Isn't it just SO FUN!

bluegrassmom said:It is like eating one potato chip!

I saw a cute seed sowing idea on YouTube. Keep your round Japanese take out bowls for crosses. Just drill drain holes, add soil and seeds. Water then put the top on for a week and then after they sprout you can use it on the bottom to catch excess moisture. I need to find some more bowls lol Good Luck

I use ice cream tubs, we have a firm called Kelly's Cornish ice cream here and the tubs make great mini propogators for winter sowing. Can use the bottom as a seed tray or can fit 2x 9cm square pots in each one and once they germinate you can use the lid as a watering tray.

I use them for winter sowing Salvia, Scabious, aquilegia etc.

They look great for starting seeds. I get large plastic tubs of salad and/or spinach and I use them the same way to start my tomato and pepper plants. But your ice cream containers look even better.

This idea for winter sowing is doing the rounds here, using clear plastic storage boxes as mini greenhouses, propping the lid open for ventilation as and when required.



You can cut pieces of capillary matting to fit in the bottom to help with watering or put shallow trays inside the boxes to stand the pots in so that you can underwater.

I have also used the roasted chicken containers that have a clear lid.

Do people stratify because they don't want to plant immediately after harvesting? I've raised lots of daylilies from seed over the years but never stratified them.

quercusnut said:Do people stratify because they don't want to plant immediately after harvesting? I've raised lots of daylilies from seed over the years but never stratified them.

No, it's because daylily seeds can have seed dormancy and if you don't break it by stratifying then it may take weeks or months before they've all germinated. Stratifying makes them all germinate quickly and within a couple of week of planting.

Just putting them in the fridge is not stratifying, so for storage between harvesting and planting you would store them dry in the fridge instead of damp as you would for stratification. Some people store them dry at room temperature if they have a cool, dry room. About a month or so before they want to start them, then they stratify.

If you don't mind if they germinate erratically over weeks or months then you don't need to stratify. Nor do you need to stratify if you don't normally do so and your seeds germinate quickly and all together without it (i.e. they did not have seed dormancy).

All but one of the seeds has come up already.

Wow, that is great, Tom! I am stuck in doing so much estate stuff I having gotten mine sown yet.

And that last one came up over night, so now I have 100% germination! wow, I wish my irises would get results like that!

Last year I wintersowed my DL seed in gallon milk jugs. It worked wonderfully. I planted them the last week of Jan and within 5 weeks they were several inches high. I'm late with everything this year but plan to do the same with my seeds.

newly planted jugs

9 days old

5 weeks old

planted out

Lalambchop1 said:Last year I wintersowed my DL seed in gallon milk jugs. It worked wonderfully. I planted them the last week of Jan and within 5 weeks they were several inches high. I'm late with everything this year but plan to do the same with my seeds.

newly planted jugs

I like the milk jug seed-starters.

Did you keep them in a warm area for sprouting, or just let them do their thing outside?

Are you hybridizing Heuchera?

I just put them in a partly shaded place outside. Make sure the seed medium is moist when you seal the jug and take the lid off.

I hybridize daylilies but I DID start growing heuchera last year. LOL

Leslie I spotted a few polys in there

Duplicate. Sorry

Leslie, you are on a downhill slide girl lol. I love most of mine but some have been tender and didn't make it thru this past harsh winter

Hi Teresa,
I hate to hear that. I have one variety that survived from what I planted last year. I lost almost all of them when I transplanted them from the jug to pots. Someone said they don't like a lot of water. I guess I tended them too much. LOL