[dinahdabble]

I got some vanilla grass (holy, sweet or buffalo grass) seeds from Australia, and after some agonising over when to plant them have decided that, since they already just had winter over there, I'd be best sowing them now while still moderately fresh, and keeping any seedlings in a bright warm place over winter. I have rubbed and soaked them and they have just come out of the fridge after a months stratification - I can't think of anything else I can do to improve germination except to get the germination temperature right and the lighting conditions. With such a wide dispersal of these plants it is a bit difficult to work out what would be ideal - spring conditions I know, but spring where exactly, and which spring in the last 20 years should I try to emulate :?
[b]Does anyone know what temperature and light levels they actually need?[/b]
I've read that you can only expect 5% -15% germination, even with fresh seeds, so I am not expecting much out of 50, but it would be nice even to get one plant to start a patch somewhere. Any help would be so much appreciated. I really fancy being a custodian to a patch of holy grass :roll: and I think I have found an ideal place for them to grow once established
:D :D :D .

[dinahdabble]

I have 16 plants germinated :D :D :D :o They range from half an inch tall to one and a half inches with several leaves. I am jumping about with delight because I wasn't expecting anything like as many and the weather on the window ledge must have been perfect for them. Now I can be a real vanilla-grass custodian, which makes me very happy dispite my sounding like a pudding. :lol: :lol:

[dinahdabble]

There are now 26 of these growing from the 50 I planted (in case anyone is thinking to try growing them but worried about low germination). They have been very well behaved so far. One problem - cats think they are cat-grass! Luck had it I saw the cat just in time to save the plant that it had carefully uprooted in preparation for swallowing. I've banned cats from the room where they are growing. Some of them are nearly ready to go outside now, but I think I'll put them in the coldframe rather than out in the wild just for now.
I'm still looking for advise from people who've grown this grass. I'm utterly gibbering about their future health, and the cat incident left me so nervous I couldn't sleep. I tried counting sheep but then I thought about how likely the sheep would be to eat them, and that made it all seem so precarious... and what about deer and rabbits??? Not to mention slugs - oh dear, now I've said it!! I am going to need sedatives by the time these things get planted out

[sal]

hi.what do you use it for?sorry for my ignorance!!