Sowing Grasses .... ?

IT seems I have difficulty growing grasses... though I did do Blue Fescue with no issues.

I have Millets and Fountain grasses, and i'm am sure a few others over the years, and can not recall any of them germinating.
Also - Prairie Cord and Zebra Grass.... nothing.

I'm sure i just lightly cover or surface sow... but zip.

How does everyone else do with these?

How about Fiber Optic Grass. Has anyone wintersowed it successfully? In my recent on-line travels, I saw seed that was for sale for Fiber Optic Grass and was wondering if it is a good candidate for WSing. Since it is hardy to zone 8, perhaps it may work as a spring sowing plant, when you would sow Marigolds and Zinnia, for example, which Winter Sowers in my zone say they do in April.

Linda

Waiting for the answers on this one as well.

I direct sow marigolds in the garden. I store them in parmesan cheese shakers and shake them around. Super easy.

Yes, the general rule of thumb should hold true: safe to sow anything tender in your zone in spring or close to spring.

However, Trudi says anything that reseeds is a good candidate for wintersowing. The only grass I ever remember sowing was northern sea oats. It's hardy here and know to reseed. I had sprouts like crazy but nowhere left to plant them so I gave away the entire jug without ever trying them.

I did try some kniphofia last year, come to think of it. I guess that's sort of a grass. Germination was very sparce with only a few sprouts and they stayed tiny all summer. Too small to plant out (each looked like a 1" blade of grass) I kept them in a jug all summer. After planting out in fall, deer stomped them into the dirt and smooshed them into mud. I don't have much hope of seeing them return.

Karen

Karen... that is another one [kniphofia] that will not germinate for me.

Like I said I had low germination and it was about last to sprout. I didn't plant out for so long only because each sprout stayed like a 1" blade of grass. By fall they were probably 2" tall single blades of grass when planted out. After the deer stomped them I just left them untouched going into winter. Maybe a root or two will survive but I'll be surprised. Haven't looked at them all winter. They were buried in ice and snow for weeks, now probably being finished off by rain. My yard is probably like a swamp.

Karen

I started millets, ponytail grass & the fiber optic grass last year. I started them in my greenhouse, which was about +12ºC or 54ºF night temp and above 20ºC or 68ºF day temp. It might be too cold to germinate them and wintersowing them may be better done in March or April. If you want them to be bigger for a feature plant, then start them indoors 6-8 weeks before last frost.

There were all really nice grasses and I plan to seed them again this year.

I'm gonna have to look into Green Houses...

I W/S Ponytails Feather Grass and Blue Fescue last year. They did great, they also self sowed a couple of plants. I haven't tried w/s the Miscanthus or the Purple Millet, will try that this year. Anyone have any luck with them?