I sowed some Black Currant datura on Feb 5. I had 2 germinate a couple of weeks ago and the rest last week. I sowed them in peat pellets....nothing special at all. Plain ole shop lights and flourescent bulbs. When they first germinated, I wasn't sure if they'd make it because they looked strange, but then realized it just took a week or so for the seedling to lose the seed casing. The first two look nice and strong now.

I heard they were difficult to germinate, but they haven't been a problem so far..we'll see if they survive! Good luck

~Deb

I couldn't resist posting my thoughts here even though I am not really answering your question.

I was curious to know what you were talking about as the name sounded familiar, so I did a google on 'Datura' and in the images found the pictures of Datura. I can't believe someone is trying to grow it ! It used to be a menace in my hometown in India..growing everywhere there was black cotton soil and some sunlight..I mean literally everywhere..around houses, along the roads..people used to ignore it probably because they didn't care and also because someone was harvesting parts of the plant for country cigarrettes and other medicines and narcotics. People used it to adultrate other food grains. I never knew it was something a gardener would want to grow. In India, it is called 'Dhatura' . From the way it used to grow there, I can tell you that it had no problems of germination. The climate in my hometown of Bhopal is very hot in the three months summers (110+ as high and lows in 90s) followed by monsoon rains and the soil was black cotton.

I'm pretty sure here in zone 5, it's just an annual. I don't think it reseeds with our freezing winters, so there is no problem with it becoming invasive. I do believe they are poisionous if injested though.

This is my first time growing them. I have 5 seedlings. The blooms look gorgeous.

Now I just have to decide if I want to grow them in a container, or directly in the ground. Any suggestions?

~Deb

I think it can be a perennial in Zone 5. I've seen pics in the midwest forum and comments about it self seeding. But you can easily avoid it dropping too many seeds by cutting of the seed pods before they mature. Deb I'm going to grow mine in containers to keep it out of the reach of kids.

Mxk,

I am having the same problem as you. I got some earlier this year and they were labeled as Brugmansias. I soaked them and then put them in a baggie and got them to germinate. I was pretty annoyed when I found out they were daturas and not Brugs. Now I got some datura seeds (Black Current Swirl & Yellow) and I can't get one to germinate for the life of me now that I actually want one.

Sometimes you just can't win. :0) But I think a gentle nick and soaking in warm water followed by placing them in a very warm location should help.

I started datura inoxia from seed last year. I winter sowed mine, so I didn't knick or soak the seeds. I had good germination. I planted mine in the ground, so I'm no help on if you could put it in a container.

It'll only re-seed if you let it. The seed pods are huge and not easily missed. So if you don't want it to get out of control, just cut the seed pods off. Then you won't have a problem!

I'm not expecting mine to come back this year so I'm treating it as an annual.

Tracy

I wintersowed them...worked for me fine. Mine were the plain ol' white Datura inoxia which can be perennial zone 5 up, but pulled mine after collecting seed. Grew best for me in the nastiest, poorest, rockiest spot I had growing to a spread of 4.5 feet and non-stop evening/night/cloudy day flowering. Those planted out in prepared good garden beds barely managed to produce a few blooms and were small un-noticable plants.

Collect pods before bursting...they will self-sow like crazy....if a seed finds a crack in a sidewalk they will sprout LOL!

Vera

It's been a week and a half and I'm still (impatiently) waiting. Everything else was up and running in no time except these. Poop!

The purple ones are kinda weedy for me, but I love the white ones. They germinate outside when it's a little warmer and the winter sown ones germinated when the tomatoes do. They re-seed nicely here - not too invasive.

It is an annual here in Columbus, Ohio zone 5/6.

It does wonderful in zone 5 from seed. Mine go wild and I save the pods and am always doing seed exchanges. I have damp clay soil and grows mostly in a shady area of my yard...mine just thrive there.

Please handle these carefully. Mine reseeded themselves in S.E. Ohio and I had stored some seed pods to sow the next summer. As careygardener says they are toxic. My cat got into the pods, and even though they are spiny, evidently had chewed on some. She survived, but it was a very unpleasant situation. There have been cases of abuse and poisonings because they are hallucinogenic.