Oberon46 said:If seeds don't send out a little root while in water packets should I just plant them anyway? Victorian Lace shows a little tiny bit of white on the seeds but nothing else so far. The bag of mixed seeds also has not shown signs of sprouting.

Are they soaking in plain water? If so, do you know how they were handled beforehand, e.g. were they damp-chilled (stratified)? I've done some experiments with non-stratified daylily seeds and soaking them in plain water actually seemed to inhibit germination compared to seeds started in damp media. So I would plant them. If they haven't been stratified and have seed dormancy they can take weeks to germinate. If in more of a hurry, I would drain off the water and put them in a container in the fridge for four weeks to stratify and then plant, in which case they should be up and running more quickly. Another option would be to replace the plain water (if that's what they're in and I haven't misunderstood) with dilute hydrogen peroxide (the household strength one). H2O2 works to break seed dormancy in daylily seeds. It may not be as reliable for that as stratification, but it often works.

Victorian Lace just broke dormancy. All seeds were from the same person and most have broken dormancy, some more than others. I doubt they were stratified as I had them all winter in the house. I did use a hyd-perox 1 tb to 4 cups water in the bags to begin with. The iris', I changed the water daily. Day lilies didn't say to do so, so I didn't. I think I will give VicLace another few days, then plant all that are left and hope for the best. I have a few trays of columbine and iris (Siberian) in soil in my garage fridge. I could also put the planted out day lily pots in that fridge for a while.

I just didn't know if there was a time after which you sort of gave up on the water and just put them in soil to germinate as they would.

What are chances of seeds germinating now blooming this summer. We have cool summers but I am going to put in a new bed that will get full sun all day, raised up a bit to warm up the soil a bit.

For breaking seed dormancy the peroxide would probably need to be stronger than that, something like 1:10 to water. One of the experiments I did with plain water soaking showed worse germination in 4 weeks than the same batch of seeds planted in medium. While 16% of the seeds had germinated in the water after four weeks, 28% of those planted in medium had germinated in the same timeframe. That leads me to think that soaking in water is a disadvantage for daylily seeds. This was with non-stratified daylily seeds that typically have roughly 25% germinate right away and 75% delayed by seed dormancy if not stratified. It's possible that people whose seeds don't have seed dormancy may have higher germination in water.

Having said that, there's no need to soak daylily seeds in water, they don't have a hard seed coat, nor is the seed coat impervious to water. They'll germinate just as well or better if just planted normally. The dormant seeds will germinate more quickly and evenly if stratified, though, so certainly planting them and then putting the pots in the garage fridge for a few weeks should work. They should germinate more or less together and within a week or two after you remove them from the fridge. I might separate out the ones that have already germinated though, they don't need to chill.

I'd be kind of surprised, given where you are, that the seedlings would flower their first year to any extent but if you push them one or two might. Others can answer that question better than I can, I mostly just experiment with seed germination and don't usually grow them on.

I wonder if during the cool summers if some of the daylilies were put in a cold frame would that give them the extra heat needed to bloom the first year?

I will plant the remaining seeds tomorrow. Cleaning the frog tank today. Yuk.

I do have three raised beds that I use for vegies with pvc pipe hooped over the tops. One is fairly tall with over 40" from soil top to apex of the roof. It gets quite warm when the sun is out and with some judicious spritzing gets quite humid. Might be worth a try to put at least one pot of each daylily in the north end so the pots don't obstruct sun to the vegies. At least in the spring. I was going to use the taller house for tomatoes but I have given up on them. The other two beds have hoops cut down to maybe 30" from soil to apex. I also have silver survival blankets to put over them earlier on in the spring. At least at night. And heat lamps. Anything to extend the growing season.

Thanks all. Will give it a try.

I agree with Sue that very few will bloom the first year being they just want have time before fall arrives. I am in zone 8-9 and have to get mine in the ground by Sept. 15 to see most bloom the first year. Some will bloom in 6-7 months and some will take 10-12 months to bloom. A few will not bloom until the following year.

A question about seeds not day lilies. I planted some very tiny seeds that I needed to sand a bit then lay on the surface of the soil and moisten well. The silly things germinated in two days (well, two did) then promptly died. I had pulled back the saran which is about 1" above soil level to peak. I think perhaps even that loss of humidity was enough to kill the seedling. They are laying on top of the soil seed, seedling and all. There are plenty more to germinate and the instructions say they germinate 'iradically'. I am thinking I need to leave them along except perhaps to spritz the soil if needed. I assume they will send roots down if left alone then become more robust. I planted a few odd seeds like trillium which require a warm-cold-warm-cold-warm cycle to grow. No luck finding plants up here so I am trying to grow my own. The other seedlings referred to above are a sort of hollyhock.

Did the sprouted seeds dry up all over? Or did they fall over at the soil line first? If it was the latter, then you may have had them 'damp off'. That would be caused by a fungus. In that case you might be in a bit of a bind balancing humidity and air circulation. Maybe someone here will have other ideas. And more helpful and hopeful ones!

If you have the seedlings covered and the media was moistened to start with, you shouldn't need to spritz them. High moisture/humidity and low air circulation increases the risk of damping off diseases. That can cause seedlings to die and flop over at their bases. What kind of seeds are they, specifically?

Oops, cross-posted with Donald.

We had the same thought, Sue. If it's damping off, I wish I knew a better solution. In the past, that has been particularly devastating when dealing with tiny, tiny seeds. Too much air circulation and they do desiccate and not enough and they damped off. I usually just planted huge numbers of seeds and usually had enough survive to make up for the many that didn't. That's not a satisfactory solution as far as I'm concerned. It's not enjoyable seeing new sprouts keel over.

Would adding Hydrogen Peroxide to the water that you are wetting the potting soil with help prevent damping off?

I did use water with hyd-perox. And it appears that the little guy is reviving. I am not going to remove the saran unless the soil looks really dry. The seeds are a variety of hollyhock. I bought them from Gardens North along with some others like the Giant Allium and trillium. Three of the packets needed some combination of cold-warm-cold. Trilliums were the most complicated in having a warm-cold-warm-cold-warm to germinate. We'll see. They just went into dirt. The day lily seeds are going gangbusters. Really healthy and robust little guys. I am planting the last of the seeds tomorrow regardless of whether they show signs of germination or not in their little water zip locks.

Thanks for the help.

Mary I plant hollyhocks in the ground. I try to limit the amount of seeds to care for in the house if possible. There are some new true perennial hollyhocks that I would like to get my hand on. LOL!
An overly saturated soil can be detrimental to small seeds. My seedlings started blooming the second year. Starting them indoors does give them a head start to a point. A few of mine.

Beautiful seedlings, Mike -- that first one is a knockout! Can you tell us the parentage?

I can't imagine planting those teeny tiny seeds outside. I would have to pot them then put the pots outside. I would never find them in my garden otherwise. Darned birds would probably eat them as they would be on top of the ground. Until I walked over them.

Nice seedlings Mike.

Nice seedlings Mike, love the green in the first one.

Thanks Betty, Cindy and Fred. I bought the seeds on the LA from Emery. It came from this cross.

It's a gorgeous one for sure!!!

I bought that same cross from Emery couple years back.
I think they sprouted but then died.
I have lots of pretty bloomed seedlings from Emery.