Has anyone gotten started?

18 years ago

Hello,

Newbie here (10-09-05). Has anyone gotten started? I have to clkean out the fridge in preparation for Thanksgiving, and I thought, "What a great opportunity to get started!" I plan to get some stratification candidates in their for their cold sleep. I think I'll start with Pansies. I would love to have them ready for March flowering. Maybe I'll start primrose too (although I don't have seeds for that one!).

Is anyone else starting?

Do you just put the pack in the fridge? OR

Do you damp paper towel the seeds?

Is it different for diff. plants? OR

Do you stick to the same method for each?

I must sound like a 3 yr. old firing off loads of questions, but at least it isn't why? why? why?!

Does anyone here start trees from seed?

I have received afew in trade, and I have read that tree seeds--especially--need to be started fresh.

Any advice?

I have been gardenng for a long time, but it was vegetables first, then flowers. Last year I started a Mimosa fromm seed, and it did well, so I have been bit by the bug with trees.

I appreciate any advice.

Thanks,

Robin

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Comments (7)

utluckly
18 years ago
I started some flowering dog wood and some Amur maples last week in a coldframe as well as some Iris seeds I dont expect anything to start coming up till spring I just put them out for stratifcation purposes. It is my first year fo growing anything other than veggies from seed.
morz8 - Washington Coast
18 years ago
Robin, I think you'll find the linked database helpful. Look for your trees there, and if you have some you don't find, post back.

Putting the seeds dry into your refrigerator doesn't work for the chill period, they need to be moist. I'm not a papertowel person, I use sterile moist sand or vermiculite.

Here is a link that might be useful: Clothiers
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ljrmiller
18 years ago
Welll....I've gotten the components for my next winter-sowing cold-frame setup: One great big translucent plastic storage box and a 50-lb. bag of sand. I still have to shift the first box I have like that (already full of this year's seedlings that need another year of growing-on/germination time) and put the sand in the second box. I also need to pour water on the sand until it's damp.

Then I'll be ready to pot up the last of the perennial seeds I didn't get in this year.

I already placed my Royal Horticultural Society seed exchange order, but that won't arrive until April. I'm impatiently awaiting the NARGS list, after which I'll get down to ordering whatever wasn't in that order.

I start all the things needing cold stratification the same way. Okay, I start EVERYTHING except for tender annuals and perennials this way: Put damp jiffy-mix in a 4" plastic pot. Gently pack the seeds on top of the jiffy-mix. Cover with grit or sand, lightly or heavily depending on light requirements. Place the pots outside in the above-mentioned cheapie cold frame, and ignore them until they start to germinate.
Loretta NJ Z6
18 years ago
Yes, definitely you can do tree seeds. I've done crabapples, japanese maples, stewartia, witchhazel, franklinia, paperbark maple, korean mountain ash and others this way. Be careful of that first winter though and be patient.
What are you going to try?
mollyzone5
18 years ago
Last year I found a pack of pansy seeds that I had bought a few years before and never opened.It was in Jan. and just planted some in pots under lights to see if the seed was still good, and they grew and flowered in Apr.They were not given a cold treatment.I don't remember any seed given cold treatment that I have planted,and I grow all my plants from seed.
triple_b
18 years ago
That is great news for me. I have a pansy mix that I love and am itching to start.
Robin282
Original Author
18 years ago
Well,
I have put some pansies to cold sleep. I have a couple of other things in there too. I am going to try some outdoor winter sowing too. I have to save window shelf space(more than a sill)for vegetables. I am going to start my Cobaea too. It flowers late, and I wanted to see if starting 2 months before I did last year will get them flowering sooner-but I don't think it will.

I have to have an experiment every year, so this is it.

I have made some nice trades, and I have a bunch of new stuff. I will have to look it all up to know if I should winter sow or if it is a plant that can get a head start and be put out early.

So, how's YOUR fridge? Anybody in there?
Robin