great choice of parents Avedon, the kids should have some unique patterns

Good for you, Avedon! I'm impressed with parents...aw, heck, I'm impressed by growing from seeds! Mine mostly die a month after germinating, but I don't know why!

young seedlings are often lost to gnats and other insects they feed on the young plants and roots. How well are your adult daylilies holding up?

I agree, damping off (root rot) and gnats often are what ails young seedlings. I'm telling you .... Hydrogen Peroxide (3%) works great to fight both of those issues. H2O2 helps prevent root rot when added to the water before watering. And I have read that H2O2 kills gnat larvae.

hmmm, Daniel and Becky, I water with H202, but I have seen some gnats around my babies. I wondered where they came from, but they're all gone now (visibly at least), but slow death continues. My adult daylilies are carrying on like champions even in intense heat. The ones I am having trouble with live indoors. I thought I was either under or over watering, but I use a squirt bottle with a capful of hydrogen peroxide in bottled water to spritz them daily. Frustrating to get 98% germination and 60% death!

Hmmmm ... could it be too much watering? Or under-watering? Since you are spritzing them, can you tell if the roots further down in the container are getting enough water?

What I do during Winter is deep water my cups of seedlings really well once a week. I don't water after that. I didn't even spritz them. But it was cooler during the Winter. Humidity was also low at that time. The thing that I personally have found that kills seedlings the most is over-watering them. That goes for about any plants I grow from seeds. So .... check the soil and see if you are watering too much or perhaps too little.

the problem is partially the fact you are growing them indoors. Try starting seeds in a damp paper towel with a mix of H2O2 and distilled water and as soon as the roots appear put the seeds in a pot, 1 gal for 3 or 4 seeds and 3 gal for more and carefully plant them just below the soil level before any leaves appear. I use a pen, pencil, or a good ol' stick to make a small hole in the potting mix for planting the seeds in then gently press the soil down around the seed . the "same day" put the pots outside in a part shade area of the yard. when they sprout there will be no sun burn or stress from introducing them to a new growing condiction. Once a plant get accustomed to be life indoors it can be hard to make the transition to the outside environment. I too used to start seeds and cuttings both inside either in a sunny widow, under florescent lights, under metal halide lights, and under High pressure sodium lights. All with the same results once introduced to the outside. A high percentage of sunburn, stress, and death. Since a friend of mine named Boris showed me how well his cuttings did outside even though his where done 6 weeks after mine I stopped starting both cuttings and seeds inside and will never go back. granted the seeds I put in the damp paper towels are inside until the roots show but that's it.

Daniel - Good idea, too!

I start mine inside due to lots of rain in the Fall. Too hot to plant in Summer and lately in Spring too. Unpredictable weather conditions is why mine are always started inside. But I haven't had too many losses due to acclimating them to the outdoors. It's a learning curve for me. Trial and error. Which is why I always save a few seeds of each cross (instead of sowing all the seeds at once) .... just in case.

beckygardener said: It's a learning curve for me. Trial and error. Which is why I always save a few seeds of each cross (instead of sowing all the seeds at once) .... just in case.

I thought I was the only one that did that

You two think a lot alike! I wish I had as many good thoughts... I have no problem getting roots and even true leaves. It's about 3 weeks after true leaves that I begin to lose them. They begin growing in paper cups, and I got brave today. I ripped open the cup of one that looked like it was about to fail. Yep, all of the dirt around it was quite damp, and as you can see in the pix, it was about to die. I think I'm overwatering by spritzing. I think I'll take them all outside in the heat (but the shade) to let them get dryer before spritzing them again. How in the heck one can tell when they need a spritz is beyond me! I of course can't see beyond the surface, but it appearing dry isn't enough info! It's not a hardening off issue, though.

Some leaf but almost no root.

Barbalee - What I see in your photo is lack of healthy root growth. A real possibility that you are indeed over-watering them. You have nothing to lose by getting them outside and letting them dry out. Hopefully, the remaining seedlings will survive and thrive. Good luck!

do you have wholes in your cups for drainage? seedling don't need to be misted like cuttings do they have roots to help supply water to the plant. misting is only needed to prevent transpiration on cuttings or plants who's root system has been damaged and looses more water than it can take up. if there is no holes in the cup or if you are misting all the time there is no oxygen going to the roots so you are literately drowning the poor things

Yep, there are holes in the bottom, but I thought spritz type watering would be best so that I didn't do that draining thing even though excess would drain out the bottom. Now I think I'm better off skipping the daily spritzing and watering deeply a couple of times a week. Thank you both, Daniel and Becky, you might help me survive daylily babyhood!

Good luck changing up your method of raising daylily seedlings. I am sure you will have better success now.

Maybe try clear plastic cups so you can see what is going on. I have done that with other plants and it worked well.

Great idea, Larry!

Ed, I just went back over your seedlings and I can't believe I missed F-50, that is a beauty. If the day comes you decide you don't want to keep any of these, I will be happy to take the rejects off your hands

Okay, just collected five big seeds from this cross and they will be planted tomorrow.



Willow Dean Smith pod parent



Electric Mist pollen parent

Nice cross! I hope you get some beautiful blooms!

One of my favorites...may consider registering. Hard dormant, went from two to ten scapes since last summer. Tall, 35-40 bud count last year.