Christy, I'm sorry you are having problems germinating your seeds. I have tried many of the techniques others have explained already, but what has worked best for ¨me¨ (YMMV) is soaking them at room temp in a water and peroxide mix. I've done this with seeds that I harvested, dried for a day or two, and then soaked them till they germinate. I've also soaked seeds that have been dried and stored in the refrigerator for 3-4 weeks. I just germinated a pack of seeds that I harvested back in July of last year, which has been in the fridge the entire time. All of them germinated within 10 days, but I did change the water every 2-3 days. On the other hand, I had someone send me a huge bag of seeds that were more than two years old and had never been in the fridge. Once I got them, I put them in the fridge for a month before I tried to germinate them. My success rate was horrible because many of the seeds were no longer viable; some where just shells. I also found that the ones that did germinate were the weakest seedlings I have grown so far.

Hey, when all else fails, I go to my old-school stand-by ... a damp paper towel in a ziploc bag placed on top of the fridge! LOL! I've germinated a few DL seeds this way too. I hope your next batch germinates for you ...

What is the point of drying seeds for a few days when you are planning on germinating them right away? Not saying that is wrong, I just don't understand the purpose of it. It just seems drying out a seed then adding the moisture back into it is a counterproductive step that would just set back the germination time.

If you are going to plant them right away...a la mother nature style, there is no reason for the fridge.

I have never done anything to mine except take them out of the fridge and pop them in a sponge or a little cup like Becky's with some seed starting mix. If the seeds were hard when planted, I get a good 95%.

If the seeds that have not sprouted, just squeeze them, if they pop or you cant find them...its all over. If the seeds are still hard, just plant them again...they just were not ready.

Hello all my day lily friends! You would think we won the lottery here this morning!! I see plants coming up!!! I put a heat pad under them. But maybe it was just a time issue??? Woooo hooooo!!!!!

Now how and when do I take them out from under the little covered tray? How do you safely remove?

First of all, ! Neat that they sprouted! I would let them go until you have at least 3 leaves on each.

make sure they have good drainage.

Seedfork said:What is the point of drying seeds for a few days when you are planning on germinating them right away? Not saying that is wrong, I just don't understand the purpose of it. It just seems drying out a seed then adding the moisture back into it is a counterproductive step that would just set back the germination time.

It is possible that in some circumstances it is necessary. For example, in some plant species, while the seeds are still on the pod parent they are plump and have a substantial amount of moisture in them. That may prevent them from sprouting while still on the pod parent. They become separated from their parent and lose some of their moisture becoming drier and then they can sprout. If the seeds of those species are removed from the pod parent and planted immediately they do not sprout - they have to lose a certain amount of moisture and then re-absorb it before they will sprout. I assume that drying out and losing some moisture acts as a signal that the seed is no longer on the pod parent and that it then sprouts. When it is continuously moist the signal is 'do not sprout'. Other plant species have seeds that do not need to dry out and can sprout without being dried. There are also circumstances which cause seeds of some plant species to sprout while still on the pod parent. It is also possible that drying out is a necessary part of seed development in some plant species. The botanical term was 'maturation drying' but now tends to be described as desiccation.

I do not know whether daylily seeds need to dry before they sprout. The way to test that would be to remove the seeds from a pod that is just about to open and plant them immediately.

admmad said:
I do not know whether daylily seeds need to dry before they sprout. The way to test that would be to remove the seeds from a pod that is just about to open and plant them immediately.

Maurice, I tried that as one of my germination experiments - I took some seeds from a mature but unopened pod. I didn't have a lot of seeds so this may not mean much, but I started the test on August 5 according to my notes. By 23rd of August, in 1:8 H2O2 3 seeds had germinated and 4 not germinated. By September 3, all 7 had germinated in the peroxide.

18th October note: Other seeds from unopened pod stored without added moisture (on dry kitchen paper in baggie) in fridge since 5th August removed from fridge and placed in damp vermiculite (9 seeds). By January 9th, 1 germinated, rest placed in 1:3 approx peroxide to test viability (I don't seem to have noted the result of the viability test).

Similar batch from unopened pod placed on windowsill on 5th August in damp vermiculite without pre-treatment: as of 18 October 3 of 9 had germinated.

Such a small number of test seeds it might not mean anything but an "eyeball" analysis (since all 7 germinated quite quickly in peroxide), suggests they all had seed dormancy straight from the pod.

Having said that, I (and Griesbach in his experiments, since many of his were stored at room temp prior to starting) have also had dry stored seeds that were still dormant (and some that weren't) but the timing of their being started was likely different.

There's a research paper I saw somewhere on daylily species that just put the whole unopened pods in the cold to stratify. I don't think I ever tried that one.

Such a small number of test seeds it might not mean anything but an "eyeball" analysis (since all 7 germinated quite quickly in peroxide), suggests they all had seed dormancy straight from the pod.

I think we may have two potential factors involved: one might be - when does seed dormancy develop, the other might be, do daylily seeds need to have their moisture content drop below some level to be able to germinate when seed dormancy is not a factor. As well, placing them in water with or without peroxide might introduce other complicating factors.

If daylily seeds are left in the pod do they regularly sprout there? That would probably only have a chance of occurring in southern locations where seeds mature earlier in the year than in northern locations.

I expect that there are southern daylily growers who have at least a few seed pods mature early in the year, possibly in June. I suspect that the earlier in the year daylily seeds mature the less likely they are to be dormant. I think that would be a strategy that is likely to be evolutionarily successful and selectively advantageous. If certain daylily genotypes produce mature seeds in June but those are dormant until the next spring while other genotypes produce seeds in June but they are not dormant, then as long as those seedlings survive they will have an advantage over the seedlings that did not sprout until the next spring. They will outcompete them and probably out-reproduce them. An evolutionarily successful seed dormancy strategy would be to have seeds be dormant when they are produced too late in the growing season to successfully over-winter but to produce non-dormant seeds when they are produced early in the growing season with enough time to prepare for winter and successfully over-winter. That would suggest that the level of seed dormancy would be dependent on environmental factors the seed experienced while developing in the pod.

A more rigorous test of whether daylily seeds can sprout without a period of "maturation drying" would be to use seeds from pods that matured as early as possible in the growing season, say in June. Remove the seeds just before the pod matured. Plant half of the seeds immediately in soil as normal. Allow the other half of them to dry for a day or two and then plant them normally in soil. Compare how long each set of seeds needed to germinate.

Interesting discussion! Certainly some good experiments could be tried to see what the germination outcome might be.

I have a question ..... can daylily seeds survive freezing temps? I was wondering if seeds can survive up north in the cold winter months if they fall to the ground but haven't germinated yet.

I only have six plants coming up out of seventy two. The seed starter package reads to immediately remove lid when you see first sign of germination. So do I remove my little beginnings and put in pots and then put lid back?

Becky, I will be able to answer that question about whether daylily seeds will survive freezing. Last fall we discussed this so I decided to put a few packets of my seeds in the freezer as a test lot. I will be taking them out next month and will try to germinate them, so we shall see what happens.

Cindy - What a great experiment! It gets so cold and wet in many regions of the country, that I wondered about that. I know most dormants will survive as plants, but really wondered about any dropped seeds on the ground. I look forward to the results of your experiment!

BTW - I have scapes on 4 of your crosses (seeds): 3 - Galaxy Explosion x Lily Munster and 1- Cherry Custard Cheesecake x Palace Garden Beauty. It will be another week or so though before they actually bloom.

Re freezing, if the seeds are dry (e.g. air dried for a few weeks) first they should be able to survive freezing in a freezer. If they were still hydrated, however, then they may well die based on Dr. Griesbach's experiments back in the 1950's.

If they survive outdoors when they fall to the ground (and I've seen that happen) I'm speculating it may be because they were not plunged straight into a freezer. Going in a freezer would mean they went from whatever the current room or outdoor temperature was directly to -18C (0F).

A whole plant itself adjusts to decreasing temperatures (cold acclimation) following environmental cues that winter is approaching. That's why daylilies can survive extreme cold here in winter, but if you dug up that exact same daylily in mid-summer and put it straight in a freezer it would die.

If anyone wants to read more about the 1950's research on daylily seed germination/storage/freezing etc. there are articles on the AHS website here: http://www.daylilies.org/AHSar...
The comment about freezing seeds, as long as they are "drier than usual" and in sealed containers is in the third article.

Maurice, the reason I tested some of the unopened pod seeds in peroxide was because soaking in H2O2 breaks daylily seed dormancy. I wouldn't have considered soaking in plain water because in my earlier tests that was detrimental to germination. My logic was that including a test that I knew would break seed dormancy would give a comparison to those in the unstratified controls and also show that the seeds in the group were viable and not removed from the pod too soon.

@Natalie may have tested "maturation drying" - her seeds were stored in the fridge, dried two or three days beforehand if I remember rightly and didn't germinate until water was added. At that point some germinate in the fridge. So there seemed to be a response to water (if I'm remember the sequence of events correctly).

Another potentially confounding factor with seeds is secondary dormancy, i.e. a seed can be not dormant and then develop secondary dormancy when exposed to some particular environmental condition, such as in high temperature induced thermodormancy - lettuce comes to mind.

Another is that a percentage of seeds in a given batch often don't behave the same, some can be dormant and some not. Griesbach found something like 45% were non-dormant in his tests (in that case he considered non-dormant meant germination within two weeks of planting). In my case I gave them a bit longer before classifying as dormant or not, and for at least a couple of batches of the specific seeds I used it was 25% not and 75% dormant. I don't know how one could make sure this wasn't due to different environmental conditions during maturation since the pods would not all have matured on the exact same day and an individual pod wouldn't contain enough seeds presumably.

Christy....do not take seedling out yet. They will grow in there for a while and then you take them out when bigger.

Although personally I would take the lid off, especially since there's mold growing on the surface of the medium.

I don't cover mine at all. And I don't over-water them either. I think in my south window, I would water them thoroughly and then not again for a week. My south window got quite hot even in Winter during the day.

Under natural conditions "in the wild" daylily seeds would fall to the ground, not germinate before winter, survive freezing temperatures and then germinate in the spring in those locations where the seeds mature late in the year and the winter is severe.

One can plant seeds in the ground in the autumn and they survive winter.

The year before last I took the seeds directly from a pod and planted them directly in the ground. They germinated last spring. Last autumn I took seeds directly from the pods of four different cultivars and planted them directly in the ground. I expect them to germinate in the next few weeks.

Seeds that fall to the ground and remain on the soil surface might not survive because they are eaten, or because of other factors, including possibly not surviving temperatures lower than their own lethal limits. If we ran the necessary tests we would probably find that seeds from different crosses would survive different low temperatures. For example, seeds from one cross might survive temperatures as low as -15 degrees but seeds from a different cross could not survive temperatures lower than -5 degrees, etc. The lowest (and highest) temperature a seed will survive will depend on its genotype as well as how it has been treated (how dried it is, what temperatures it is accustomed to, etc.).

@sooby I didn't test anything. I just put them freshly harvested seeds in a cup over night, or maybe for two nights, and then I put them in the fridge dry.