It seems like you should have more up than that by now Mona, I have never planted seeds that old so maby they take longer. Good luck with these.

I'd bet that it's a temp thing right now. The past few weeks it's been real nice during the daytime, but we had several night that it was low 30's then the following days were in 50's and cloudy. Since I'm not using any heat in the GH, the soil in the cups was below 50 degrees for several hours a day. We're having 70's now and 50's at night. So things are warming up. I wish I could heat the seeds, but it's just not to be right now.

I plan to plant seeds this summer right after they ripen and have their cool sleep in the fridge for a few weeks. This sould get them off to a good start. Even then, i won't get bloom the next year like you do, but they will be more likely to bloom the following year.

I just couldn't throw away all these seeds I have grown the last 3 years. I'm sure I'll have a low percent germinate after waiting so long, but any that do is a gift. I'm headed out to see if any popped up over night. They had a good day of sunshine yesterday and it gets up to about 78 in the GH when the sunshines like that. We've also got sunshine today,so that'll be another good day. We had rain early am yesterday and then last night again. I'm going to spray today for aphids that are outside in my 1500 pots. They are going wild. I've been talking to Michele about this. The Avid is soooo expensive that I'm sticking with a new bottle of liquid 7 and hoping for the best.


Blessings Mona

I had forgotten you had no heat, maby more will come up as the weather warms.

Fred, I envy your ability to have seedlings bloom in less than a year. They certainly look great!

Everyone's seedlings are looking great!

My 2011 seedlings are still covered with leaves - hopefully the majority will survive the so far mild winter we are having.

Starting the seed process today - getting ready to soak a bunch in hand hot water... then away I go! Going to do them all today, instead of staggering them like I did last year ~Jan

Most of my 2011 seedlings are covered with snow, but that's good because winter is not done yet.

Hope you get good germination on your seeds Jan, have fun.

I started my seeds in mid Jan. doing it in batches this year,why I do not know?? So far germination is really good. I did do something different though. I soaked each batch in 1/10% clorox solution for 3 min, Rinsed thoroughly and then put in a 1/10% peroxide solution. Also using the Bio-Sponges again but put them in boiling water 3min. and the let cool before using them. As I plant the seeds when they germinate I sprinkled Cinnamon on them. I don't know if any one single thing or the combination is helping this year but so far I have lost only 2 seeds out of about 100. Hope it continues.

That's great Stephanie, hope it continues to work well for you I hate losing seeds!!

I'm happy happy happy, I now have 34 little green heads sticking up. So, it seems that I'll atleast get a few of my old seeds to grow.

It's rained so much here. I bet we've had 3 inches in 2 days. It's supposed to be over, but it's still really cloudy. Clouds cause my GH to be cold, but tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, so maybe it will warm up in there.

Blessings to all, Mona

So nice to see the little seedlings pop up, your doing good Mona. No clouds or rain here, bright and sunny with very blue skies, it's very pretty but it's only 25 degrees.

Way to go on the seeds Mona, things are looking up.

Can't believe the weather here, week after week of spring like temps, theres even a tropical storm in the Gulf, not expected to come this far north but you never know. Ferlitized the babies yesterday and saw a lot of increase in the dips, some are now four to six fans, a couple look like they are going to scape soon. It's way to early for scapes, even here, winter is a long way from being over.

Ok Fred, When you stated that the increase in the dips, "some are now four to six fans" does this mean that a 6 month old seedling is now 6 fans???? to coin a phrase OH MY Gosh!!!! you sure have the gift for growin seedlings at a drop dead speed. I sure wuld love to come to see all you great folks on the coast. It can't be this year but if I manage things corrrectly, maybe next year during your bloom season. I'd be in heaven. My DH would probably have to drag me back to the car kicking and screaming, JUST ONE MORE THATS ALL, JUST ONE MORE!!! How many plants can an addict get in the back of a small SUV???? a BUNCH!!!

Blessings, Mona

Theres always a few that do more increasing than the others, and most likely these will be the ones that amount to nothing and end up in the compost pile. I blame this early growth on the weather we have had this winter. Come on down, would be glad to meet you.

Yes, do come down. If things go according to someone's plan over in region 14, they will be having a summer regional meeting over Fred's way soon. Is it 2013 or 2014 Fred?

I laugh now, but I belong to that club over there as well so I'm sure I'll be helping in some way that weekend.

It's 2013 and you will be helping and involved in every way if the club votes yes at the next meeting.

Is it too late to cancel my membership

Don't care what you cancel your going down lady.

Michele, sounds like to me that you have even more work to do than planned. I've got more to do than I ever thought possible. It's a good thing that I started back in January to going outside daylily, weather permitting. It's been such goregous weather here that I've got more done now than I usually do by April!!!! Keep up those prayers for continued good weather. A really bad freeze would set things back at this stage. Most all my nature is waking up and looking around thinking it's time to grow. Even the birds are trying to nest!!!

I wish I lived closer to a club. It's 60 miles or so to the closest and they only meet 4 times a year. I'm stuck up here all alone. Good thing I'm a hermit anyway!!!

Blessings Mona

Ok, I done some counting today and notes on what of my old seeds that have germinated. Remember, these are growing in an unheated greenhouse. I planted the first seeds on Jan 13th. This group of seeds that I planted on the 13th, I bought on the LA in 2008 and have been in the fridge since then.

I planted from 2008:
15 Victorian Lace x Fantastic Fringe 14 germ as of 2/08/12
23 Michael Miller x Elegant Universe 13 germ as of 2/08/12
25 Mandalay Bay Music x Elegant Universe 16 germ as of 2/08/12
10 Royal Renaissance x Born to Run 1 germ as of 2/08/12

There has been several of the above that germinated in the last two days and some that started germinating 1/31 and spread out on all days between then and now. So I figure I will have more to germinate from this group.

Planted on 1/25/12 these are my seeds from 2011 Listed below:

10 (Pure and Simple x Arctic Lace) x Sugar Glider 9 germ as of 2/08/12

I have about 150 seeds from 2008 planted but so far these haven't germinated. Then I have another appx 600 planted from 2011. I had thought that I had more of the 2008 seeds planted but I guess I got confused when I switched over to the 2011 seeds.

There's another 9 seeds from 2011 that have germinated but none as a group like the ones with Sugar Glider in them.

So the total so far is 62 seeds germinated. 44 from 2008 seed and 18 from 2011 seed. I'm very happy that the 2008 seed have germinated really good that I planted the first day. I did buy these from someone else but they were in the same plastic bowls in the fridge with the ones that I grew. I beleive they will all germinate given time and temps being good.

I know that some people have germination rates in the high 90's and some as much as 100%. I just never have gotten this kind of percentage. I kept pretty good records in 2006 and 2007 when I grew a lot of seeds and I'd guess I averaged about 70% germination. I plant my seeds in pre-moistened ProMix soil, cover lightly and the water the seeds in the soil with a pump sprayer. I found out early on that watering seeds is best done with a sprayer. It doesn't uncover the seeds or move them around in the soil. I also get my soil damp by pre-mixing the soil with water and storing it in a really big Rubberneck Tub with the lid on it to keep critters out.

I use warm water in my sprayer when the weather is cold. I don't know if this helps, but I figure it does.

The 2011 seeds that germinated so good have Sugar Glider as the daddy. It's the first to bloom in my garden every year. I found this interesting so I looked to see on the AHS what bloom season is for the rest of my early growers were. They all are Early or Early to Mid season bloomers. I wondered if there was any simaliarity between bloom season and the number of days it takes for seeds to sprout when planted. Just a thought, there probably isn't any but my mind works in strange ways.

Ok, enough from me. Thanks Fred for sharing your post with me. I started to make a new one, but I didn't think you would mind since this one is about seedlings.

Blessings to all, Mona