Seedling Arisaemas

[swords]

Hey folks,
Got a bumper crop of seedlings actually germinating this year. But I'm most curious about the jack in the pulpit seedlings.
Offhand they are:
A. jacquemontii
A. flavum
A. consanguineum
A. ciliatum
and there are others I've forgotten and some which haven't yet emerged.

They have almost all put up one small undivided leaf about 1/2" -1" depending upon the species but I'm curious if there will be another more mature leaf coming up this year of if this is it their show for this year and I should just put them out in the cold frame and feed them well until they go dormant in fall?

Anyone got tips for raising Arisemas from seed? Like, can I double the growing season and get them bigger faster like lilly seedlings by putting them into an early dormancy in summer and restart the tiny corms again in the fall?

 

[PlantAKiss]

Hmmmm...that's encouraging to hear you got germination. I just bought a variety of Jack seeds off eBay (at least its SUPPOSED to be an assortment though the envelope was labeled differently). Anyway, I did some reading on the internet about growing Arisaema from seed and it was pretty dire. Said if the seed had dried out, forget it...or might takes years to germinate, etc. etc. My seeds are still in the fridge. I had pretty much prepared myself not to expect too much from these seeds. Maybe I'll be wrong.

Congrats on your germination. Unfortunately I can't answer your questions.

 

[swords]

This was my best year for seeds ever, usually I'm a dismal failure for getting seeds of anything to germinate. Soak dry seeds in R/O water for 48 hours prior to sowing, all mine were dry and sent in the middle of winter from the UK.

I "thought" I had read my Genus Arisaema book throughly and there wasn't much info on growing from seed but I was wrong so i got an answer to my questions and I'll fill you in on what I read last night:

The first year most arisaemas will sprout except for A. thumbergii and a few others will only make a corm under the soil the first year and only make a leaf the second year.

The first year Those with leaves will only produce this pseudoleaf called an elophyll so they should be kept under lights and fed well to fatten up the corm for it's first dormancy.

Once the first pseudoleaf starts to yellow the pots can stop being watered and allowed to dry out then moved to a cool location or, as I will do, be put into a bag of perlite and stored in the fridge for 90 days and then restarted again underlights to get 2 years in one. Generally it's said to take 4-6 years to get flowering sized arisaema from seeds but with 2 dormancies per year you can have them in 2-3 years. Lotsa work but they are cool plants!