I have had a day lily garden for about 3 years now, this year I noticed seed pods, I collected the seeds plus I also order some seeds off ebay. A week ago I planted my seeds in soil after they have been in the fridge in a wet paper towel peroxide for 4 weeks, and nothing has happened, well I have 150 more seeds in the fridge in moist paper towels, in baggies for 3 weeks now, and I am scared to take them out. I have read so much, I am not sure what to do next. I hate to waste 150 more seeds like I did the first ones.
Should I take them out now at the 3 week mark or leave them in the fridge for another week?
Do I plant them in soil? or leave them in the baggie in a window seal? I used a cake tin with a plastic lid for my first seeds, kinda made a little green house, and I have not seen anything they have been out of the fridge in soil for a week. I had also started some different seeds like that and they are growing like crazy.

@dixiebelle426,
I am really new to dealing with daylily seed. But I will say be patient, don't expect them to sprout like a Zinnia. I ordered some seed this year and it took many of them over a month to sprout. I have harvested some of my own seeds and planted them also this year, many of them have been planted over a month and nothing, yet others that were planted three weeks later have already sprouted.
For one thing the temps were just too hot for a while for the seeds to have much of a chance to sprout, daylilies do have preferred temps at which to sprout, much cooler than I would have ever guessed.
I would take some of the seed out of the fridge and set them inside at room temp. and see if any of the seed sprout, it is possible (not likely) that you have some bad seed.

I will take 1 baggie out and set on the table and see what happens, they are the seeds that I got off ebay, and had been in dry cold storage before I got them, I have had them in wet storage in the fridge for 3 weeks now.

Have you looked at the one in the fridge recently? Do they look healthy? I would open them up and take a look.

There are many ways to start your seeds. Everyone has their favourite way. What I do is put my seeds in the fridge for a minimum or 6 wks. Longer if I am not ready to start them. When I do I put them in a small baggie with water and Hydrogen peroxide solution (10 % Hydrogen peroxide 90 % water) and put them in a cool dark cupboard. I check on them daily. If the water becomes cloudy you have at least 1 bad seed. I check to see which one(s), usually it is soft, or kind of slimey. I get rid of that one and wash the remaining seeds and place them in a fresh baggie in the solution and place back in the dark cupboard. You will see the small white root slowly breaking thru the dark seed. When it has grown for about 2 days I plant them in small pots and label them and put them in a sunny location and I use grow lights during the winter months, if I start them that early.

It can take a while or can be in a couple of days for the seeds to sprout.

Soaking seeds in peroxide/water solution



Sprouting seeds



Potted and beginning to grow



Growing well under lights.


Hope that helps.

I checked the seeds and took a few pixs I put them in the fridge on 7-20-17, since I have never done this before I don't know if they look healthy to me they do, what do yall think?

Looks like there might be a couple of bad seeds there. A gentle squeeze between thumb a finger will let you know if anything is soft (not viable) Check for mold as well. It is hard to see if that is white fuzzy mold, or the beginning of a sprout on some of them. My eyesight is not what it used to be LOL. I use a magnifying glass when I inspect mine.
You are on the right track, you just have to find the way that works for you. Ask as there are a lot of knowledgeable people here.

I would go through them and give them a slight squeeze. If they are squishy and soft, they are starting to rot and not good anymore. If they are moldy, they are not good, either. If they are still firm, and plump, those seeds are still viable. If you see a little white tip coming out of one end, those seeds are starting to germinate.

The way I germinate them is I take a small ziplock sandwich bag and I put a couple of tablespoons of perlite or vermiculite in the bag. I then put a small amount of water/peroxide mixture in the bag, just enough to moisten the perlite or vermiculite. I mix the water/peroxide using a 10 ounce bottle and add one capful (I just use the peroxide cap) of peroxide to the bottle, then fill with water. I drop the seeds into the sandwich bag of moistened perlite (or vermiculite) and make sure they are covered by the perlite or vermiculite. Then I put all of the little sandwich bags in one big plastic bag, and put them in the fridge for a month. Since they are in plastic bags, I can check the seeds and see if they have started to germinate. Some will start earlier than others, around 3 weeks. After a month, I take them all out and put them in a warm spot. They don't need light at this point. I check them daily to see if they are germinating. Once they germinate, I keep an eye on them. I let them get big enough to handle. I like the little green sprout to get about 1/2 inch long and there will be a good sized root at that point, as well. They are fragile at this size, so be careful handling them, so you don't break off the root. I fill little pots with seed starting soil (I use 8 ounce plastic drink cups with holes punched in the bottom), moisten the soil well, and then put the germinated seeds carefully in the soil, with the green tip sticking up at the surface. Water carefully to not wash them out. They need light at this point, either a bright window or grow lights.

I hope this helps, and please feel free to ask questions!

Should I leave them in the fridge for a week longer? Or take them out and put in a dark place? Or in a window seal? Or just on the table? Do they grow roots while in the fridge or do they grow roots when they are took out of the fridge, sorry for so many questions. Thanks for all the help so far

Some will germinate in the fridge, others once they are out of the fridge. I would check the seeds as mentioned in Ina's post, and in my previous post. If they are plump and firm, they are good seeds. If they are squishy, or moldy, remove those ones. I would put them in either clean moistened perlite or vermiculite, or a clean moist paper towel. Once out of the fridge, they can just go in a room temperature spot, they don't need light at this point.

I tried paper towels the first year I germinated daylily seeds and didn't have good luck. I have had much better luck with perlite and vermiculite. Just my experience.

I will go and pick up some perlite tomorrow, and check all my seeds also. Thanks for all the help

I use the perlite & watery/peroxide method as mentioned above, except I leave mine on a table by a window to germinate. Once the green leaf is about 1" (sometimes more), I transplant them into a good growing medium in pots until they are several months old. At this point they will be able to be transplanted into the ground.

In your pics above, you definitely have bad ones in the group. The very first pic of seed by itself in your hand is a bad seed, as well as quite a number of them on the paper towel (white mold on them). For whatever reason, this method does not work well for daylily seeds and I do not recommend it.

Also, the seeds you received MAY not be any good. I say this because my mother, trying to get me flowers that she knew I liked, bought me many packs of DL seed from eBay last year. Some she paid quite a bit for based off the fancy pictures. On arrival, many of them were cracked to pieces, indicating they were overdried to begin with, some were soft and squishy, and some were t even daylily seeds at all! I'm not saying the ones you have fall into any of these categories, just saying be aware when buying.

Lots of people on NGA have extra seed that they will share, trade, or sell to cover postage. If you are looking for specific genetics, just ask...the worst that will happen is the sound of crickets, lol. This forum has some of the best people on it though that usually go over and above to help the "newbies" out.

Hope this helps!
Regina

I hope this link works. This is a set of quick videos to help you with germinating and growing daylily seeds. I highly recommend this method--it's easy to follow and modify to fit your needs. And for those that feel the need to 'dig around in the dirt' to see if the seed is doing anything yet, all you have to do is look carefully at the bag to see exactly what's up with the seeds without disturbing their progress!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...


What my table looks like when I germinate seeds (will look like this soon!!), and what they look like in the bag when just about ready to put in pots. These pics were taken in March of 2016 and these bloomed in my garden this year. Depending on your zone, it may take longer before you see a bloom.




I moved my growing operation to the basement this winter...my card table was packed.


Of course, you will need to make sure you have the proper supervision when working on your seeds!


to the daylily forum on the NGA!

@dixiebelle426

I'm still really new to growing daylilies, starting daylily seeds and becoming addicted to daylilies, and I've learned tons from the more experienced and successful members on here. They really do go above and beyond in sharing pretty much everything about daylilies. Best bunch of enablers I've ever met

I've gone so low tech as to sprout my pre chilled seeds in a baggie, moistened with a few drops of water. My germination rate is pretty good, though the last time I started seeds, I didn't let them get big enough before I transplanted them. Lost a few...

I don't use the water and peroxide method since I never seem to have peroxide in the house. (to self: Grocery list much? )

Thanks for everyone help, I will be changing things up with my seeds. I am hoping my ebay seeds are good ones but if not then I learned my lesson. I am not looking for any particular daylily I just want different colors and different styles going, I am all about multi colors, I just want a beautiful garden, all my daylily but 20 I got for free, the other 20 I paid $1 a fan for them. If anyone has seeds to sale, I would love to buy some. I am so glad I found this site.

You could also do what I do and just plant them in cups. I like to do this during the Winter months on a sunny shelf or window ledge, but it can be done at any time of the year. I get very good germination rates doing it this way:
https://garden.org/ideas/view/...

Went thur my seeds today, and I had about 40 that was no good, I am a little mad, but hey I still have around 100 that are good, so yay. They had only been in the fridge for 3 weeks, I have put them in new baggies, in water and peroxide mixture, and put them on a table that gets very little light, I will check them every few days, or should they go back in the fridge for a few more weeks? I could not find the perlite in my small little town, so I will look in a bigger town later today for some.

If they are viable, you should see some germination over th next week.
It is hard to tell in your second photo, but are there any little white nubs showing on any of them?

In your first photos, it's clear that some of your seeds sprouted and the rootlets died, as well as some showing nubs sprouting but dying before rootlets could form, so some of your seeds are or at least were, viable at that time. When a living organism dies, it begins to decompose (rot). I think the green/brown color on some seed parts are showing that rot. Mold is a condition I think we have all encountered and if viable seeds are isolated from the moldy ones before they are contaminated, they should go on to sprout.

Went 30 minutes away to lowes to find perlite and vermiculite I now have them all fixed up. I got a bag of both and mixed equal parts of the 2 together. Now it's time to wait and see what happens. I have went thur all the seeds, and threw away the ones that looked bad, or that did not pass the squeeze test.