Viewing post #2979751 by Seedfork

You are viewing a single post made by Seedfork in the thread called Seedling cold hardiness; dependent on location or folliage type?.
Image
Aug 5, 2023 7:58 AM CST
Name: Larry
Enterprise, Al. 36330 (Zone 8b)
Composter Daylilies Garden Photography Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Garden Ideas: Master Level Plant Identifier
Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Region: Alabama
I think the purpose of moist stratification is misunderstood. It is not that dormant seeds need cold moist conditions in order to actually sprout. The purpose of cold moist stratification is to reduce the amount of time from first sprout to last sprout.
In other words some seeds sprout quickly, dormant seeds may take over two months to sprout. So if I plant seeds and have to keep them moist I would love for them all to sprout in a two to three week period so I don't have to continue to water them every few days for two or three months before they all sprout. The dormant seeds will sprout without cold moist treatment, it will just take them much longer to sprout.
So I like your thinking that if you do have some dormant seeds it really does not matter to you at all if they sprout much later or never, because many if not most of the seeds will not be dormant. You might have 20 seeds of one cross and only one or two might be dormant, I think it might be possible, but not likely, that all or the majority could be dormant. I have never been able to determine how many of my seeds were dormant, but I did some trials and moist cold stratification did reduce the period of time it took all the seeds together to sprout.
So I decided to put all my seeds in the fridge, mainly because I did not want to plant them in July, August, or early September. So I thought why not go ahead and store them and stratify them. I do feel that if I did plant the seeds as soon as they were collected that I would see no advantage to moist stratification. However if I plant the seeds in October would not want them to be two or three months in sprouting if I lived up north.
Last edited by Seedfork Aug 5, 2023 9:17 AM Icon for preview

« Return to the thread "Seedling cold hardiness; dependent on location or folliage type?"
« Return to Daylilies forum
« Return to the Garden.org homepage

Member Login:

( No account? Join now! )

Today's site banner is by mcash70 and is called "Blueberries"

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.