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laurelin_gw

Save seeds or sow immediately?

laurelin
17 years ago

I know I'm jumping the gun on this (since I don't even have scapes yet up here!), but I'm curious: when you collect your ripened seeds, do you sow them fresh and overwinter the seedlings in the garden (or greenhouse), or do you save them for planting the following spring? How do you save them to keep them viable?

Last year I tried sowing fresh seed and overwintering the seedlings, and from a half dozen sprouts indoors I'm down to three healthy seedlings outside (the others just withered away). I also winter-sowed a couple dozen seeds, and only got three small sprouts that are just limping along in the seedling bed outside now. I don't have a greenhouse, but the indoor seedlings were happy enough in a baggie-covered container on a sunny windowsill. What do northern hybridizers do to start seedlings?

THANK YOU for your advice and encouragement!

Laurel

Comments (5)

  • numama
    17 years ago

    Laurel,
    I'm new to growing from seed, but I'll share my experience. Last season I got a pod off Pearl Harbor and planted the seed right away. They sprouted, they were about 2 inches tall and healthy looking when winter set in. We had a very mild winter, they made it so early this spring I transplanted them to a new bed I had made. They are still very small and don't seem to be growing very fast as I planted some seed outdoors early spring and these seedlings are much bigger than the ones I transplanted into the bed?
    I got much better germination from the seeds I planted early spring than the ones I planted directly after sowing! As far as the greenhouse experience goes....I hope to learn some this year as my sis and I will be getting our greenhouse up soon!
    Nancy

  • laurelin
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Thanks, Nancy! I guess I'll still sow some fresh, and save some for later. I think I'll sow the saved seeds indoors midwinter, because for daylilies at least winter sowing was not very successful for me.

    I have NO IDEA what I'd do if I had high germination, though! My seedling bed has room for maybe 15 babies; it has six in it right now, but three will probably not make it (they're STILL tiny tiny). If I get pollen-happy, heaven help me find places to nurture the sprouts. Of course, there's always that space by the driveway turnaround - but the kids tend to walk/bounce balls there, and it's not exactly protected. Containers, maybe? We'll see how many seeds I wind up with this year.

    Laurel

  • highjack
    17 years ago

    Laurel did you winter sow in strange containers and not big pots? You might be more successful if you use the big pots (with fast draining medium) rather than some of the recommended salvage type containers. Many northern hybridizers direct sow their seeds in early winter to ensure they have no germination prior to spring.

    You will lose some seedlings every year and you will get lots of seeds that don't germinate - this is common for everyone. I think the WS ones tend to weed out the weak from the beginning.

    With your northern location, it will be very late for you to sow seeds after they are collected. This is asking a seedling to go into winter without a great root system or much energy in the crown to appear again next spring.

    Brooke

  • gonegardening
    17 years ago

    Not that I know...but I'll tell you about my experiences this year (my first with daylily seed). I, too, did some with winter sowing. I actually posted on the winter sowing forum but got very little, if any, response. So, I decided to just do some rather than a lot (I bought a lot of seeds)...I didn't get nearly as good germination as I did inside (more about that in a minute). However, those that did germinate are healthy things and have been moved to larger quarters and are doing terrific.

    Inside I used those shallow peat containers for starting my daylily seeds and I wouldn't recommend that. I had great germination for the most part, but those that I planted in pots in the window inside (vs. in those peat containers under lights) did much better...bigger, stronger, etc. I'm guessing the window light (west) was even better than my lights and the pots were deeper allowing for better root growth.

    All but one little group are now outside. Most of the ones from under the lights had good root systems, fortunately, as they seem to be putting up all new top growth. Consequently, at this moment, they look pretty small.

    These were all started Dec-Feb. The biggest ones as of today are those that were winter sown and those that were window grown in pots. However, I expect the others to catch up quickly.

    Oh, by the way. The seed I purchased (off the LA) had all been refrigerated. I kept them there also until I was ready to plant (I think there are some still in there, actually!).

  • laurelin
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Thanks, everyone! I'll have to try larger containers for winter sowing, since I'm sure to have more seeds this year than I can reasonably start indoors all at once. I can do some on the nice deep windowsills in our family room - I could start quite a few in pots. Those are the ones that did the best for me last year. The seed I saved from my own crosses I kept in the refrigerator until I used it to winter sow, so that was an okay choice. I guess I'll sow the biggest fresh seeds from favorite crosses indoors and overwinter the sprouts, and use the rest of the seeds to winter sow in large pots - nothing ventured, nothing gained!

    Laurel