Becky!








At this point I can tell you that Prarie Wildfire was used for a lot of my crosses. It was crossed with Cluster Muster as pollen. It was also crossed with Night Whisper as pod parent and Stella de Oro as pollen.

My issue is the tree rats.

The squirrels are digging in everything so I better find something to deter the critters. They uprooted little Stella/PW cross. Had the quickly get it back in the soil. Hope it wasn't to late.

Stan I have the same problem! I also have skunks digging for worms. What works best for me is putting rocks around anything newly planted. Lucky for me I have very rocky soil so there are always plenty around. I'm sure you have more sandy soil in FL but a bag of river stones should work. It may not stop a very determined animal but it stops a lot of the digging for me!

I cut pieces of chicken wire and lay the piece(s) down in the pots "around" the seedlings. Once the seedlings get bigger, the squirrels don't bother the pots and I don't need to use chicken wire any more. It works great for me! I have all different sizes of pieces pre-cut and just choose the right size for whatever size pot and plant that I use.

I don't know if there are some critters outside, I only see the neighbor's cat, but very morning I find broken leaves, they are borken at the bottom but still attached to the plant..

I will grow the seedling indoors because there's no shelter and no protection outdoors.

Thanks @beckygardener for your suggestions on fertilizer. The little seedling is as you can see in the pic, when should I put in potting soil and start fertilizing?

I personally would wait to pot up in soil when there are a few more leaves on it just so you don't damage this frail little baby. Once it puts on more growth, you can transplant it at any time.

I've had mine crowded in a styrofoam cup for months and didn't lose any. But it also slowed down the growth because it had outgrown that cup! When transplanting, I had to loosen up the roots.

As long as the daylilies stay healthy (no root rot, pests, or diseases), they are pretty tough plants even as newly sprouted seedlings.

This is the little DL after a week. Is it normal? There are no signs of other leaves.

Hello Sabrina, I'm no expert by any means but I would say... your seedling is off to a great start.
Its my understanding they will generate roots faster than foliage.

I read somewhere to cut long leaves a bit, to give more strenght to the roots. Does it make sense?

Lets ask Fred @spunky1

Looking at the pictures of his seedlings, it doesn't look as if he trimmed the leaves... The thread "New Seedlings" in Daylilies forum

cybersix said:
I read somewhere to cut long leaves a bit, to give more strenght to the roots. Does it make sense?

The seedling looks normal for its age to me. No, it does not make sense to cut long leaves to give strength to the roots. It would most likely do the opposite. Remember that it is the leaves that make (by photosynthesis) the food for growth, including root growth. So if you shorten the leaves you limit the plant's ability to make food for growth, including growth of the roots.

with sooby. Your seedling is off to a great start Sabrina, do not cut the leaves.

@sooby and @Char

GaNinFl said:

My issue is the tree rats.

The squirrels are digging in everything so I better find something to deter the critters. They uprooted little Stella/PW cross. Had the quickly get it back in the soil. Hope it wasn't to late.

Hi, Sabrina.

You might give them a little more light - they're on the verge of being a little "leggy". It depends on your conditions though - I lost some seedlings a few weeks ago due to dryness when a hot spell hit. I still try to give them as many hours of sun as I can, but I'll shade them with a layer or two of little window-screening if it's unusually warm & bright.

Fresh potting soil usually has some token fertilizer in the mix, so feeding is not necessary for a while. When you do feed, it's even more important that the plants have all-day sun, otherwise they will grow long, soft, floppy leaves. Otherwise, I'd give them a little dilute liquid fertilizer every couple of weeks. I try to stay away from all-purpose fertilizers like Miracle-Gro, because of excess phosphorus. 15-30-15 is a bit much, and years of use can cause buildup in your soil. You can use it to get them started, but something like 8-2-3 is better for long-term use.

Daylily seedlings are probably not the tastiest treats in the garden, but at some point a critter is going to eat the tops off, or dig and scatter them, so protection is necessary.

Birds tear into my seedlings occasionally, as well as 4-legged critters such as squirrels, rats, and mice, so instead of chicken wire, I cover mine with 1/2 inch "hardware cloth". Hardware cloth is made of wire which is a little thicker than that used for chicken wire screening. It's welded in a 1/2" square pattern, then galvanized. It's easy to fashion into the shape you need, and stiff enough to resist deformation.

Here are a couple of ways it can be used. I have to cover every seed pot or tray with something.

These are 3.5" pots with individual screen covers. These have been in full sun, so growth is compact.


Making individual covers is simple, but time-consuming, so when I have a lot of seedlings, I like to cover a deep tray with a flat sheet of wire screen. These trays are almost 6" deep, 15" square and hold 16 3.5" pots.
A flat piece of hardware cloth covers it nicely. Once the seedlings get to a certain size, the top can't really be replaced if removed, but by then they are pretty much out of danger. I've made a couple of taller roof-type covers for the trays, but it's a lot of trouble. These seedlings are getting light shade under some trees, so they're a little leggy, but not so much that they'd burn back if moved to more light.


Good luck!
Ken

Thanks everyone for your opinion! What I'm afraid of is as @CaliFlowers says the lack of light. It's on a shelf near the window, but this days are cloudy, badly cloudy, with dark clouds and no lights.

It's in vermiculite also, and it's not being fertilized in any way. Jus water, I check every day ( two times a day) if the vermiculote is still wet.

My biggest fear of growing indoors is about light, the house is a bit "dark". But, going toward autumn and winter, it wilbe somewhat dark even outside.

Sabrina, you only saw the first leaf eleven days ago so it will be fine in the vermiculite for at least a month without fertilizer, then you can either start giving it some weak fertilizer or transplant it into potting soil (not soil from the garden, that doesn't work in pots). The vermiculite should not be very wet, it should be damp in the meantime.

Is there somewhere outside in the shade that you can put it during the day to get more light and then bring it in at night? How cold is it at night there - just wondering if it could actually stay out. If you're concerned about protection, have you thought of using a cold frame? I used to have one when I lived in the UK to give some plants a little more protection from the cold in winter (now living in Canada not sure I would really classify that as cold now ) and it would also protect it from birds and animals. That's assuming you're going to have other seedlings though because for a single pot a whole cold frame to itself would be overkill, you could use something smaller like a cloche at night if necessary.

I agree with CaliFlowers, I also don't use fertilizers with such a high middle number (although the all purpose Miracle Gro here no longer has that ratio, it's now 24-8-16). BTW, CaliFlowers, are you sure your seedlings that suffered from drought were actually dead? I had that happen to a whole flat that got put out of the way and forgotten for weeks and they were all brown and dead looking. On a whim I gave the tray some water when I found it and most of them were actually still alive but had just gone dormant from the drought.

@sooby, I told you you'll have to kill me sooner or later or I'll keep on asking questions!
The seeds are three now, two from another cross germinated in peroxide (the other five are still taking the bath).

I'm afraid of putting them out. There's the neighbor's crazy cat. But I will think about it. At night we're between 60 and 68F these days. I guess I'll need a cold frame in the end, if every seed germinates and grow there's no way I can keep 8 pots in the house.

Sabrina - Your seedling sprout looks happy! I agree with others, do NOT cut the leaves.

As far as it getting enough light ...

A shop light would work. I use cold and warm lights when growing mine indoors if there is not enough outside light coming through the windows. Perhaps this article will give you some ideas about indoor lighting:

http://garden.org/ideas/view/b...

Or you could get a light like this one:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX...

They sell grow lights for those 75-Watt Incandescent Clamp Lights:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Phi...
or
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Phi...

Just some lighting suggestions!

Ask away, no problem - we're glad to help if we can. Do you have such a thing there as a milk crate? I have kept small plants in one of those to allow them to be outdoors but protected from animals. It can also be easily carried indoors for the night if necessary although your current temperatures at night are plenty warm enough for daylilies. I can't post a picture right now if you're not sure what I mean, but can take one tomorrow if necessary.

Milk crate:
http://www.uline.com/Product/D...

Thanks Becky and Sue. What is the minimum acceptable temperature for so little seedlings?
I know bringing them outside it's the better choice but there's no shelter and that cat is a danger because he sees mine and crawl on windows, jumps and pees..
As I told many times, we didn't get any freeze the past years. A cold frame could be the solution for all the winter? How warm do they stay?

Thanks for the milk crate picture, we have that sort of crate for glass water bottles but they are not easily found around, and they're expensive.
I'm leaning toward a cold crate, there's not a lot of room outside but for a maximum of 8 pots I should be able to arrange it!