Perhaps remember that each seedling you keep will eventually need to be spaced 18" apart from the rest when it's all grown up. It's like buying a box full of puppies...they're really cute in the box, but before long there will be big dogs all over the place.

Nate

I don't know about all 12 steps but have a couple of suggestions that might help.

Three times a day put on your ruby slippers and click your heels together three times. Then chant several times in a row, "I do not need more seeds, I do not need...."

Then at least once a day go to the MyDaylilies site and look at the pictures of UGLY seedlings.

Go work outside in your own garden until you reach a state of exhaustion and then ask yourself,"Do I really need more garden to take care of?"

Hope these help.... from someone who has been there and done that!! Good luck with your addiction. Sadly, I have learned there is no real cure. These are just stopgap measures.

Oh honey, I wish I could help! I need the help myself. I tell myself no more roses then what do I do? Yep, go order 18 more roses. Tell myself no more daylilies, yep order about 50 more. Tell myself no more dahlias, yep order about 10. I guess I need to tell someone other than myself no more. lol!! Oh and I forgot, no more peonies. Ordered about 20 more of them. I am hopeless and not helping you any. Good luck!! Judy

Lol!! Floota :)
I love seeds, but only curtailed my acquiring more, when I realized how hard it is for me to WAIT 3 years to see these things and I thought "do I really want to wait another 3 for these new ones?"
That helps me ...at least right now when I'm short on space :)

What I've done that helps is to make a goal. What do I REALLY want from these seeds? Do I want to new color? Better buds? Late season? If you know what you are looking for, then you won't be as tempted for as many seeds. I try to do my homework on each cross to make sure it will be hardy for me, what it's kids before have looked like, etc.

They're right....it's like having a tons of big dogs (but you don't know what they look like yet!). I have to make a ton more space for my seedlings from the auctions and a ton more space for the one's I crossed this year. That's ALOT OF SPACE. I already made another 25 x 3 feetof space this year. I think I'll have to make twice that next year. If I hadn't stuck to my goals this year I'd be *crewed.

Dani

Deanna,
By now (okay to start with) you know you are asking a group with the same nature and problem as yours how to solve it. We are addicts. What can I say? Only with me it's plants, not seeds.

Good luck with stopping.
kay

Seeds are really fun if you have the space. Nothing beats it.
3 year wait? Not really an issue as long as you keep on planting every year. Starting on the 3rd year, you'll be rewarded with the "Christmas every morning" feeling, seeing the blooms that nobody has ever seen before. And this will happen every year as long as you keep on planting.
You will also find that a lot of them are prettier and better performing than some older cultivars.

It's a lot of work but worth it.

Enjoy, have fun and good luck to your future blooms and seeds!

Ben
planted 10 seeds this year. No more space!

Deanna, Kay is right. Most of us could use a 12 step plan for something related to daylilies--buying plants, buying seeds, making our own seeds--or maybe all 3. We're much better at enabling than getting someone to stop.
Val

You say addiction like it's a bad thing! Take it from an addictions counsellor, there are certain criterion that must be met to be considered a true addict and even then it is a question of managing identified addiction. If it is not affecting your life or those in your charge or immediate residence, negatively in any of the physical, emotional, financial, spiritual or psychological realms, then you are managing your addiction. Unless and until these criterion are met, enjoy yourself and carry on as usual. And if you are at the point of no return, run, don't walk to the nearest 12 step meeting you can find! And be grateful it is plants and not puppies or worse.....chemicals! Once you have an honest handle on it again, follow Floota's advice to the letter to ensure you don't relapse! Lol!! :)That's my advice for everyone here including myself. Lol! :)

Ginny Garden Certified Plant Addict

Yeah, as Ginny says, this is a pretty harmless addiction in the bigger picture. The worst you can do is spend a more money than you can afford or make your S.O. think you're crazy. :)

Nate

I can tell you what will help. Xanax! If this doesn't work,or if your friendly doctor doesn't agree that you need this, then I will post pictures of the 1000+ pots that I've got full of 5 year old seedlings that must be sold next Spring or I will have to beg Miracle Grow for a permanent spot of their board of directors because I have bought enought soil and fertilizer since July to become the board president!!! Those lovely little not quite round seeds grow and grow and grow. They out grow the red cup stage quickly. Then here comes the one gallon stage. You can fool them into staying in these only about a year, maybe 2 if you ignore the fact that when you water, it doesn't even slow down in the pots because it is so full of roots. Now, when you go up to the 3 gallon size, you get smart. 3 fans can fit in this one pot. Yeap! They can but guess what?? These 3 become 6 in a good year and more in some cases. Now, you've already repotted these things 3 times. Are you getting the picture of just how much soil you will need for these babies?

Maybe God blessed you with good soil and you can actually plant the seedlings into the ground. I can only imagine how much room you will need to plant out say, 500 seeds that are now 500 big size seedling??? OHHHHH my aching knees, back and feet. I'd be digging in my clay soil til Moses toots his horn. Plus all these wonderful in ground plants draw grass to the beds that has to be pulled out and out and out.

I hope I have painted a picture bad enough for you to say enough!!! Enjoy what you have. I just love waiting for the first little tip of green to poke up out of the soil. It's a natural high, and legal too!!! There is nothing, short of the birth of a grand child, that equals seeing your first seedling bloom. Even if it's a dud, you'll love it. Then you will get good ones and you are flying so high!!!

I have spent the last 3 months repotting over 350 pots. Most of them were a roots tangled up mess. I got as many as 12 fans out of a 5 gallon pot. It took over 4 hours just to untangle and clean the roots and get them repotted into 12 single pots. How that much was in one pot is unbelievable. The 350 pots that are complete are now in a little over 1000 3 & 5 gallon size pots. Like I said, it's taken 3 months to do this many and I have over 500 more!!!! I'm sure they will give me atleast another 1500 pots. I won't finish these this year. I just don't have time, money or will to do that many more before the weather starts getting cold.

I'm fixing to start planting seeds myself. Seeds that I grew 4,3,2,and 1 years ago. I'll not get them all planted because I don't have nowhere near the space to keep them inside my small greenhouse until spring. I also would have to start the repotting game with my new babies and I'm NOT going to have that many to do again.

I cured myself of the buying game. I bought about 10 small auctions this year. I only got these because they were some that I realllllly wanted. Believe me, when you see all that green in 2 years, you will cure yourself.

It is fun! It is a great feeling to think about what a beauty you may have from that one little seed that you only paid $3 for and you can dream of all the things you will be able to do when you get extra money from growing a little seed. I have read several forums where the bigger growers grow out 2000 seedlings and end up with 2 registered plants from the 2000. That's a scary thought to me. I understand, now. But it doesn't stop me from growing. It over whelmed me for 2 years. That and a few really hard life lessons during that time. So now, I'm doing a lot better with over 1000 pots out there to be sold if I can sell them next year. It's been HARD work to get them in good shape and expensive. I have enjoyed it though. I may be out on the side of the road next year when they start blooming trying to sell some of them. But, I even look forward to that. I spent several hours today watering them and cleaning out dead foilage. They really look beautiful now. Most of the fans are HUGE!!! I discovered alfafa pellets when I read and read all the information I could find about giving my seedlings the best when I repotted them. It has made such a difference. The color of the fans is a deep blue green. I've counted the leaves on some of the fans and there is a few that has 24 healthy leaves on one fan. Alfafa pellets work. I'm anxious to see if they will improve bud count and scape count per fan. Next year will be a learning experince in a lot of ways for me.

Well, I've written a page again. I send out my love and best wishes for many blssings to be given to you by our wonderful God. Only God can create the beauty we are given in our gardens on a daily basis. Blessings to all, Mona

I know the feeling about seeds. I vowed no seed buying this year and so far, I've been successful. I've got enough to last me another year if I get the itch to do some winter seed sowing indoors.
Just keep in mind. Every seedling your grow, it has to be planted either in the ground or in pots. I have 15 pots that I have to winter over somewhere because I went overboard this year with seed starting. Each pot has at least 4 up to 6 seedlings. I feel like a horrible gardener for not getting bed space ready in time to get them in the ground.

Julia

Deanna, you have to go "cold turkey". Delete the LA from your favs and from your bookmark. Then, you will have a start. Next year, make your own seeds and you can save some big bucks because seeds cost so much with no guarentee that they will be presentable. LOL!! Hehehe!! And you can void my instructions and do as I do and just keep on!.....Ellie

$3 per seed would be enough to break my addiction. An expensive hobby. (Mona's post was a real eye-opener.) Please, Lord, let me never get hooked. Sounds like the slots pay off better. All the best to you, Deanna, in your effort to quit. :))

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...