By the way, there is a thread on here farther down called starting iris from seeds. It's pretty good with several people sharing their experiences. You may want to dig that one up.

tveguy3 said:Well, using the refrigerator to stratify the seeds allows you to plant them in the early fall or winter, and then harden them off and get them lined out earlier so that they will not take so long to bloom. I got about 1/4 of them to bloom one year later that way. I tried putting them outside and got 3 seeds out of 3 pots full to germinate, then it took 3 years for them to bloom. The seeds are pretty easily transferred to pots even if they have a root growing. I've had some with the root growing into the paper towel, and I just planted the bit of paper with the seed and it grew fine. I try to get them planted before Dec. 1, and some years I actually do get them planted that early. I would rather plant them earlier, but don't seem to get that done. Last year after I planted them I put them in the basement on the window ledges where the temps are between 45 and 55 degrees. I got much better germination then I ever did when I kept them in the house by a warm window. I'm really just a beginner here, others who have done it longer could add some advice I'm sure. Having a green house sure would make this a much easier task I'm thinking.

Thank you. Really helpful explanation.

We do medians & they work perfectly well, planting outside. We don't fuss too much & the refrigerator method makes it too difficult & we really don't like to fuss.

I don't allow my seeds to dry. If you allow them to dry they go dormant and some can even take years to sprout. I harvest them right when the pod starts to crack. Then I put them directly into spring water with a few drops of peroxide. Then I wrap them in a damp paper towel putting them in the fridge for stratification.

I check them every few weeks and re moisten if needed. Then pull out those that have sprouted and developed a tiny infant rhizome and plant them indoors in soil.

I cannot germinate them straight into the soil outdoors because the temperatures are so inconsistent it warms then freezes, warms then freezes for two months all spring.

And we have winter drought sometimes. Dry but frozen.

Betsy, do you know what your rate of germination is?

iciris said:Betsy, do you know what your rate of germination is?

About 90%. Or more on my last season.

My hard part is not losing them in the transplant. I have to check on them continually because my area is so dry.

Most start to sprout in about 8-10 weeks. A third lags behind and takes 3 months... If it hasn't sprouted then back in the fridge it goes.... Until it does.

Of course there are some that don't make it to the fridge... If the seed floats when I soak it then I disgarded it. If the seed sinks its viable. (So I understand)

That way I'm only trying to sprout healthy seeds.

SpringGreenThumb said:I don't allow my seeds to dry. If you allow them to dry they go dormant and some can even take years to sprout. I harvest them right when the pod starts to crack. Then I put them directly into spring water with a few drops of peroxide. Then I wrap them in a damp paper towel putting them in the fridge for stratification.

I check them every few weeks and re moisten if needed. Then pull out those that have sprouted and developed a tiny infant rhizome and plant them indoors in soil.

I cannot germinate them straight into the soil outdoors because the temperatures are so inconsistent it warms then freezes, warms then freezes for two months all spring.

And we have winter drought sometimes. Dry but frozen.

Thanks for all this info but I'm not sure if this would work for the upstate New York time/season factor. The seeds, say are ready in September. If it sprouts in 8-10 weeks in the fridge, it will be the middle of December - everything will be frozen solid here, and remain so until March/ April. What do I do with the sprouted seeds all winter?

From memory I thought is was about 6 weeks in the refrigerator.

We live in MA & our winter is why we plant seeds in pots in late Oct.

tveguy3 said:By the way, there is a thread on here farther down called starting iris from seeds. It's pretty good with several people sharing their experiences. You may want to dig that one up.

Just revived the thread, so it should show near the top of threads.

Cuzz4short said:

Just revived the thread, so it should show near the top of threads.

Thank you so much for this, Gabe and Tom. I have just removed pods from the plant. Cracks are showing! Experts, should I remove the seeds right away onto the paper plate (as per description) or let them dry more in the pod?

Onto paper plate so the air drys them.

I harvested my pods last week - got about 50 seeds from 8 crosses.
I was afraid to put them on paper plates because I was afraid a cat or some
clumsy human might spill them. So I put them in individual brown paper
sandwich bags with the info written on the outside of the bag.They seem to be getting
dry.
I may try some of the suggestions here. I had about 50% germination with this method last
year, and those are doing well. I mainly used Tom's guidelines.
Wondering what using peroxide does?

I had all my crosses last season drying on paper plates in the garage. I forgot about them and opened the garage door and the wind blew the plates and seeds everywhere. I swept them up and tossed them out.

Rob, just the kind of mishap I was concerned about!

Oh mannnnnnnnnnn...................

UndertheSun said:I had all my crosses last season drying on paper plates in the garage. I forgot about them and opened the garage door and the wind blew the plates and seeds everywhere. I swept them up and tossed them out.

Just keep checking them as they dry, sometimes without air they get a fungus.

I dry my seeds in ordinary paper postage envelopes, with the top open to let air in. I write the name of cross on the envelope first. The most seeds I've had from one cross is 44 and all the seeds looked fine when I planted them.