Anyone know about starting lili seeds?
Newbie, Rachel
Help
What kind of lilies (Asiatics, orientals etc...)?
I am clueless as to the different kind of lilis. I am interested in trying a variety. Hopefully something will grow! LOL
I am fond of bright flashy multi bloomers.-who am I kidding, I like all of them I have seen.
What would you suggest as easy types of seeds to start? Thanks Rachel
Trumpet and Asiatic lilies are the easiest to get started from a beginner's standpoint. Don't forget I'll be sending you some later this fall depending on how well my pollen daubing went. As you can see, I start mine in zip-lock bags and soilless seed starting mix, barely dampened. Cut a few small drainage holes in the bottom and a notch on each side just below the zipper. I plant about 12 seeds per bag and just cover. Most come up within 3 weeks. I will keep these in the bags until next fall when I put them out in the seedling bed. Some will croak in the meantime but that is Mother Nature. Do all this inside in the late winter or early spring.
Keep in mind that seed collected from named cultivars won't produce identical plants though some may be similar.
Here is a close-up of one of the bags. A leaf is coming out of the notch on the right. These yellow pumilum seeds started to germinate in 11 days.
Duh, I forgot to attach pic in my first post...
What kind of lighting do you use during the winter? shop lights? soilless seed starting mix~where do I get it?
Can I start them earlier? I am looking for someting plant related to do for the winter months. How many years till they will will start blooming? Rachel
Yes, shoplights. Four banks of them for a total of 8 tubes, jerry-rigged on homemade pvc pipe framework. A few bags I take to work where lighting is superb with an entire wall of solid window and fluorescent lights. Don't want to overdo it though or boss will think I'm doing too much gardening and not enough working!
As for starting mix, look for words like "seed starting mix" or "potting mix for seed starting" but not regular potting mix (seeds may damp off). Jiffy and Scott's have a product, also Black Gold. It is usually comprised of finely ground peat and perlite or pumice.
I have read about people who have started earlier. Personally, by the time winter comes I'm tired of seeds and usually have a lot of cleaning up to do around the place so I wait a couple of months. If you want to try oriental lilies then fall is the time to start them. They need a warm, cold, warm cycle.
Some may bloom the season after you start them, most the season after that with maybe one or two buds. It also depends alot on your growing conditions.
Hi Pard, I have a question. Do you water or spritz the soil at all in the bags? Looks like you keep the tops open. Let me see if I understand the timing.
Trumpets and Asiatics
1. Plant seeds in bags late winter to early spring.
2. Keep in bags until fall and then plant out in garden.
Is this correct?
Orientals
1. Plant seeds in bags in fall.
2. When germinated and roots developed, place in frig for 12 weeks(??? just guessing here).
3. Plant out in spring(?)
Hi Beak-- I dump a bunch of seed starting mix into a big plastic dollar store bowl. Run the tap until the hottest water I can get comes out then sprinkle maybe a quarter of a cup over the surface, then stir and cover with a plate to keep the warm moisture in. I stir it several times over the next hour or so; it can take a while to completely wet the peat. This is my prep technique for all seed starting. Add a little more hot H2O if necessary.
I start out by zipping the bags until things are up; this helps keep the humidity in but the side notches allow some air circulation. Unless they turn out to be really vigourous they won't go into the seedling bed until next fall-2007. For the most part they spend their first season developing the bulb and not top growth. Some of these I might put into gallon pots in the spring. I started these Citronella seedlings spring '05 and I will plant them out this fall.
I have much less experience with orientals, last fall being my first try. Weird because I had fresh garden collected oriental seed sprout right away! But normally it is 3 months warm then 3 months cold, like mother nature. Typically they develop a small bulb during the first warm period, then a top leaf after the cold period. This year I will start inside then put the bags outside on my covered porch for the cool period. Assuming I get some seed, that is...
So they just stay in a baggie for over a year? With as many as you start, where do you keep them all?
Pard, you are a wealth of information. I will print off this thread and start some this Spring. Some places online make it seem easier than it is. It is a bit of work, let's see if I am patient enough! Thank you!
I have a little 8X8 greenhouse that I built and lots of stuff gets overwintered there. I should add that I've never met a plant that wasn't happier in the ground than in a pot (or baggie) and most would put up a little stem the second year if they they were planted out the first fall. I just have too much trouble with fast growing weeds that take over (they grow all winter here!). Hence I wait a season for the bulblets to grow a little bigger before planting out.