Please find for sale 10+ Schisandra Chinensis seeds, better known as "Five Flavor Berry", (without the "u"!!!), Chinese Magnolia-vine, Schisandraor
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Schisandra Chinensis is a perennial, deciduous woody vine plant found at high latitudes and in cool climatic conditions. It commonly grows in natural coniferous or mixed forests or along streams and climbs up other trees or shrubs to reach optimal light conditions. As such it is fully hardy to anywhere in the UK, Scandinavia or Northern Europe. This shade tolerant plant will scramble quickly up trees, walls or trellises.
The vine produces dense clusters of purple-red berries are described as having five tastes: sweet, salty, bitter, pungent, and sour. The seeds of the Schisandra berry contain lignans. These are substances which may have beneficial effects on health and may explain why this plant has been used in Chinese herbal medicine for millennia - in fact it was used by the military the Soviet Union in WW2 and beyond!
Please note. You will need to grow several of these plants to ensure you get berries as plants are either male or female.
Seed Germination
This plant has a slightly unusual 8 week warm/cool cycle to get good germination rates by breaking the inherent dormancy in the seeds. In a nutshell, they should germinate after 8 weeks the first 4 weeks in a warm place and the next four in a cooler place. NOTE: Dont give up on these - I had some very good and late germination on these last year - no idea why!
- Soak seeds for in warm water for 24 hours.
- Prepare a tray of good quality compost (ideally 50% compost and vermiculite or horticultural sand.
- Sow seeds 0.5cm and cover with a fine layer of sieved compost
- Loosely cover with clean bag but with air holes
- Place in warm place (20-25c) but out of direct sunlight
- Ensure compost does not dry up
- Keep in this warm place for 4 weeks
- After 4 weeks, move the tray to a much cooler place - on a north facing wall outdoors.
- Seeds should germinate after around 8 weeks
Olly's General Guide to Seed Sowing!
I love sowing seeds and it runs in the family - dad, granddad and finally my great-granddad for whom the hobby helped him get over his experiences in the Great War. I still get a big kick when I see the first seedliing poking through from a new plant that I have never sown before or been successful at. However, even the most experienced gardeners draw "blanks" from time to time. Whilst I sow all the seeds that I sell so I know that they are viable, some are trickier than others and problems can arise so here are some tips to make "blanks" few and far between:
1) Dont Rush! Tempting though it is when that packet arrives in the post to simply bung the seeds in some compost!
2) Google and Youtube are your friends! Take some time so see the methods other people use to germinate the seed.
3) Think Nature! What conditions do seeds face? For example a seed from a tropical plant will fall to the warm, wet and dark jungle floor. A seed from the mountains of Europe will fall to the floor in Autumn, then have to endure months of freezing temperatures before germinating in the spring. So as growers, what we are trying to do is to simulate the conditions that the seeds will naturally experience and there are plenty of tricks that can be done to short cut the processes somewhat.
4) Good compost pays dividends . The best investment you can make is to purchase three bags - one of potting compost, one of vermiculite and one of horticultural sand. With these three bags I can make up whatever soil type a particular seed likes (although for most seeds I find a 50/50 mix of compost and vermiculite works just fine)
5) Rot is your enemy. The single biggest danger to seed germination is rot - either before or after "damping off" the seeds germinate. To reduce the risk, ensure you have good free draing soil mix and that it is moist but not wet. Unless the seed variety absolutely requires it I prefer NOT to cover my seeds trays with plastic bags, Whilst germination is often faster this way, it greatly increases the risk of rot. I prefer to place my seed trans inside a watertight plastic tray and water from the bottom - airflow over the surface reduces the risk.
Overseas Orders
Buyers please note that they are responsible for any local customs duties or other taxes in their local country and should also ensure compliance with an bio security regulations. If you want international tracking, please message me before placing order as this can be expensive.
Problem? Dont rush to Feedback - get in touch and I will sort it out!
