My rudbeckia is all up, but I'm not sure what type it is -- got it from someone on the seed exchange. I've got a bunch of seeds left -- it looks like there's some chaff in there, but it did sprout. If you need more seeds send me an e-mail.

Caryl

I'm a newbie WS'er, but so far have noticed that my rudbeckias and echinaceas seem to be the slowest to sprout (I'm in Zone 6b too).

I have only a couple of stray sprouts in my purple coneflower/echinacea purpurea jugs. I have yet to get that "jug full of sprouts" thing on those.

Also sowed Rudbeckia fulgida in jugs (the wild version of your Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm') and don't have any sprouts at all on that yet.

Since I have so many other sprouts in other jugs from other seeds like Joepyeweed, New England asters, etc., I figure it's not because of my seeds or jugs or anything. I think rudbeckias and echinaceas must just take a little while longer to sprout.

I wouldn't worry about it. Your WSing reflects what's going on in YOUR garden. There are seasonal and regional differences in snow cover, cloud cover, etc.

Don't sweat the small stuff. It's only late March. If by the beginning of June you don't see something then hold onto the flat for a few weeks more before flip-flopping it into a bed where the seeds can stay in soil and may possibly still sprout if and when they're ready.

I just noticed a few Rud sprouts today. none for the echinecca yet though. They were one of the last for me last season. Then when I planted out even more late sprouts showed up.

Don't worry yet they may just be taking their time.

Karen

I agree, don't worry yet. But, there is a small chance that if you traded for the seeds, you got chaff. These two are easy to make that mistake. So if you can find some, it wouldn't hurt to sow another container or three. But don't give up on the ones you've done already. Like Trudi said, until June.

Thanks guys - and thanks for the offer Caryl. I think I'll wait and see what happens with these guys.

Last year ruds were my first sprouts, but not many sprouts in them yet this year. A few, but not that many. Coneflowers I have only 2 sprouts so far.

Just not enough warm weather yet, and I'm far south of you. It was 32 degrees when I got up this morning. Give them time- it's supposed to warm up tomorrow.

Karen

I had about 3-4 Rudbeckia sprout in each container. A small percentage of what I sowed.

That was about 3 weeks ago. I tend to think that if some sprouted so quickly, that there is not much hope for the rest.

However, I will leave them for a another week or two and see what happens.

Ellen, give it more than a week or two. I've had containers where one brave sprout showed up and then nothing else. A couple weeks later there were way more than one in the same container. All seeds have their own genetic material and are probably on their own timetable, maybe like the development of children -- not all walk and talk at the same time yet are still perfectly normal.

I didn't see many, if many ruds. Have all kinds of sprouts including quite a few echinacea magnus. Some of the sprouts I couldn't see because they were obscured by plastic and humidity even if I tapped the tops, taped too heavily to check.

I see a couple of my most wanted, tons of Foxglove Candy Mountain (those weren't it but can't believe they germinated so well). Ultima Morpho Pansy and Blue violas (just a very few).

I've been frantically uncovering everything because it's going to be warm the next 3 days. Nightmare if I have to cover it up again if the temps take a nosedive.

I set my choice delphs in total shade for now, left taped, have a couple sprouts of Blue Jay in another area.

Pulling packing tape off is a huge job but better than duct tape. Another time, I think I'd tape 3 sides of containers and not so heavily. Gotta think of something better. Untaping jugs was the worst, did close to 50 last night.

I really didn't want to uncover yet but even in only morning sun, it might get too warm, and I didn't want to be out there burning larger holes which may have been insufficient.

Aliska,

I bought two rolls of florist wire at the dollar store for 50 cents each. I punch holes in the top and bottom half of the milk jugs, just along the edge, in three places. Then I use the wire to hold the jug closed.

I was just doing this in one place, opposite the handle, but the sides were gaping open. Now I do it on the sides that border the handle and in the corner opposite the handle.

It works great and is easy to open when I need to.

erika, thank you for that idea. 3 sides. Plus much easier to secure closed again if we have seedlings and we dip below freezing. Maybe just the front again once opened up if the jugs are all huddled together. Plus there will be better ventilation buying me a little more time perhaps.

I have to make this as easy on myself as possible from here on out.

Tape is fine, just too much work to put on and take off plus I was going around twice which turns out not to have been necessary with packing tape. That gets stuck so it's hard to pry enough up so you can have something to pull on.

Still better than duct tape.

My Echinacea 'White swan' seeds that I collected last fall are sprouting like crazy. I haven't winter-sown any Rudbeckia this year yet, but sowed lots of Rudbeckia hirta in the last 2 years and they germinated late March/early April.

This year everything is sprouting about 2 weeks early anyway. I have about 80% germination on 46 containers already. I assume it's because of the warm sunny days in March (in between deluges and flooding!).

Your seeds may still be okay, but it's possible they are duds. My experience has been that seeds from trades are not infrequently poor germinators and sometimes mislabeled.

No rud or echinacea for me either. I have about 1/2 of perennials sprouting. No pepper sor tomatoes yet, but that is a good thing. Too early.

All my Rudbeckia hirtas have sprouted, but they didn't sprout at the same time. Some of my hirta types were my first Rudbeckia sprouts and some have just sprouted in the last few days. My Rudbeckia fulgida has not sprouted. My Rudbeckia triloba sprouted after the hirtas. My Rudbeckia gloriosa has just now begun to send out sprouts. I wouldn't give up hope, as there are a bugillion kinds of Rudbeckias.

My white swan echinaceas sprouted a while ago, but my purples are just now sending their little root down into the soil, hope to see leaves tomorrow. I'm not sure, but I think echinaceas like it warm. Don't give up on them!

As of today, I have one echinacea sprout. Yay!

Karen

My echinacea and rudbeckia were sown back in January and they've just started to really pop out the last two days. I'm in Zone 8 so they should be a little earlier for me than you guys in Zones 5 and 6.

I've got a single sprout each of rudbeckia 'Irish Eyes' and 'Autumn Colors' so far. I really wanted these and WS multiple jugs of each but there's just a single teensy sprout in two containers. Also WS multliples of Echinacea and have zero sprouts. My containers are generally in the shade except for a few that get some morning sun and notice I seem to be later than others nearby when it comes to sprouts. One lonely hollyhock sprouted yesterday.

erika: I planted several varieties of rudbeckia and echinacea. Example: I planted several jugs of R. 'Rustic Beauty' in Jan and Feb. When they germinated a few days ago, I'd given up and planted more seed. I planted two flats of Rustic Beauty on 3/26, had sprouts on 3/30!

I took the lids off all WS containers a couple of weeks ago and covered them with row cover (many benefits). Temps are up and day length is longer - a factor with many seeds.

The other seeds that I'd nearly given up on have sprouted - columbine, foxglove, larkspur, lobelia cardinalis, monarda, snapdragon.

Soon, you will another problem - where to put everyone.

erika - Great news!!! My 'White Swan' Echinacea sprouted!! I went out late morning to see if anything new was showing and lo and behold there was a tiny seedling in the first 'White Swan' container I WS. Don't give up on yours--hang in there and keep the faith!! My ladybells are also sprouted. The 'White Swan' Echinacea seeds were from my own plant too. WS so far & sprouted from seeds I collected from my own plants: Echinacea 'White Swan,' Stokesia 'Klaus Jelitto,' Montauk daisy, coreopsis 'Early Sunrise,' trollius (Chinese globeflower) & Shasta daisy.

I'll hold out hope for a while longer.

I'm using the Zone 6 germination table from Wintersown.org as a guideline. I printed off all 76 pages of it and have been marking my own planting/germination dates. It's been really helpful in keeping me patient.

It's just GORGEOUS here today. 66 degrees now and sunny. I'll check my jugs again when I get home. Who knows? Maybe today's the day!

I have only 1 Rud container not sprouted. I almost want to re-sow with some other rud seeds in case they were duds...

The Coneflower nothing yet but I sowed them in March.

Karen

None of my coneflowers have germinated yet. Some were planted on 1/27 and some on 2/14..What are those seeds planted in?
I have not had good germination of seeds that are planted in styrofoam coffee cups and the red cold cups aren't much better either. Am hoping this warm weather helps to produce more sprouts. If they haven't germinated by end of April, I am dumping the contents of the cups into the flowerbeds where I normally wanted to plant that flower and see if they will germinate like that. I think I read where somebody ended up doing that and it worked.

erika - I'm using the sprout chart for Zone 6 on the Wintersown.org website too. I didn't need the entire list so I just selected the rows of the table that corresponded to the perennials I WS and pasted them in a Word document. My sprout chart is just 2 pages. I like that it captures botanical name, common name, date WS and date sprouted--makes it so easy to keep track. So far 26 varieties out of a total of 66 have sprouted so that's more than a third.
My first WS attempts I used recycled foil salad bar containers but once I read about milk jugs I switched. I definitely prefer the milk jugs but the stokesia, globeflower & Echinacea seeds I WS in the foil containers have all sprouted. Planting out is going to be interesting!

I've noticed that my echinacea is always a little slow - this year my levels of germination were pretty low but I was late to the party and didn't really sow until late January/mid February(post-blizzrd). They sometimes need a little extra time so I wouldn't worry. I have a bunch of three year old plants that should bloom their heads off this year.

SUCCESS!!!

They both sprouted this weekend! YAY! Thanks to all of you for keeping me patient!

It works!

Happy, happy, happiest sprout dance!! Yay! I'm so glad for you that your Echs finally poked their sleepy heads up. This morning I discovered penstemon, soapwort, coreopsis 'Zagreb,' geum & buddleia have sprouted so I'm happy sprout dancing right along with you. Congratulations on your new young 'uns!

My echinacea container is sprouting. hurray