Not the seed packet, the seeds have to be moist. You can sow in pots and put the pot in a zip lock or wrap in saran, or to save space you can put seeds in a tiny ziplock with a tsp or two of moist (moist like a squeezed out sponge) sterile sand or moist vermiculite, write the date on that and put it in your refrigerator. Maybe put the zip lock into something like a yogurt cup so you don't plop the Easter ham on it. When ready to sow, sow the entire contents of the bag, no need to extract the seeds.

If your refer is a few degrees colder its fine, my own is 38F - just don't use your freezer. If it's warmer than 40, your food's in trouble :)

Thank you so much!

Would a tsp of slightly moist Pro-Mix work?

What are these seeds? It's the end of March, you're in zone seven. I'm in zone seven too--April is pretty cold. I think you can WS them now and have great results.

T

Can you tell me why the freezer won't work? I thought cold stratifying was mimicing a freezing winter. Actually, I don't know how cold our ground gets in winter, but I would think it freezes at the surface where seeds wait. Why woudln't the freezer work? BTW, I know the fridge would be just fine, but I still like to know all the details I can!

Trudi, I had some Rose campion seeds and I was going back and forth between winter sowing and direct sowing. My garden is covered in mulch because of weed problems, otherwise I would have just direct sowed them. Thus the dilemma! I wanted to DS, but felt they needed WS, but was trying to use my containers for more necessary WS flowers. So...I have just realized they need cold stratification and they've been in the fridge for about 2 weeks. Do you think they'd be find if I just threw them out in the garden? I'll have to clear mulch, but I really need to save my containers, so I'd rather DS than WS. I'm on the 5/4 border.

Trudi, the seeds are Coreopsis Tripteris, something I really want!

We have a few nights of 40s in the forecast, but daytime temps here are going to be 70-80 the next couple of weeks.

Connie, the 'medium' you use in a sealed container inside should be sterile. Use your Pro Mix if you can sterilize that, I use the suggested sand or vermiculite, but I probably wouldn't go out and buy either one for one packet of seeds.

Deanna - Druse, Making More Plants "Studies have shown that actual freezing isn't necessary (my note: that doesn't mean it hurts), the conditioning process is slowed at those low temperatures and resumes when seeds are not as cold. 35-45F is best."

So while outdoor freezing temps don't hurt the seeds, they rarely require actual freezing. Which is good for me, we will have a few days of freezing here but my day/night averages through most of winter are 40F, or just about the same as a refrigerator. I've had very few failures outdoors, only very occasionally does something not germinate.

These are Tall Tickseed and don't need cold strat to germinate. Put them into a WS container and shove them outside now for hardy seedlings. Look at the image in the link below which shows where these grow naturally in the US. Do you see the Gulf Coast States? As far as I know the coasts of these states don'r freeze in the winter, and a good many don't even go to 40F for any extended period of time.

Here is a link that might be useful: Coreopsis tripteris

Aha! Trudi, thank you very much!! How smart are you!? :)

Happy dance. I'll put them out in containers tomorrow!