I use distilled water, one gallon plus 12 tablespoons of Hyd peroxide. I almost always get 100% germination, keeping them in the fridge in their baggies until they are large enough to plant. It normally takes about 3 weeks for them to sprout.
I'm curious about the seed viability thing. Since I have a hard time throwing things away, I think I still have some seeds from 2009.
I'm gonna try sprouting them and see what happens!
I have not tried to freeze daylily seeds. Has anyone tried this--then thawed them and planted them? If so, did any sprout? I have always frozen my tomato seeds. I have gotten better than 50% germination on some that were frozen 9 years. With seed prices being what they now are---that can be a real savings for gardeners. I think if the plant that produces the seed comes naturally from places that get Winter---one should be able to freeze them to increase longevity.
You can freeze them if the are sufficiently dry inside but if they are too hydrated they will likely die. Griesbach addressed this in one of his articles, towards the end of the third article on this page:
One would think it would be possible..?
Seeds that are forgotten to harvest and drop to the ground late in the Fall might get frozen before they have a chance to sprout?
I would not risk the freezer unless you have seeds that you don't mind losing. (Just my humble opinion.) And would that prolong the seeds viability longer than the refrigerator? If not, then what would be the point.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us. Garden Rooms and Becky's Budget Garden
It probably would prolong viability if you could do it without killing them, which requires them to be dry enough (which would take more like a few weeks air-drying rather than days). In Griesbach's experiments hydrated seeds died at freezing temps that were less cold than a domestic freezer while dry seeds survived much colder.
So, why do they survive outdoors over winter? A couple of thoughts there - nature is interested in the survival of a species as a whole rather than an individual. So if 100 daylily seeds fall to the ground, 30 survive and 25 germinate then the species continues. As a hybridizer you want better than that so you want them all to survive!
If losses in nature are actually not high from freezing over winter then perhaps the seeds survive freezing because they dry down sufficiently while laying on the soil surface after falling. Or, maybe it would be the gradual lowering of temps that causes them to increase their freezing tolerance similar to whole plants.
A daylily plant survives temperatures colder than freezer temperature every winter here (although air temperature is likely to be colder than soil temp) because it has time to "cold acclimate" as it gets gradually colder in fall. Put that same daylily plant straight into a freezer in July and it will die. Does this apply also to seeds? I don't know, but whatever the reason hydrated daylily seeds placed in a freezer will most likely die but if they are dry enough internally they may well survive.
Update: I may have panicked a little when I thought the seeds that I've had stored in my refrigerator might not last and so added the water and H2O2 to quite a few individual baggies to get them to germinate. I have many that are from 2013 that I got from other folks. (Not my own seed crosses.) Well, seems many of them are germinating. In fact, a lot more than I was expecting considering these seeds are 2 1/2 years old and have been in the refrigerator most of that time at my home. Cindy (hemlady) sent me quite a few freebie seed packets that were 2013 seeds. She was MORE than generous, believe me! I was worried I wouldn't get many to germinate because of their age, so added the H2O2 water to all of those. OH MY!!!! I would have to say that the majority of those germinated in the water! We are talking about a LOT of seeds just from her, not counting all the other seeds I got from other people! I dare not count them as it will probably make me faint. Where am I going to plant all of those????!!! Oh dear! I'll figure it out, I am sure!
The germination rate on most all those 2013 seeds is probably 85% or better. I must admit, I wasn't expecting but maybe 50% at best. Ha! Those little seeds sure surprised me!!!! All those little white roots sticking out of the seed coats look like they are sticking their tongues out at me to mock me for not believing in their determination to germinate and grow!
Now to figure out where to plant them all this Spring. Maybe I need to get REALLY SERIOUS about culling some of my older seedlings that don't knock my socks off .....
Be careful what you ask for .... you just might get it!
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us. Garden Rooms and Becky's Budget Garden
Oh, Sabrina! There is DEFINITELY hope that older seeds will germinate. I am VERY surprised to say the least at how many seedlings I am going to have! Geez ....
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us. Garden Rooms and Becky's Budget Garden
Better than I was expecting for these older seeds. Most all the different crosses I received from Cindy ( hemlady) that she had dated as 8/2013 and 9/2013 germinated. I don't know how she stored them, but they went right into my refrigerator crisper drawer until I germinated them in the H2O2 water added to each little plastic ziplock Baggie. Most of the baggies had 5-10 seeds of each cross in each bag.
The really odd thing is that a lot of the newest seeds I did the same treatment to at the same time still have not germinated yet.
If most germinate, I will have 200+ seedlings. Which is a lot more than I was expecting. And I still have most of my own crosses from last year still in the refrigerator. I think this is the year I need to start culling plants. I wished I owned the residential lot either to the west or north of my property. I'd be growing long rows of seedlings on such a lot. In my dreams.....
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us. Garden Rooms and Becky's Budget Garden
Name: Sabrina Italy, Brescia (Zone 8b) Love daylilies and making candles!
I'm dreaming of more land too, but it's not going to happen for a couple of years from now, I'm afraid. I'm waiting the final sale of a hose I own in Milano, but it will be july 2017 if everything will be fine.
It's a great success, I guess getting rid of some plants it's difficult but it must be done!
Please forgive my ignorance, what part of the fridge exactly is the crisper drawer? I need to identify it in an italian fridge LOL!
It's the drawer that I put the lettuce, tomatoes, etc. in.
Glad to hear you may have the money from the sale of your other home to hopefully purchase a nice piece of land for growing plants! Sounds like a great plan and I hope it works out for you!
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us. Garden Rooms and Becky's Budget Garden
Becky, I store my seeds in the crisper drawer too. You had much better luck with them germinating than I did though. I may not have had the peroxide ratio correct. Don't remember exactly what ratio I used.
