Japanese Catnip
Answered by: Conrad Richter
Question from: John Cook
Posted on: March 22, 2000

Thankyou for your timely response to my queries about St Johns Wort. I will be placing an order soon. How deep does the seed want planting?

It is very fine seed; no deeper than 3-5 mm in the field, 2-3 mm in seedflats.

Further to my last enquiry I have just recieved a request for Schizonepeta tenuifolia. Do you have any certified seed for this species. I will be establishing this by field sowing with a precision drill. Can you tell me a suggested target palnt spacing, drilling depth and seed rate? I would appreciate an estimate of germination percentage and seed size.

There is no "certified" seed available. However, we are confident of the botanical identity of our material. There are 2000-2100 seeds per gram. The germination rate ranges between 50 and 70%. There is no commercial agronomic information on this crop available at this time so it will take a bit of experimentation to work out optimum spacing and cropping details. This herb is not in commercial cultivation in the west, except possibly in very small plots. We think that it has potential, but that potential has not been realized to date. For now, assume that you will be sowing 5-10 kg/ha direct, or 5-10 grams per 1000 cells indirect.

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