Cole, I am new to DL seeds, but I just want to say "I HATE you!!"......You live in the best place in the world! You can grow anything there!!! No, really... welcome to the forum - these people know their stuff! I hope to come and visit your fair city soon... I am having serious Mendo withdrawls living way out here in Texas now... (used to live in Walnut Creek).

I am sure there are quite a few experts here who can help you along, band you DO have the perfect weather...

I am sure others will respond who are far more experienced than I. My best knowledge came through reading web sites about growing daylilies from seed. Below are three sites that might help. Good luck!

http://www.ballpointgardens.com/Seedtips.htm

http://www.ofts.com/bill/hybrdize.html

http://www.pbase.com/ewelch/hybridizing
(scroll down to see gathering, storing and planting seeds)

Hello Cole,
What you have asked is just about impossible to answer because everyone has some twist to how they successfully start daylily seeds. I'll tell you what I do in a minute. When I first got interested in growing from seed, one of the vendors sent me a sheet with what they do. It has worked for me. Others will tell you what they do. Choose the one that works best for you and your lifestyle. Some require more time than others. Some require specialized trays, etc. It seems to me that there are many, many ways to do it, not just a single way. So, here is what I do...

After allowing the seeds to warm to room temperature, I place them in a very weak hydrogen peroxide solution (one part household peroxide to 8-10 parts water). Many seeds will float, some will sink. The 'water' should be shallow. I've used clear or cloudy plastic drinking cups, but you can use anything as long as you can see the seeds. Yes, write on the cups with a marking pen so you know which cross is in which cup. Place the cups somewhere that is not is the sunlight but that does not get cold and then leave them alone - - that's the hard part. Each day, check to see if there is a white protrusion from the pointed end of the seed. This little nub might be stained a little brown, but that's OK. When you see that happen, you can plant the seed in a good quality potting mix (must drain well) just below the level of the soil. I use any little pot I have - - anything from 3-inch up to 6 inch. I have saved these little pots from buying annuals over the last few years. Again, mark the cross - - use any method you want - write on the pot, use a plant marker, whatever. Place where is gets some sun, but not where it will be too hot and dry out too quickly. Keep the soil moist - not wet - and wait for the shoot to emerge. Continue to keep the soil moist - not wet - and watch the plant grow. After a few weeks you can transplant to a seedling bed.

By the way, after a couple of days, it is best to pour off the 'old' water and add fresh. Don't want to breed bacteria. Yes, this method lets you watch every seed, but it will also make you put various crosses together in a rack as some seeds germinate faster than others - - some 2-3 days, some 2-3 weeks even in the same cross. If you have enough room and patience, you can eventually get them back together by cross before you plant them in the ground.

Here are some of the modifications I have heard to this method. (A) Don't use peroxide (B) Either do or don't use peroxide, but let the seeds soak a few hours or overnight, then plant the seeds from the same cross in one or more pots - 6-8 in a 6 inch pot, more in a larger pot. (C) Plant them in shallow trays with drainage holes in the bottom - again, as many as you can fit. Use a single row for each cross (D)Plant them directly into the soil. (E) Use a little "Ban Rot" to avoid damping off (a fungal disease resulting from too much moisture) (F) Put a layer of sand over the seed so that it will hold little moisture next to the seed. (F) When using 'community pots' or shallow trays, once the seedlings are a couple of inches tall, move them to larger spaces where they have more room to grow. I'm afraid I could go on and on with variations. There are also some totally different methods.

I suggest that you Google "growing daylilies from seed" and read several of the postings. Choose one or more methods and see which one works for you. The method I use is more time-consuming than many and some folk claim that it just doesn't work that well. Maybe so, but I had a 95% germination rate this year on about 150 seeds. I'm sure if I had 500 or 1000 seeds, this just wouldn't work that well. My problem now is that I am out of room, have 100 seedlings growing at my son's house, and have already harvested over 150 seeds that I really want to grow out next year!

Glad you have "lots of land." Once this hobby gets into your blood, you'll need that land.
Good Luck,
Larry

thanks a bunch----both bellfarmer and fairysoapgirl----
yeep mendo is wonderful, one of the few places the royal redwoods grows--
so you would think you would find more DLs here---thats what brought me to this super list and that "MONSTER" the DLs Auction page!!!
OH I'm weak---is that kool or what!
I also join the AHS to get all the info I can.......even planning on visiting some gardens when I'm at dog shows in Florida--
I 've lived in mendo for 8 years now and have been busy building a cabin and small hobby kennel. My garden planning had been put off for a bit--but I'm ready now---and I have caught the DL bug!!! it's catchie!!ouch!
Fairysoapgirl thanks for the postive words about my location---and by the way I bet California misses you too!
Bellfarmer the links you posted were just what I needed to see--merci!

glad to be here, best blooms to all. cole in mendo

Hi Cole, looks like others have covered all your questions, so I just wanted to say welcome to the forum and to daylily addiction!!! :)
Jan

Hi,Cole,and welcome. It looks like you have gotten the info you were looking for. I just wanted to let you know that I am glad you found this site and share our passion for Daylilies.

Betsy

Greetings==Thank you all for welcoming me!
Betsey and Jan I'm glad I found the list--I'm like a kid in the candy shop WOW can't believe the DL world is so vast! The Bulldog babies are starting to get mad that I'm spending so much time on the pc. I'll make it up to them today we are working on preparing beds for the future------
Larry I'ts was so kind of you to let me in on the ways to germinate my seeds.
I have tried the papertowel and bleach with other flower seed---like you said I have to try and see what goes best for me.
my question Now is when would be the right time to start??
have a great weekend and bestblooms to you all!!! cole

Well, here we go again with another "see what will work for you" answer.
Here in Georgia where I start and grow everything outside, I can start seeds in August/September and I can start them in March. For fall planting, I want my seedlings to be as far along as possible by mid-November when our colder weather starts. Last year was unusual. We had weather down into the teen in December, January and again in March. Just a night or two each time, but still plenty cold for my native-Californian blood. My seedlings did well through that. I lost a couple, and had a couple die back to little green nubs, but when the weather got warmer, they took off again. A few have bloomed this summer already and a few others are putting up scapes now.

Starting in the early spring is probably the safest. Don't leave the tiny seedlings outside at night if you are going to have freezing temperatures or you can just wait to start the seeds until there is little liklihood for frost in your area.

A lot of folks in the north start seeds indoors under high intensity lighting late in the year and have little plants that are ready to plant outside as soon as freezing weather is past for the year. Many of these folks have basement rooms that they keep heated or even drape their shelving in plastic to keep warmth and humidity higher where the seeds/plants are.

Then there are the folks with greenhouses. These go from a simple structure to those that are temperature controlled to the ones that the hybridizers use that have air filters and humidity control in addition to temperature control. With something like that, you can plant just about any time. You just have to have space available in the ground and weather conditions suitable for the seedlings when they are large enough to be planted outside.

I lived the first 30+ years of my life in the south Bay Area (San Jose area). There you could probably plant right now. A really cold morning in January might be 30 degrees. I know that Mendocino could be both warmer and/or cooler than San Jose depending on where you live. Since you say that you may get snow, you must be on the eastern side of the county. If you are in the redwoods (and boy would I envy that!), you are probably on the cooler side most of the time. The redwoods love the cool fog in the morning blowing up from the Pacific and are not crazy about high temperatures.
So... here's my suggestion. Since this is your first year to plant daylily seeds, divide up some of the sets of seeds that you like, but which are not your top priority. Start half of them now and keep the other half of those seeds plus all of your most prized seeds in the refrigerator until spring. (Watch the ones in the refrigerator from time to time to be sure not fungus is growing on them.) Keep some notes on how cold it gets this winter and how your seedling do. If you lose many of them or all of them, you will know that you need to wait until spring in the future, but at the same time, you will not have lost all of the seeds of any of the crosses, and none of the ones you are most interested in.
Good luck and tell us how it works out for you.
Larry

I do live here by Willits the gateway to the redwoods --sherman and the chandlar drive through tree are right down the road! I'm right on the side of the county between 101 and ft.bragg--off the grid using solar and gennies--
we get up to 15 16 hr sun in the summer. and it rains from oct( or sometimes if were are lucky) nov till march- I mean RAINRAIN RAIN-we do get a break some time in feb-- Do you think the DLs will be happy here??? I hope so---I'm taking your advice and only starting a few. I also try a few in early feb-USING HEATING PAD ECT-- I do have a small green house not heated but I can warn it up with solar---the whole object is getting THE SEEDLING as big as possable to plant OUT SIDE --when spring is here--
thanks again Larry I really enjoyed and appreciate your post--cole n mendo

I'm new at planting daylilies. I just got my seed pods,someone told me if i wanted to plant them now i could,so i did i'm just don't know if i did the right thing or not.I got a small green house thats what there in right now i'll see in 6 more days.L could use all the help i can get. Think you