Hello all!! This is my first post on this forum but i have gotten a lot of great info from here before so i was hoping to get some help with starting seeds... I purchased several really nice crosses from the LA...right now i have them stored in the fridge until spring since i do not have a greenhouse....my ? is:

I know most people recomend after stratification to start indoors and then transplant....but here is my dilemma....I heat my home with a wood stove...why is this a problem?? Because it makes the humdity in my home practically non existent and its very hard to grow even hardy houseplants without them drying out and dying...so should i just take my chances and see what happens and try to keep them moist or would you suggest just a direct sow after frost in the ground?? any help would be appreciated

I can't answer your question as I direct plant seed into the ground here.

Just wanted to welcome you!

Welcome!
I can't help you either since I just got my first seeds and they are sitting in the fridge waiting for spring, but I too, wanted to say Welcome!! I'm sure you will get your answers soon! Great group here.

I direct sow mine in mid-April. I'm in zone six in Central Maryland for a reference. I can't sow mine inside either, though my problem is all the kitties thinking salad not the humidity I believe Jim Murphy and Margo Reed direct sow all theirs as well, and they are in Va up in the mountains.

Emily if you still want to sow indoors, sow in four inch pots and seal them inside clear plastic bags to lock in the humidity. I have the same problem, these space heaters dry out all the humidity but we place a pan of water on them or the kids end up coughing due to lack of moisture or you get dry skin issues.
Regards,
Masud.

About a decade ago, I direct seeded my dl seeds the weekend of Thanksgiving in good loose soil and they came up the next Spring! It was the only time I hybridized and planted seeds because of my MS.

I also won seeds on the LA from different places and planted them the same time and they came up also.

I keep my seeds in the refrigerator until spring and then direct sow in pots. Transplant later in the summer, usually in August.

Thanks for all of the welcomes and the great ideas!!! Sounds like direct sow may be my best bet...but that idea of putting the bags around the pots is a great idea too!!

haha i have cats too and im sure she would try her very hardest to demolish them....so if i do direct sow do you guys do moist stratification first or do you just pop them out of the fridge and into the ground?

Mine go straight from dry fridge to the ground. Usually I see green shoots between 2weeks to a month. I'm averaging about 85% germination over the last 3 years. I may try some straight into pots like Cindy mentioned since I have way more seds and crosses than I have room.

I store them dry from harvest - no refrigerating. Then, I plant out here in Ohio around Thanksgiving. They come up in April.

Juli,
I would like to do as you do and plant them now but I have been worried about birds and critters eating them up. We feed the birds heavily over the winter and several feeders are quite close to my seedling beds. And chipmunks and field mice are all over the place, at least til the hawks come by for a snack. Do you think they would scratch them out and eat them?

All of Gods creatures have a right to eat and they will use that right. Now how to keep them away from doing what's natural to them or outwit them. Plant them in pots or direct sow with double the quantity of seeds. For field mice poison impregnated seeds might be an option. I know of some cute, very thorny small Opuntia species which can surround the beds and would love to see what the chipmunks make of that.
Regards,
Masud.

I just popped them out of the dry fridge and into the ground.

I wrote the plant crosses on little white plant stakes and stuck them into the ground in straight rows and planted all the seeds (behind the plant stake) from that cross and continued that way with each cross.

I don't know about mice or birds eating seed. I live in a small clearing in a woods, with fields nearby, so I have a ton of birds of all kinds. Lots of mice too. Only thing I have ever had a problem with is keeping my garden cats from trying to use any newly prepared area for a littler box. I have put plastic lattice over mine, a few inches in the air, and it keeps them out until the plants get going.