Would have loved to be your student, Regina! Your students are so fortunate to have such a wonderful teacher.

Thanks. They are really enjoying the project.They are currently testing various ways to germinate seeds. We have found lots of ideas!
You should see their DL 'want list'.

my seedlings are doing not so well....

I sowed (sp??) quite some seeds last year, at the end of Summer/Autumn


As it was my first time I didn't want to leave them outside during the Winter, beacuse I was afraid they would die in the cold
(in hindsight I might better have, we had a VERY mild Winter..)
So I bought a growtent and put them in the garage with lamps above them


Then life happened and in January/February I had no time to take good care of them
Gnats and aphids ran amok...
I ordered baby Ladybugs, but before they could eat enough of the aphids, my seedlings looked like this...




Today I picked the largest and the smallest survivors and took them out of their pots to look at their roots
because I think the leaves will grow again if the roots are ok..

And lo and behold (I love that phrase! ), look at that!
the smallest plant


and it's roots


and one of the bigger plants






So, looking at the roots my seedlings had a really hard setback, but will be able to recover


Next question of course is..... WHERE to put them??


Mayo

Yeah, those roots should have no trouble growing a new head of hair . I'm not experienced with daylily seedlings much, but I have crosses that shut down in the fall regardless of the weather. I'm guessing they are plants that show dormancy. Sometimes it is all of a particular cross and sometimes it is just part of the cross with the rest remaining green and growing. When they first did it, I thought all of those had died (which was sort of a relief ), but after a long rest they all began to grow again. In the end, I don't think any of them died. In fact, some went on to outgrow others that stayed green and healthy. They did it the second time this fall. This was not caused by freezing temperatures, but the weather had cooled off and the days were shorter. The first year they did it, I'd have tossed some of the seedling pots except I didn't get around to it and since they were in the same location as those that stayed green and growing, they kept getting treated the same - and later they all began to grow again. All that is to say that maybe everything you are seeing is not due to life's interference. Some of it may be due to the genetic character of the seedling. Those roots look fine, IMO.

In my experience, there is a lot more growth going on down in the potting mix, than above the surface that first 6 months to 1 year. Once they get planted in the ground, stand back, and enjoy!

So sorry to hear about your gnats and aphids damages, Mayo. I know exactly how you feel. I have lost quite a bunch of seedlings due to gnats damages as well as damping off. I should apply gnatrol to begin with but I thought the yellow stickies were catching all the gnats. They did not and a bunch of seedlings were short lived for sure. Hope your seedlings recover and you can plant them outside.

My first seeds have germinated. They are (Critic's Choice x Ed Brown) x Prickled Petals and Spacecoast Starburst x Caesar's Head. These seeds were kindly sent to me last autumn by Hemlady (Cindy). I have started other seeds from Cindy, as well, and I hope to see them shortly. Thank you, Cindy . A few of my own seeds have germinated so far, too! This is the first time I have tried growing daylilies, so I hope things go well.

Isn't it exciting, Valerie? All these seedlings if survive will bloom in a few years, a totally new daylily! My hope for the seedlings is to bloom next year but they most likely will bloom in the third year. Good luck!

kousa said:Isn't it exciting, Valerie? All these seedlings if survive will bloom in a few years, a totally new daylily! My hope for the seedlings is to bloom next year but they most likely will bloom in the third year. Good luck!

Yes, it is exciting . We cleared more land behind our house, and this spring we will dig new daylily beds for the seedlings. It is nice to have a new project.

Congratulations! Cindy (Hemlady) has good taste when it comes to dabbing pollen, you'll have some beautiful blooms in the future.

My seedlings are ridiculous.
The ones that germinated the past september went through every kind of possible damage. So now I have only two left and they are so small.. only three leaves each.
The ones that germinated in march are almost the same size of the first.

I'm planning to put them in the ground. maybe they are too small and weak but in the pot they are not doing well. We have about 6°C at night and 13°C-15° at day, cloudy and windy, with some rain, is it too hazardous?

Cloudy and rainy is the best weather for planting in the ground (assuming not a heavy rain), but windy is not so good if it is more than a light breeze and especially if the sun comes out. Your night temperature is fine. Cool, cloudy, damp weather helps them adjust to the outdoors better than hot sunny weather.

Thanks Sue, you always come to help me! The wind was a bit sustained this morning now it's calmed down. I have some other things to do so maybe tomorrow will be the day, I'm in doubt because for sunday we should have some heavier rain but just according to one forecast site, the others disagree

Is it better to plant in the morning? The sun (if any) will hit the garden around 11-12 AM. Then it will go away by 16 PM. No many hours of sun for now, while we move toward summer hours will increase.

If it's cloudy then any time would probably be fine. If it's sunny then evening might be better but it only makes a few hours difference, they'll still have to deal with the sun if it's there the next day. If you can disturb the roots as little as possible, and the weather is not too hot sunny or windy they should be OK. If you can time it to plant them before a sequence of several cloudy, drizzly, cool but not cold days that would be a perfect time.

Thanks Sue! We're expecting cloudy sky and little light rain tomorrow, then maybe two days of partially cloudy and no rain. But who really knows? Forecast is changing hour after after hour!

Best of luck to you, Sabrina. If it is any consolation to you, I too lost alot of seedlings to damping off. It is really difficult growing healthy daylily seedlings indoors. Hopefully, it will get better with each year learning from experience.

We have had very good success growing seedlings indoors. We have been starting our seedlings in the winter indoors since 2009. This year was not good as we lost so many seedlings. We have about 200 seedlings now growing but that is from over 800 seeds planted. We just stopped the process since it was just not working. The plan was to start about 2000 seedlings to be ready to plant about now. We still have lots of seeds so they will be planted in pots for the seedlings to go in the ground in late summer or fall.

Terry - Why did you lose so many seedlings this year?

Terry, Sorry to hear bad luck has taken so many possibilities away from you. Hopefully the 200 you have growing will all make it to bloom.