Hi everyone,

I am getting supplies ready for winter sowing my daylily seeds outside.

I have read on here that many of you use paper cups for starting seeds but that is not going to work for seeds outside in a climate as wet as Britain's (as I found out from trying to use the little card jewellery tags to record my first two seed crosses!!! )

I have found some 16oz cups on ebay in red disposable plastic--would they work?

Aiternatively I have some small (lots of) square plastic seed pots (like jumbo-plug pots) around 4inches/10cm square and about the same depth which are in 10 different colours so I could still identify the cross if the labels deteriorate in the weather over winter.

These are much more substantial and robust but not as deep but I have about 120 of them already. Plus they are pretty!

Would I be best sowing seeds individually in the smaller pots then moving them to cups when they start to grow in Spring or should I put them in cups from the start and risk them deteriorating in our weather?

Unfortunately I don't have the option to put them straight in the ground as Maurice suggested on a previous thread (thanks though, Maurice!)-plus we are hoping to move house before too long so they need to be portable.

I have the brother garden label maker and also some little slate labels and paint pens just to be safe.

Thank you.

A lot of people winter sow seeds(not sure about daylily seeds) in plastic milk jugs, and they seem to hold up fine. So I don't know why the red plastic cups would not also be fine over one season, maybe longer. I would think in your cool weather the plants would not grow that large of a root system over the winter and into early spring, so in my opinion the smaller pots should be fine also.

Thanks, Larry!

They won't germinate until spring so why not wait until then or late winter to start them?

@sooby

Hi Sue,

Following Maurice's advice on an earlier thread I am going to start them in October then they have the cold period and then start germinating in Spring.

I don't really have the facilities to start them indoors so this is the easiest way for me.

I am just starting getting things ready now and trying to determine what I really need just to spread the cost a bit.

They need about a month below 10C to stratify. If they've had that by some point after October, they may germinate in warmer spells during winter. If you start them (outdoors) when there is still about a month left below 10C towards spring then you run less risk of losing some over the winter from weather, birds, premature germination etc. They don't need a whole winter outdoors to stratify, and generally temperatures below freezing don't count towards stratification.

Thanks, Sue!

Scatterbrain said:@sooby

Hi Sue,

Following Maurice's advice on an earlier thread I am going to start them in October then they have the cold period and then start germinating in Spring.

I don't really have the facilities to start them indoors so this is the easiest way for me.

I am just starting getting things ready now and trying to determine what I really need just to spread the cost a bit.

Are you sure that will work in your growing zone? That is what people do who have real winter weather. It does not work for me in zone 7a. While it gets cold enough here, it can also have very warm periods and the freeze thaw constantly all winter seems to destroy daylily seeds in the ground. Planting in the ground in early spring works ok.

Once the seeds are sprouted in a controlled environment they are fine to go in the ground or grow in cups or pots. I start them in styrofoam cups at this time of year or in moist vermiculite in the fridge in small plastic bags. Some of my seeds need moist chill and some do not. I find seeds every year that are starting to sprout in the pods so I just plant them directly from the pod at harvest. Others and dormant varieties get moist chilling for a month and longer, although I just found dormant variety seeds sprouted in the pod yesterday.

I discovered they can stay in the fridge for a long time and as long as they don't mold they are good after 6 weeks or 6 months. (Woops, I missed a box of seeds started in moist vermiculite from this time last year, just left in the fridge. I just planted some that were fine sprouted and growing. Not all were good. Not supposed to do that but somehow things happen around here. It was a closed box and I thought it was something that belonged in the fridge and not seeds.)

Anyhow, I make thousands of seeds and handle them several different ways with lots of success and I find that not all seeds can be handled the same way. I get very high germination rates and my loss is after planting them in the ground. I end up with lots of seedlings but the toughest time for them is when they are new babies in the garden. That is where the controlled environment ends and they have to take what nature deals out.

Your 4" pots or plastic cups will work fine.

@kidfishing,

Hi Terry and Ashton,

I'm not sure what will work here yet-I'm going to try different methods and see what suits my situation best.

I think the biggest stumbling block is going to be OH's reaction to having damp vermiculite in the fridge--he's a bit of a germophobe and I know now that he is going to freak out!

Not worked out how to deal with that yet, seeds in envelopes are much easier to disguise/hide!

@Scatterbrain
Try perlite. It is pure white and looks clean. I only put a couple tablespoons of moistened perlite in a zip lock sandwich bag, using a separate sandwich bag for each seed cross. Then put all the sandwich bags in another plastic bag, and then put that bag in one of the crisper drawers. They are not noticeable unless you are hunting through the fridge

Thanks Valerie,

Just ordered some perlite, he might think that it is cat litter though!

Going to get one of those big containers with the snap lock lids that can go in the fridge to put them in. If it poses too much of an issue I can always buy one of those camping size mini fridges and put it in the cellar so he can't complain!


Afraid he can be rather dramatic over "germs" and "smells"!

No odor from sealed bags but no way to hide so I got a fridge just for seeds. Only problem, it is too small.

Wow! Terry & Ashton,

That is a major seed operation!

For the past few years, I have started my seeds in plastic cups and once the seeds germinated, placed the cups in a water bath.

Thank you, Marric!

We are just getting seeds planted.
We start them outside in a shady area. We are late getting going this year. Rather than the 40 cups we have growing, it should be 400 by now. I need to make it a sea of cups within a couple of weeks.

@kidfishing.

Love your shelves, Terry and Ashton! Need to find myself something pretty like that!

Good Luck with your sowing! Looks very organised, I'm suitably impressed!