viability VII(a)

a caveat up front...today's posts will probably exhaust anyone other than the teosinte fanatic...proceed with that in mind...two of the seeds in the batch of two year old seeds from native seed search were ready to be planted this evening ( top photo ) including the oddly formed one in the second photo...there was sufficient ( i before e except after c violated profoundly in that word )movement in one of the seeds brought in from the plants i grew outdoors last fall to warrant a planting as well ( third photo )...so i prepared peat pots with a mixture of compost and potting soil, watered the soil well, and in they went ( bottom two photos ) i am running out of counter space so i whisked these downstairs and under one of the lights where, after a day of exposure, i will be attempting to mimic some sort of reasonable photo-period for them..that's five well germinated seeds from three different sources so far...i begin to think the dearth of commercially available seed this autumn isn't going to be such an issue after all...outdoor "naturalizing' is next on the agenda as well as a test germination of some zea mexicana seeds the coach returned to me yesterday ( thanks mik! )...the whole teosinte business may die down...but it won't be soon...however there are potato fruits and their processing looming...more on that as the continue to ripen.