I'm wondering when I can begin over-nighting my daylily seeds outside and can only find a reference for minimum temps needed to sprout tomato seeds into seedlings (50 degrees). Does anyone have a general rule of thumb they follow for outside or minimum temperatures at a specific point after their seeds have shown their "eyes," and been placed in potting soil/trays?

Chalyse, last year (2011 actually) I planted my daylily seeds in early December and kept them in seed flats outside through the winter, and they started sprouting about 6-8 weeks later and had pretty much all germinated by April. But this last year I planted my seeds in the flats in late August-early Sept. and they started germinating within a week or ten days after planting. And this year I'm hoping that somehow I can plant in July to move up the schedule even earlier so I can maybe see some scapes by the spring/summer of 2014. I still haven't seen a scape on any of my seedlings, and I must have at least 400 by now. But I'm hoping to see a bunch by this summer!

A-w-e-s-o-m-e!! Thanks so much, Betty, we have such similar climates that I will go ahead and let the fun begin outdoors. My gut tells me they are ready, and the overnight temps around 50 are here. WooHoo!!

I estimate I have about 200-300 seeds sprouting, and the only problem with them is finding space to put them all until they mature LOL ... I took encouragement from everyone, though, and hubby is already digging up a 12x15 space in the front/side yard for some of them. Really, grass lawns are such a nuisance, and daylilies such good filler ... i'm hoping we just keep tearing up more lawn as the years pass and more seedlings flourish.

I can't wait to see what lovelies you find in your 400 this summer! Best of luck to them and you for some amazing flower faces!

I believe a little cooler is better than the heat in July and August. Ted Petit does his in an air conditioned trailer in Florida because of the heat. I think he said he set the temp on 65, not sure, but a lot cooler than the outside. Here I set mine on racks in the shade for the same reason. There seems to be a misunderstanding by some that seed needs light to germinate, they only need light after they sprout. Good luck to both of you with your seedlings.

That is fascination news, Fred ... now I understand a potential reason why my heat-of-the-summer seeds may not have sprouted (hard for them to do when its 100 degrees ... why I didn't think of that before!!). Thanks!

Im planting my seeds today. Im gardening by the moon as much as possible. Yesterday today and tomorrow (20th-22) are excellent days for seed planing. Flowers and veggies. The 23-26 are barren days. I figure the first day of spring is a good omen as well.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/p...
This article says , Daylily seeds germinate best when daytime air temperatures are 55 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit

This is an old thread but since Joe has revived it, here's a bit more info that may be useful to someone. It makes a difference to the minimum germination temperature whether the seeds were stratified or not before planting.

Non-stratified daylily seeds germinate over a narrower temperature range than stratified seeds. From research on daylily seed germination published in the 1950s by Dr. Griesbach, for non-stratified seeds the minimum germination temperature was found to be 61F (16C). (The optimum was 72-77F (22-25C) and the max 91F (33C). If the seeds were stratified before planting, however, they could germinate at 50F (10C) or even lower.

The research article is this one:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/24...

Thanks for the info!

Very helpful!

My seeds are in the fridge being stratified, and around the three week mark quite a few are germinating in the fridge.

Along the same line, what is the optimal temperature to grow daylily seedlings?