beckygardener said:Mayo - Some seeds just take longer to germinate also. I have had seeds that took TWO MONTHS to germinate. I nearly gave up on them when suddenly I noticed sprouts! So my advice (which was given to me), is to wait and see for at least 3 months.

That's seed dormancy. You don't have to wait if you stratify (although you have to wait for them to stratify if you don't plan ahead )

Sue - When a seed needs to be stratified, does that mean it is likely a dormant daylily plant?

Not necessarily.

spunky1 said:Years ago I sold seed on the auction, some of the seed I shipped had germinated in the fridge, there also were a few people selling germinated seed. They will live a long time in the fridge after germination.

That's very good news! I need to take the time to check my seeds today. Now I'm excite

Becky, I have the same problem with cats and seedlings. Every year I grow a few annuals by seed, and every year things get knocked down, tags lost and I have to wait for things to bloom to tell what they are. gotta love em.

I am late to this post, but just recently discovered several bags of seeds in a shop fridge that had been forgotten. There are seed for each year since 2011 and hundreds of bags. ( a few thousand seeds) Out of sight and out of mind but they look good and some really interesting crosses that we need to try. I have sprouted 2 and 3 years old seeds so I can try 5 year old seeds. I have been told that 9 - 10 year old daylily seeds can still be just fine depending on how they were handled.
By the way, not only can sprouted seeds in stay the fridge for a long time, baby daylilies will live a couple of months in cups of water/peroxide mix. When you try to grow thousands of seedlings around a very busy work and life schedule, sometimes you conduct tests by accident.
Terry

Terry - Please let us know how viable they are when you sow them. I would really like to know. I have quite a few in my refrigerator from 2 years ago. I planted some seeds of each cross, but couldn't sow all of them at once. I have been wondering if they are still viable. I, personally, believe they would still be if kept in the crisper bin in the fridge.

That's very encouraging news Terry. I've checked through some of my seeds, but haven't yet found any that have germinated. Will go through the rest soon.

I had 3 year old seeds germinate last year with no problem. I had stored them dry in the fridge, and when I added water and peroxide, they germinated rather quickly, in the fridge.

Just want to bump up this thread and see if anyone has anything else to add?

I didn't start any seeds this winter or last so I have quite a few seeds. I've started them in late March/early April in previous years and the germination rate was decent, even without being kept in the fridge.

Learned a bunch again this morning about the LA, seeds, etc.
I got some seeds in the fall that were packaged with a little desiccant pack- it didn't work and the seeds were molding by the time they got to me. I figured it was a lost cause and didn't bother contacting the seller. Might revisit that...

I have started seeds in the past that were at least three years old and got about 50% germination on most of them. I have had better than 50% germination with 2 year old seed.
I should have kept better notes!

I am not the best with note taking myself, Valerie!
I started 30 packets of '22 seeds yesterday afternoon. I didn't bother counting seeds...just filled cups with mix of potting soil/seed starting mix and added the seeds. Some packs had a few...some had a lot! We'll see what happens. 😁 I made labels first without even checking the seeds and they all looked great, thankfully!

Diana,
I had a few packets of moldy seeds one year when I left them over winter on a shelf in our living room. Since then I've kept them in a dark closet. Hopefully you won't have an experience like that again, especially with purchased seed! I keep mine in little paper envelopes.

I don't generally hold seeds very long at all, as I start them indoors in October and November... they will not go into the gardens till June, so that can give them as long as 8 months growing indoors (which, here in zone 3, should knock at least one full year off waiting for them to bloom).

On the other hand... I have found viable daylily seeds in a (missed) dried seed pod (split open but still intact) outdoors in the garden after our long zone 3 cold winter!

Still on the scape, above ground, and in winter temps down to at least -30 (average winter)... yet the seeds had no special care, were not harvested quickly, were not dried or stored indoors... I put them into the ground in the garden that spring, and they grew.

Yet, I have 'lost' seed stored carefully indoors, dried for a week, then held (dry) in the crisper drawer. If they are meant to grow, they will.

It's times like these when I seriously wonder how / why / when/ what the ??? There is just no logic ...

I also have gotten (many) seeds via the LA, and have had close to 100% germination this year (almost across the board, from multiple sellers). I only have (2) seed crosses that totally failed (both were gifts), so I don't plan to bother the sellers. And yes, a couple of crosses with low germination... But I've never had a better year for great germination, so if I lose one or two...

An update on my seed starting this spring...

All but 4 of the 30 solo cups have seedlings growing. A couple of cups have only 1 sprout but that's fine by me since I don't even know where I'll plant all these. 😆 The weather has been wacky so I still have hope to see some others sprout. If not, there's always next year. 😊