Spring Seed Give-away 2008

Black Cohosh Germination
Richo Cech, from Growing At Risk Medicinal Plants pp 16-17

Cultivation from seed. Cultivation of black cohosh from seed yields several advantages: genetic diversity is enhanced, hundreds of individuals may be propagated from a single parent plant, and in my experience seedlings are more disease resistant than plants grown from cuttings. Seeds are best sown in about ¼ inch (~0.64 cm) deep in well-drained soil, tamped in and kept moist and shaded throughout their stratification and early growth. To sprout, the seed requires a short period (at least 2 weeks) of warm conditions (~70 degrees F = ~21 degrees C) followed by an extended period (at least 3 months) of cold conditions (~40 degrees F = ~4 degrees C). Black cohosh seed was sown on 1/23/01 at Horizon Herbs Seed Farm in outdoor conditions. The seeds emerged as vigorous seedlings on 4/8/02, a germination period of 440 days. If the warm stratification period doesn’t do the trick, the seed may demonstrate double dormancy and germinate after a period of approximately 800 days. A recent study of germination characteristics of tall bugbane (Cimicifuga elata) demonstrated the same requirement of a warm/cold/warm cycle (Kaye, 1999).

These conditions may be provided naturally by sowing the recent seed in the late summer or early autumn in a shaded outdoor nursery bed or in shaded outdoor flats. Alternatively and usually with less success, the seed may be artificially stratified by mixing it in a barely moist medium (sand, potting soil, vermiculite or peat). The bag is then subjected to at least 2 weeks of warm temperatures, followed by 3 months of cold treatment. The mixture is then removed from the bag and planted in a warm greenhouse. Germination is epigeal (that is, the seed leaves emerge from the ground, as opposed to hypogeal germination where the first leaves to emerge are true leaves). Average cultivation success with black cohosh seed is about 25% and can range as high as 90%, but complete failures are not uncommon.

Seedlings may be grown at close spacing (~2 inches = ~5 cm) in the flat or nursery bed until they produce their second set of true leaves. At this point, they are best transplanted to individual gallon pots or to a wider spacing (6 inches = ~15 cm) in the nursery bed. During the first year of growth, the plant must be kept adequately shaded. I find that dappled forest shade is fine, and in controlled conditions (shadehouse or greenhouse) a 66% shade cloth has proven completely serviceable.

Potted plants may be transplanted after 1 or 2 years of growth, either in the fall or in the spring. Space the plants 2 feet (60 cm) or more apart. Bare-rooted transplants dug out of nursery beds are best transplanted in the fall, just after the aerial parts go dormant. If plants are to be placed in an unprotected woodland situation, care should be taken to intersperse them among existing features such as rocks, trees and different species of perennial plants and ferns in order to mix the ecology, not providing a monocrop lunch for visiting herbivores. The newly transplanted rhizomes will produce white, hair-like feeder roots in the cooling autumn soils. These rootlets help secure the plant, both physically and nutritionally, to survive the long winter dormancy in top form.

CURRENT MEMBERS ONLY are eligible to participate!

Planting instructions will be included with your order. To cover shipping and handling costs, please include a check or money order for $5.00 with your name and post office mailing address to:

UpS Spring '08 Seed Give-away, PO Box 400, East Barre, VT 05649

 UpS Fall Give-Away 2008

Be on the lookout for a summer postcard announcement of our Fall Give-Away plants!

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UpS' Journal of Medicinal Plant Conservation is the voice of our members and other concerned individuals interested in the conservation and cultivation of native North American medicinal plants. We encourage you to send us your opinions and thoughts for submission to the Journal. Though many of the articles presented express opposing and / or controversial viewpoints, we make an effort to print as many of these articles as space alllows, in an attempt to present the many views of these subjects. It is important while reading the Journal to remember that the articles are the opinions / experiences solely of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the view and / or mission of UpS. They are presented for discussion and review, and as part of an educational process.