This trial was intended to establish how much difference bottom heat makes to seed germination and subsequent plant development. There are three varieties in this trial

  1. Aquilegia ‘greenapples’
  2. Zephyranthes citrina
  3. Anthemis punctata

The ‘cold’ aquilegia are catching up with their warmer brethren. The germination rate was similar. The plants are a similar height, here they are in comparison.

Cold batch on the left, heated on the right.

Both batches were sown on the same day. So, while the heated group did get a boost, they germinated about 2 weeks faster than the cool kids, there is no other advantage, if anything the cold group plants look healthier than the other one.

The Zephyranthes germinated at a higher rate in the warm group, Five germinated (72%) vs two (28%) in the cold group, although it was a small seed sample.

Cool on the left, hot on the right.

The 5 “hot” plants are a little larger and better developed than their “cool” brethren. That coupled with the higher germination rate makes the heated camp the winner.  Nothing to write home about though.

The third group, the anthemis, are a dead loss. Neither batch has germinated.

I’m drawing this trial to a close at this point. It’s a narrow win for the heated batches. There’s an advantage in speed of germination and rate. But not much.  Perhaps I’ll do a larger trial next year.

I’ll be back soon with more propagating news and tips.