Planting Black Bryony?

[Jim Ford]

I've tried several times sowing the berries of Black Bryony along the hawthorn hedge at the bottom of our garden, with no success.

Has anyone had success in growing it in their garden?

Jim

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

I've tried several times sowing the berries of Black Bryony along the hawthorn hedge at the bottom of our garden, with no success. Has anyone had success in growing it in their garden? Jim

I've not tried to propogate it but I'd suggest you are more likely to have success by pot growing and then planting out established plants - the following is taken from the Plants for a Future website, you can substitute a shollow pot for a cold frame, but I'd suggest winter cold is probably essential to bring the seed out of dormancy:

Seed - sow in a cold frame in early spring or as soon as the seed is ripe in the autumn. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots once they are large enough to handle, and plant out in the summer or in late spring of the following year.

CM

[Johnny Redgate]

As CM says, a cold treatment may be necessary so it is often worthwhile leaving sown seeds of native species over the winter before giving up on them. Also definitely up your chances of success by sowing in pots - think how many seeds falling in the wild fail to establish. Finally you could try a light scarification of the seed prior to sowing - light rubbing between sheets of fine sand paper to simulate passage through a bird's digestive system. Just try it on a proportion.

I used to have a brilliant book called Planting Native Trees and Shrubs giving cultivation details for most things. Unfortunately I lent it to someone and I've never seen it again. There's a moral there somewhere.