Would like to try this but know very little about it. Any help would be appreciated..

Do you have seeds now, or do you also want to know about hybridizing to produce some? Have you started any plant seeds before so know the basic process or would this be your first time growing plants from seed? Would you be starting them indoors under lights soon or outdoors in the garden in spring or haven't decided yet? There are a lot of variables so it would help to know what you have in mind. The simplest basic thing if you already have seeds is to start them like any other plant seed and sow them at about twice their depth in seed starting medium or maybe a bit deeper in the garden. Daylilies from seed won't necessarily look like the parent plants.

I am not an expert, but I do know that the seeds need to be stratified. That is, they need to be chilled for around six weeks before you start them.

Do you need some seeds? I experimented this year to see what would cross with what, purely to help determine if the clumps would perform better if I planted compatible varieties closer together. I've got a LOT of seeds from doing that, and know for sure that I have multiples of Frosty Elegance x Fuchsia Dream. Haven't really made a list yet, but would happily give some away.

Some daylily seeds need to be stratified, those that experience dormancy. Nothing to do with the foliage description of dormancy, just seed dormancy.
However, few seeds out of my garden need to be stratified to sprout. I imagine there are actually very few daylily seeds that need to be stratified in order for them to sprout. But, what stratifying daylily seeds should accomplish would be to compress the time frame of the period of time it takes from the first seed sprouting until the last seeds sprout. In other words instead of taking over two months for all the seeds to sprout if they were stratified that period should be reduced down to somewhere between two weeks and one month roughly. Also just placing the seeds in a cold storage supposedly will not actually stratify the seeds, it needs to be cold damp storage. At least that is what I have been told and read. I tried a failed experiment this year to test that but the medium used for the test seemed to be a problem and the test was a total failure. Anyhow the science tells us it needs to be cold damp storage to actually stratify the seeds. Seeds that are harvested and then immediately planted in the ground tend to sprout rather quickly. Once they are dried and stored then it seems they might go through a dormant stage and some of them would need to be stratified.

https://garden.org/ideas/view/...

Thanks so much for your reply's, Have not planted any Daylilies and yes I would be interested in learning how to Hybridize . However I have some seed that I would like to plant, start indoors? deep? and when ? when to move out. That would get me moving. This is the first time I have used the forum so please forgive any protocols that I have missed.

Inside I have a little more precise control over the depth and plant the seeds 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. Outside the courser soil ends up getting the seeds down to closer to 1 inch deep. I can't give advice on when you would move your seedlings out doors our zones are too different, but normally it's good for them mature to have four leaves. I'll let others in your zone advise on the time and temps in your area to move the seedlings out doors. You might even be able to plant your seeds outdoors, that is so much easier.

YOU don't have to start them ahead of time . I was told a few years ago from a great hybridizer that he never starts them inside . Too much cost and work load . I agree . This spring I planted directly into the prepared soil around 2000 seeds in MAY . I had over 50% germination , which was fabulous . I thinned them out and will have 700 strong seedlings to bloom over the next 2 years .

to the forums, @murphy33! You've come to the right place to ask questions about daylilies. There are a lot of folks with a lot of experience and probably just as many opinions on how to plant those seeds, lol. There are also lots of YouTube videos to watch about hybridizing.

I started seeds inside my house in February using the instructions that I got from Cedarthorn Gardens website. The instructions are almost 20 years old and unfortunately they closed years ago, so I'm unable to get the instructions from their site, but attached are jpg images of the instructions. I have used these instructions and had seedlings growing in my kitchen from February to May until I could plant them outside.



Here is a link to a general and simple way to hybridize daylilies. I like this because it doesn't get too technical.
https://www.ofts.com/bill/hybr...

Good luck with your seeds!

I did a number of experiments with different methods people had mentioned and that included the "wet refrigeration" method in the Cedarthorn article above. It did not work as well for me as refrigerating in damp media such as vermiculite or even on damp paper towels for the stratification period before moving them to room temp for germination.

Soaking daylily seeds in plain water at room temperature had also been touted around that time but appeared to inhibit germination compared to just starting them conventionally in media with no pre-treatment when I tried it.

You can find the original Cedarthorn web page at the Internet Archive Waybackmachine
https://web.archive.org/web/20...

I tried a (new to me) approach this year that's posted here on NGA by our own @beckygardener and have to say, I am having the highest seed germination rate I have ever gotten with the seeds I've started this year using Becky's instructions.

https://garden.org/ideas/view/...

She noted a 95 to 98% germination rate and, while I have just started my 4th seed tray, the germination rate for the first tray is nearly 98% (more seeds up just about every day, but at this point, nearly all of the cups / different seed crosses started first are at 100% in each cup ... just a few that I am waiting for).

My 2nd tray has seeds up in all but one (of 20 cups), and some of those are now at 100% per cup... my 3rd tray has seedlings in all but 3 cups, with a strong showing for seeds so recently started. And the last tray has no seeds germinated (yet) as I just got those going.

In zone 3, there is no point in trying to plant outdoors in the spring. I start them indoors by November, grow them under lights till May or June ... and knock a year off the wait for blooms, as (in general) I am seeing first blooms by the second summer in the gardens. And Mother Nature makes the first culling for me: zone 3 winters.

admmad said: You can find the original Cedarthorn web page at the Internet Archive Waybackmachine
https://web.archive.org/web/20...

Oh my goodness! I had no idea that existed! Thank you ever so much, Maurice!!

Thanks for the acorn, Dianne!

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH & VERY MUCH APPRECIATE THE WEB LINKS.