Just a little seed action going on. A few more are in a dark spot waiting for some sprouts to poke through. Being my first time with seed, it is a rather amazing thing to watch. The amount they can grow in a day, or one day you check and no sprouts, next day you have 5 hairpins showing.

Dave, Rick and I have fun joking about whether bobby pins come up at night or if they come up anytime they're ready, day or night. Check it out--see what your observations are.

Also, if you're using HO t5 bulbs, keep an eye on your soil temperature. By looking at the picture, it seems your pretty close and HO's give off a lot of heat. If you start seeing yellow tips on the coty, you might want to raise the lights a little. I usually start out high and gradually lower in 10 days/2 weeks kind of thing.

Fun isn't it?

Thanks for the tip Lorn. I can adjust that easily enough.

As for the hairpins coming up. I think it's just whenever they feel like it. Because it's my first time growing from seed, I'll admit to probably over checking. On the weekends I look for them in the mornings and see nothing. Then later in the day there will be a few poking up. But during the week I don't check before I leave for work.

Now granted some seeds are tetra, some are diploid. But it's interesting to note the difference in growth. Some just shoot right up, while others sure take their sweet time.

But what is really neat to me, is seeing seed that I made from a cross sprout up. Such a neat experience.

And Dave it is an experience that you may never grow tired of, that and a first flower for a seedling.

Tracey, I think it's safe to say I am officially hooked. I was hesitant to start growing from seed this year. Which is why I didn't use all the seed in each packet I had unless it was a small lot.

But it was the help of everyone on here and Jeff Stiller that made me decide to take the plunge. I can't tall you the number of times I have read through this thread, the "Let's Grow Lilies" book and McRaes book before I did though. Along with asking questions, as you already know. Lol.

This year was full of learning about lilies. Now to just grow these little sprouts into flowers!

When do hybrids usually flower? 2017 will be my third year for my offspring and so far no flowers? Plenty of bulbils though!

If you're dealing with Asiatic type or Trumpet type hybrids, you should have some flowers this coming Spring. Some Species and Martagons may take longer. I know you'll probably hear some of us say we get a bloom the second season, etc., but that's usually because we've learned how to cram 3 years into 2 by seeding early, extending the growing cycle and abbreviating the chill cycle.

magnolialover said:And Dave it is an experience that you may never grow tired of, that and a first flower for a seedling.

You can say that again!!! It's the part about growing lilies that I love the best. This past summer I did more mixed pollen applications and quite a few well identified open pollenated pod parent crosses just to see what I catch when I do things a little differently. And I think on these, I'll go to rectangular pots 6 inches by 12 inches and increase seed count to 50 or 60. On the open pollenated crosses, there was lots of chaff.

Some pictures from last Spring--early May, 2016. Waiting to see first blooms.

Thank you those people on here who convinced me to do this cross .."Beebee" .
I love it & I know my wife would have

Some new leaves poking up!

If you see a little bulblet showing you can gently press it back down and if necessary add a little more soil over it. I often get that situation.

That happens to me often, more often with trumpet and OTs. Like they want to get out and walk away.

Just to confirm some things.

If using the baggie method, the baggie should be left open once the seeds have started to hairpin?

Roughly how long between hairpin and a true leaf?

The first true leaf should appear in about 10 to 14 days. Regarding leaving baggies open at hair pin stage, I do to avoid 'in the bag' heat build up from the HO T5 lights. More comments suggested.

With T12 lighting, I most often leave the baggies closed, unless the potting medium gets too moist (which is my own fault if it does happen). Baggie closed until transplanting into pots. That's what has worked best for me.

I haven't used this method much, but I would suggest that the baggie at least be opened a week or two before transplanting. This will not only help with a more sturdy top growth to handle, but more importantly, it will require the plants to grow a larger root to top growth ratio. This in turn will provide less transplant shock.

Just some seed progress. I transplanted seed from baggies into pots. Quite surprised at how quick bulbs and roots form. Had some others with an even better root system than this one.

Nice work Dave! I'm hoping to start my epigeal seeds in the next couple of weeks. Good to see you using the rack. I used to put cardboard down between the bars and pots to prevent leakage from pot overflow but I have now found an awesome alternative.
If any one is interested I found heavy duty 4ft x 2ft trays that I can now put the pots in. They came in the other day and look perfect and feel heavy duty too.

Here's the link
http://www.greenhousemegastore...

Thanks Joe! I'm going to have to order some of those.