Jay,
I have found that Chamomile tea works the best to prevent damping off. Just steep two bags in a tea pot until it is room temp. Transfer to a spray bottle and spray your seedling. Or water seedlings with the tea. I've been doing this for years and never had damping off so I think it works. Once the seedling get a few sets of leaves they should be ok and not so vulnerable to damping off

RickCorey said:
MAYBE it also deactivates SOME kinds of germination inhibitors (helps break dormancy).

By some mechanism hydrogen peroxide breaks seed dormancy in daylily seeds. I did an experiment comparing daylily seeds I knew had a high percentage of seed dormancy. I had some soaking in hydrogen peroxide at various dilutions, some soaking in plain water, and some planted in vermiculite as a control. Those in hydrogen peroxide germinated well, better than the control, while those soaking in plain water had worse germination than the vermiculite control. None of the seeds had been stratified beforehand.

Quoting one scientific research article for zinnia seeds, it is not believed to be due to the extra oxygen released but instead their findings indicated that "oxidation of the germination inhibitor(s) present in the pericarp by H2O2 promotes seed germination. Antioxidants which are derivatives of well-known germination inhibitors suppressed seed germination in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting that, to initiate seed germination, a germination inhibitor(s) should be decomposed by an oxidant such as H2O2." The full Plant and Cell Physiology journal article is here:

http://pcp.oxfordjournals.org/...

I don't have time right now to read it right through again, but daylily seeds aren't supposed to have germination inhibitors according to some old research. They certainly don't have a seed dormancy that is broken by soaking in water, a method which actually inhibited germination in my experiments. H2O2 doesn't work for all daylily seeds, according to what some people have told me who found a limited number of seeds did not respond. Those same seeds did germinate when stratified after the H2O2 failed, so I'm told.

Thanks, Sue! Your experiment provides enough motivation to believe the article, and now I take it as established that: "oxidation of the germination inhibitor(s) present in the pericarp by H2O2 promotes seed germination".

For that variety of Zinnia, and your variety(s) of day-lilies.

It makes sense to me that each variety should tweak its dormancy behavior a little. That seems like an effective strategy for a variety, to arrange for seeds to last varying numbers of years in the ground, and then to sprout in a variety of circumstances, hopefully sometimes emerging when competition is low but opportunities are high.

The only way to know if H. Peroxide works is if it is used on seeds already afflicted with early stages of rot or mildew.

I have tried it many times on just such daylily seeds and they continued to rot. Mildew I have never had.

Most perennial seeds or seed coat have a coating of seed germination inhibitor. It is natures way of preventing germination until conditions are right for their survival. The seeds are in a dormant stage at this point. Without the inhibitor factor, seeds would try to sprout in the winter when they can't survive.

I soak daylily (DL) seeds in hand hot water overnight to plump up the seeds. They then go into moist kitchen towel and place in a plastic bag and stored in the fridge for 3 weeks. They will begin to sprout in room temp within 7 to 14 days. I will add that the time it takes for a DL seed to sprout depends on the type or variety of DL. It is a genetic factor. It is possible that true evergreen DL doen't need 3 weeks of stratification at all. I don't grow evergreens, just dormants and semi-evergreens.

The photo is of DL seeds just before they got planted in soil.

Note: The photo is mine. It has my Ebay seller name on the copyright.

Hi Pippi. How long do DLs take from seeding to bloom?

Karen

sooby said:

I had some soaking in hydrogen peroxide at various dilutions,

Sue - @sooby

Roughly what was the dilution that you found worked best in general? And how long of a soak? TIA

kqcrna said:Hi Pippi. How long do DLs take from seeding to bloom?

Karen

Hi karen
I can get at least 75% of both iris and daylily seeds to bloom the following season. Actually, 14 months old. I could not figure it out at first, then it dawned on me it was from all the rotten horse manure I used when I planted the seedlings, and added more in the Fall. The reason I know it is the manure is because the beds that received just a bit manure or none, took 2 years to bloom. When I planted iris and daylily seedlings in beds side by side and that bloomed at their proper bloom time it dawned on me.

My daughter and husband live out of town and have 6 horses so I bring some manure home each time I go out there to visit.

The last test was daylily seedlings planted June 2014, and most bloomed 2015. It was a new bed and I put lots of manure in it.

I have never used cow manure or manure from stores so I don't know if it would do the same.

Even Iris from seed to bloom in 14 months? Wow. And Wyoming no less.

[Note to self: Must find horse poop.]

I'm surprized too. I thought they took 3 years or so. I'm impressed. I've never started DLs.

Karen

Even I was able to get blooms the second year from the few daylily seeds I was able to germinate. And it probably was the goat manure in the beds.

woofie said:Even I was able to get blooms the second year from the few daylily seeds I was able to germinate. And it probably was the goat manure in the beds.

Woofie, you are probably correct in your assumption. There seems to be something in manure that allows both daylilies and irises to bloom the following year. I know horse manure contains nitrogen, but that would only have something to do with growth and deter blooming. But who knows, maybe it ages plants to mature quicker. For whatever reason, I am glad it does. To wait 2 or 3 years for blooms---forget it!!!

Photo are some of my daylily seedlings blooming at 14 months. Many have been sold.

If you use hydrogen peroxide to treat fungus or wilt, do you spray the leaves, focusing on the affected ones, or do you spray the ground to target the roots?

Thanks!

I would spray the affecte4d leaves and stems. If indoors, I would also water the pot or tray with dilute H2O2.

Spray on diseased leaves: 0.2% H2O2 :
Dilute "drugstore peroxide" 16:1, like 1 cup/gallon or 2 oz. per quart

Prolonged seed soaking or watering: 0.1% H2O2
Dilute "drugstore peroxide" 32:1, like 1/2 cup/gallon or 1 oz. per quart

This is a fantastic thread. Hydrogen Peroxide is the one thing I have used when I bred birds and grew plants. My kids laugh at me because I use it for almost everything you can think of. But, I can not grow seeds and seldom try but I just may get lucky if I can use Peroxide. Seriously, I am stratifying some Peony seeds just now. I have not been able to read every post here due to my poor vision and I was wondering if someone may have tried peony seeds using peroxide.????? I would love to know anything you may know about starting peony with seeds.