Hi Campanula, Do you winter sow there in zone 8? I’m a little confused. Are you suggesting that you use a seed tray in place of a milk jug? So no, plastic milk jug at all? And here in z6 and lower, I would think the milk jug / soda bottle is used as a mini green house and as protection from the wind, which is an advantage, Rodney, thanks for making that point about drying out, because in my experience, that is one of the main attractions of winter sowing, is not having to tend to the plants very much once you’ve winter sown them. At least until warmer weather requires more attention and watering. And now that you mention it, when I used 3 oz paper cups in a milk jug, they did not do as well and that may have been the issue. They dried out too quickly and I was used to not having to pay as much attention to the jugs that were not separated. As a matter of fact, we don't buy milk in gallon sizes, because we don't use that much milk. So I sow in quart size milk jugs, but I really have had the best experience with the gallon milk jugs, in part, because they didn't need to be watered as often. But, you point out that you can sow more in a jug, but in my experience, I use more seed in a winter sowing jug, but I only get as many ‘chunks’ of seedlings as I can divide the seedlings into before planting. That to me is one of the drawbacks. I might sow 10+ seed into the jug, but if I only separate it into 4-6 chunks, then I’ve wasted seed. But I suppose if you sow 2 seeds into every cell in a 6 pack, for insurance, you end up having to cut one back. So 6 in one half a dozen in the other. And of course, there is the issue of disturbing the root ball when you slice chunks apart or try to tease them apart, that can require the plants to spend time regrouping, when you plant them. A seedling in a separate cell planted in the ground can just take off, speeding things up perhaps. It was interesting when Trudi used to post to the forum. I think she might respond, that you can Overthink the whole thing. [g] I’ve heard her say that keeping it simple and easy was one of the main advantages of doing it.

Rule 'of thumb': "If using other than clear plastic it is easy to tell if the plastic is too dark and will not let in sufficient light. Can you see your thumb through the plastic? If you can see your thumb then the plastic will let in enough light and won't shade seeds or seedlings. "

cindip63 I once wintersowed lisianthus years ago. It successfully germinated, but I didn't have great success growing it. I believe my season is too short and with wintersowing the seeds germinated too late for my season, so I didn't get a lot of blooms before the season ended. If I ever started seeds indoors I would do lisianthus this way to get more of a jump on the season. Not sure where you are but just letting you know my experience. Good luck! Such a beautiful flower, lisianthus. :) Dee

It is good for short-term, but WS is somewhat the opposite. You put your jugs out in winter, forget about them, and spring brings new shoots. They'd disintegrate like campanula said in the snows and rains. TP would be good for quick germination once the gardening season begins, though. Zinnias would love it, for example, since I often had them germinate in under 24 hours in very warm southern sunny soil!