Kidney Vetch update

I've recently heard from two Glasgow & SW Scotland branch members, Owen Figgis in Castle Douglas and Dr Eric Watson in Dundonald, who have both been busy growing Kidney Vetch for the Small Blue project.

Packets of kidney vetch seeds of Scottish provenance were obtained from Scotia seeds ,and sent to everyone who had offered to help raise plants.Vetch seeds can reportedly be quite tricky to germinate and often need to be scarified (rubbed with sandpaper) or soaked to stimulate germination. However we seem to have had a bit of luck with this batch of seeds!

Eric wrote to say how surprised he was at the speed of germination. Just 48 hours after sowing he reported that the seedlings were 0.5 to 1 cm in length and growing well.
Owen was equally pleased by the the speed and success of germination. He had tried scarifying one half of the seeds and soaking the other half overnight. 2 days later both had germinated with the soaked seeds slightly further ahead. Both sets of seeds had a very high rate of germination! After spending the weekend pricking out seedlings, Owen reported over 500 healthy young plants growing in his poly tunnel. We should have loads for planting later in the year!

Hopefully this bodes well for the seeds we will sow directly into the prepared ground at Gailes Marsh. Fingers crossed that they are as viable and rapid to germinate!

Gill Smart the reserve manager for SWT's Ayrshire reserves managed to collect some kidney vetch seed from Gailes Marsh during 2009 and so hopefully we'll have some local kidney vetch plants to return to the site.

If you would like to help by growing kidney vetch plants for the Small Blue project please get in touch and I'll send you some seeds. Kidney vetch flowers are nectar rich and great for bees and other insects too, so consider growing some for your garden, rockery or even window box too!

Small Blue on Kidney Vetch