Refrigerating seeds

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Padre St. Louis, MO(Zone 6b) Feb 08, 2003

I was checking my seed starting books on how to refrigerate seeds to start the new cycle from dormancy. One book says refrigerate for 6-8 weeks at 'below 40F'. Another says 'place seeds in bag and freeze for 6 weeks'. Of course freezing is 'below 40F' but are there some seeds that should NOT be frozen? I was looking at Dicentra eximia but am concerned about other seeds as well. Is there a general rule or is it genus specific? Thanks for your advice.

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Terry Murfreesboro, TN(Zone 7a) Feb 08, 2003

Padre, who knows for sure? IMO, most of the advice you read is the result of someone having success with a particular method, temperature and amount of time. Once you figure out something that works, it's unlikely you'd try another temperature, duration. And so these "recipes" become passed down as "the one right way" to stratify that seed.

I think there are some tropical seeds that won't withstand freezing temperatures, but that's something I've read, not something I've experimented with on my own.

As for hardy perennials - how else would they propagate in the wild if they couldn't stand some freezing temperatures? This site gives stratification advice for a wide variety of seed: http://users.anet.com/~manytimes/page52.htm

If you have the room and inclination, you may want to explore the idea of sowing seeds outsides in containers, and letting nature do the freezing/thawing necessary to break the dormancy (but you better hurry, because it's already February :o) Here are some threads that might be helpful:
http://davesgarden.com/search/index.php?forum=&search_text=winter+sowing&limit=0&Search=Search

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Padre St. Louis, MO(Zone 6b) Feb 08, 2003

go-vols, thank you so much. The first link has all the information I think I will ever need. What a great resource. Thanks for the lead.

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