine. Do not expose newly sown seeds to high temperatures (above 25 Celsius). Keep the seedlings well watered and weed free.
Growth in the first year is usually between 5 and 10 cm depending on the time of germination and cultural techniques and developing seedlings are usually trouble free. Growth rate will increase during the second and subsequent years.
Allow them to grow for 2 or 3 years before planting them in a permanent position.
First soak the seeds for 24 hours in warm water allowing it to cool to room temperature.
Next prepare a free draining substrate into which the seeds are to be mixed, this should be a 50/50 mixture of compost and sharp sand. This needs to be moist (but not wet), if you can squeeze water out of it with your hand it is too wet and your seeds may drown and die. Mix the seeds into the stratification medium, making sure that their is enough volume of material to keep the seeds separated.
Place the seed mixture into a clear plastic bag (freezer bags, especially zip-lock bags are very useful for this -provided a little gap is left in the seal for air exchange) If it is not a zip-lock type bag it needs to be loosely tied.
Write the date on the bag so that you know when the pre-treatment was started.
The seeds first require a period of warm pretreatment and need to be kept in temperatures of 20 Celsius (68F) for a period of at least 10 weeks. During this time make sure that the pretreatment medium does not dry out at any stage or it will be ineffective!
Next the seeds require a cold period to break the final part of the dormancy, this is easily achieved by placing the bag in the fridge at (4 Celsius or 39F) for at least 10 weeks. It is quite possible for the seeds to germinate in the bag at these temperatures when they are ready to do so, if they do, just remove them from the bag and carefully plant them up.
When the period of pre-treatment has finished the seed should be ready to be planted. Small quantities can be sown in pots or seed trays filled with a good quality compost and cover them with a thin layer of compost no more than 0.5 cm deep. For larger quantities it is easiest to sow the seeds in a well prepared seedbed outdoors once the warm and cold pre-treatments have finished.
It has also been found that fluctuating pre-treatment temperatures that mimic the natural cycle can give the best germination results and I have myself had excellent results by keeping the mixed seeds in a cold shed through the winter for the cold stage of their pre-treatment and allowing the temperature to fluctuate naturally. Ungerminated seeds can have the whole warm and cold process repeated again to enable more seeds to germinate. Fresh seedlings can keep germinating for up to 5 years after the original sowing date.
Seedlings should be kept shaded for the first year and not kept for long periods in strong sunshine. Do not expose newly sown seeds to high temperatures (above 25 Celsius). Keep the seedlings well watered and weed free.
Growth in the first year is usually between 5 and 10 cm depending on the time of germination and cultural techniques and developing seedlings are usually trouble free. Growth rate will increase during the second and subsequent years.
Allow them to grow for 2 or 3 years before planting them in a permanent position.