What happens if you start seeds early or late?

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BlakeInCanada Kitchener, Canada(Zone 5a) Jun 03, 2011

If a package says to sow after last frost for blooms in June for example, what happens if you sow them indoors in January? Or if you sow them outdoors in June?

Does early sowing screw with their perennial cycle and will late sowing just delay the blooms by a similar number of weeks?

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pirl (Arlene) Southold, NY(Zone 7a) Jun 03, 2011

Seeds meant to be sown in spring will become leggy if sown in January. Morning glories will tangle with each other and vegetables will also get leggy and may not perform when you plant them outside in spring.

If seeds meant to be sown early are sown in June it means a later crop for vegetables and possibly not enough time for annuals to flower.

If you sow perennials early it will give them more time to grow before winter sets in and that may be an advantage for your growing zone.

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flowAjen central, NJ(Zone 6b) Jun 03, 2011

Some plants don't like to be transplanted so the directions will say to just direct sow them.
If you sow to early you run the risk of having plants that are getting too big and it's too early to plant them outside because the danger of front hasn't past, unless planning on doing winter sowing
and yes, if you sow them late you will delay the growth, but if it's a spring blooming flower you may totally miss the bloom time.

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timmijo Ellendale, DE(Zone 7a) Jun 03, 2011

I often sow annual seeds in June here in zone 7a.

What that means is that I will have to wait for the seedlings to grow big enough to bloom, unlike those who may have sown the same seeds in April or May.

In addition, I may not see the full life cycle of those flowers. They may suffer more during our late-summer droughts than if I had planted them a month earlier. Or perhaps they will not grow up enough to make mature seed heads before frost.

Nevertheless, I always manage to get a nice flower bed for summer, albeit later than those who sow their seeds early or buy bedding flowers already started by a commercial nursery.

It's worth the experimentation. Perhaps you could take note of what happens. Make it an experiement.

Happy Planting!


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BlakeInCanada Kitchener, Canada(Zone 5a) Jun 04, 2011

Thanks for the good info you three.

I have some that I started very early that I'm worried won't bloom. Others that started early and are growing slower than the rest and who knows what that'll result in.

And others that I started on time, but they all died, so the new batch will be late, and from what you say they should still bloom, just later.

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