A recording of the August 2021 meeting of the Plant Care and Propagation Working Group of the Global Conservation Consortium for Erica. Part 1 is the presentation by Benjamin Festus of SANBI’s Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden. It covers various aspects of propagating Erica species from seed, starting with general considerations for collecting, cleaning, and storing seed; sowing, including compost mix and smoke treatment to aid germination; and growing on, including feeding.
Part 2 includes discussion arising from Benjamin Festus’ presentation: we were particularly interested in the smoke treatment of seeds, composition of compost, the differences between growing conditions and e.g., optimal seed sowing time between South Africa and northern European gardens. Mike Pirie provided a brief update on activities of the consortium as a whole, and we discussed planning for transferring material and having successful growing protocols in place when other groups of the consortium have progressed e.g., to prioritise species for ex situ conservation.
Botanic Gardens Conservation International’s work aims to promote and develop a more efficient, cost effective and rational approach to plant conservation in botanic gardens. We will do this by leading and advocating, leading innovative and strategic projects, building plant conservation capacity, and providing funding.
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