this is what i do and it's not the only way. collect your seeds and let them dry for 24 hours. put them in a plastic baggie with a bit of paper towel. i find that germination is better if they're refridgerated for a couple of weeks. this is the part thats up to you. if you water outside regularly then i'd just direct sow. if not then start them in the house. take the paper towel out of the baggie and put in some water, add a splash of hydrogen peroxide (adds oxygen) and let sit for a couple days. change the water occasionally. you'll notice that they'll sprout little white nubs, those ones are viable and should be planted. discard the rest.

Thank you for the reply! So do you have anything else in the bag besides the paper towel? Any Peat moss? I've read they need moist+cold to break the dormancy cycle. Does the paper towel soak up the excess moisture so they don't start to mold?

With the heat so bad outside I would be afraid to direct sow and then loose them by not keeping the moisture level up. I guess I could start them in the house and transplant them outside when they are big enough? So being in GA would I have time to get them started inside then transplant outside, and still give them a fighting chance before the winter comes if I started them now?

After more reading I sealed the baggies and put them in the fridge last night, so they are hanging out in lightly damp peat moss in the fridge currently. I guess I should throw in some paper towel with them. Now if I'm going to start them now I should leave them. If not, then do I just pull them out of the peat and let them dry in a cup on the counter and wait to start them till later? Or do I just keep them in the fridge but w/o the moist peat?

See this is what I mean about reading too much and having it all confused.

Thank you again

When I buy seeds from the LA, I just plant them in pots right away... >90% germination.

when you buy seeds from the lily auction, the seller usually already has had them stratified for several weeks.
the paper towel is for absorbing moisture. don't put them in damp peat moss unless you want them to germinate in the fridge. sometimes they start to germinate in the fridge with no media at all. they need to be checked every so often to make sure they're not sprouting or molding

I winter sow them and have great success. Check out the WS forum here if you don't know what it is. I sow mine in March in plastic water containers - works like a charm - using Mother Nature, but in a controlled environment. There is no damp-off and no hardening off is required.

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing FAQ

Daylilies have evergreen to dormant foliage habits. Cold, moist stratification of seeds from dormant parents makes for more uniform germination. Seeds from evergreens do not need this stratification period. But it probably doesn't hurt them.

I am harvesting seeds now. I cull any seed that is not full and firm out of the pod. I let them air dry 24 hours and then cull again. I put the seeds in marked plastic bags and into the fridge until I'm ready to plant. I then plant in 3 1/2" pots to 2 gal pots. Try to use a fine potting medium, something that drains well. Fill and water and then plant the seeds about a half inch below the surface. Plants should sprout in about 10-14 days. I let them grow till they have around 6 leaves and then transplant to field beds. Give them a mild, balanced fertilizer once or twice a month when they're in the pots.
Ed

Wow... I checked out winter sowing... cool!

As far as buying from a seller.... nope! These are just seeds I have picked from the plant directly, so they are fresh!

I have picked up some potting soil for seeds and some pool sand to mix in with it. will this mix make a good draining medium?

thanks!

If you have a potting mix designed for seed planting, it should have good drainage already. If you add pool sand, don't add more than 1 part in 10. Should work well either way.
Ed

Most potting soil already has a good amount of sand mixed in. I start my seeds in 16 oz plastic cups from the grocery, poke a couple of hole in the bottom, and set them in cheap aluminum roasting pans so I can always keep an inch or two of water in there. Watering from below this way cuts way down on any seed rot and damping off.

If you're using bagged potting soil, you'll need to add some some liquid fertilizer to the water a couple times a week. Just add a bit, so it all ends up 1/4 to 1/2 strength, and better to give too little than too much.

When the little seedling are about four inches tall and four leaves, you can start setting them outside to get used to the sun. You can carry the aluminum trays in and out to a deck for a few hours a day, but I just put mine out in spot that is "full shade" for a couple of days, and move them to a spot in my yard that gets a few hours of morning sun after that.

If you're south of Atlanta you've got plenty of time to start seeds and get them planted before the ground freezes. I recall Atlanta being very, very, very hot.

Be cautious in Georgia about buying new daylilies from nurseries. Most nurseries down South have daylily rust, even if they have a spray program to control it, it can be in the plant tissue and show up in your garden the next year. It makes the foliage look crappy, and weakens the whole plant, and requires a spray program of two different fungicides to control. If you can possibly avoid it, do so. You can buy from northern nurseries where rust doesn't overwinter and you can grow from seed.

Oh, and you can plant the daylily when it's 6-8 inches tall. I'm a very bad person, and I have had some seedlings in these cups that sat frozen in solid ice over winter and bloomed this summer. It was just pitiful. If you felt bad for Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, this would've made you cry.

Awww... poor little guys... Thanks for the heads up on the rust and sand mix. I got the sand primary to use for my crepe myrtle clippings. Mixed it in with some potting soil like the direction I found stated.

On the rust... I have not bought any daylilies thus far. Only had a few provided by the landscaper when we first moved in. The rest have been family/neighbor donations, so I hope I'm rust free. How would I know if my daylilies have "rust"?

When moving the babies in and out of the sun, how do you control water loss? Does the watering from the bottom help keep them from drying out? Any potted plants I have tried to be nice and give some sun too before I plant have always dried out in a few hours and roasted. We killed some mums this way. Too long debating where to put them. how long can they be out in the sun. I worry cause I work an hour from home and don't want them frying before I can get home to them.

Yes Atlanta is VERY HOT. You have to really want to be outside working in the yard to do it. thank goodness we have been having decent rain fall this year. My plants are the happiest they have ever been. Though I think alot of that is FINALLY prepping the soil the right way, unlike what the landscaper did. Its been alot of work, but the results are very rewarding. Finally we are not called the "new house with the aweful landscaping". If you want it done right, do it yourself!

thank you!

Several things can make daylily foliage yellow, spotty, and streaked. Leaf streak, spider mites, snail damage mostly. Rust is another thing, but it will make spores on the underleaf so that an orangy brown powder comes off on a white tissue. I think I had some rust last year, but I just cleaned up good and cut some back. We had a pretty hard winter for Tennessee and I've not seen any this year yet. I suppose it might show up any time, though.

I don't do anything for pest or disease management at all so far. I only water and apply lots of compost. My blooms are lovely, but my foliage is always a little ratty. I'm thinking about putting down some Sluggo, since it's not poisonous to dogs and cats and might help my foliage out. You'd think those rascals could eat the compost, but no. I have a few aphids, spider mites, and thrips, but after the ladybugs get going they're not enough to worry about.

And yes, you leave the cups sitting in water so they never dry out. I think in Atlanta, you'd want to keep seedlings mostly in shade. Hardening off is a process you begin with just a little morning sun and increase over a week or two. I'm not 100% certain a little seedling in a cup could ever tolerate full Atlanta sun all day, even if it was sitting in a water tray. It might just boil. When a plant is in the ground and mulched, the soil is much cooler than in a little naked pot.