First Time Wintersowing #7: The sproutlet watch.

I think the ice is almost prettier than the snow!

Ice is prettier, but often more damaging, I think, especially when you get lots of it like the northeast did this past winter.

Karen

[pout]

This is my first time and I don't have a single sprout yet. Probably I'll be the exception that proves the rule of how easy winter sowing is.

The sedum that I planted last year is coming up though.

Sigh. Guess I'll just live vicariously through other people's success.

Crabgrass Centrl - don't give up!

It probably depends on what type of seeds you have sown. Some are just early risers and some will really need the heat to get going. I have all mine in the shade and we are still in the 30s at night. While I do have some germination (14 or so). I also have over 115 containers planted. Most of them, are sleeping away.

:)

I have my first sproutlets.

Black Peony Poppies.

I just only scanned the rest of the containers... but it honestly has not been warm enough for anything to sprout.

though - yesterday when i was out doing some more spring clean up in the mud... i did see some tiny growth.
I can't recall what was in that area last year, aside from Zinnias -- though it could be likely that they are weeds of some sort.... time will tell. But there were clusters of them. It is possible that i just shook seed heads in that area.

I just wish the earth would dry out a bit so i could get back there and do some real work.

CgC -- I'll echo what LissaD said.... as i just posted, i only have 1 container with sprouts...and they are poppies..... which usually germinates first. So, i have an additional 110 that are sleeping.

Have faith that Ole' Mom Nature knows what she's doing.

and the thing is... it's your first year and you just expect failure because It just seems so easy but that's just the thing... it is easy.... just sit back and wait, and soon [may or june] you may be cursing yourself for sowing so many containers.


Terese

Remember, that many seedlings won't sprout until soil temps are above a certain temp AT NIGHT for several days running. It could just be that you're still too cold. We've had a couple of very nice sunny days with temps in the 80s already (ugh!) which caused most of my seeds to sprout. Then this past week, we were close to freezing again. Had to drag all my jugs in since I didn't want to lose my tender sprouts.

Looked today and my daylily seeds are sprouting!!

Hi Claudia I got the seed you sent me yesterday. Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!! Gonna d-mail you.
Today I found that my maltese cross has germinated. I believe I am way ahead of last year for the germination count. It does work.

I have the same feelings as CrabgrassCentrl. Only the Papavers sprouted here. Well Papavers will sprout anyway. I winter sowed more than 300 species and if I read that even some in zone 5 have sprouts, I have doubts. Still I'm hopefull, lot of the containers are on the north side, so it might take extra time. When does one have to bring them in another position (south/west/east)

Jonna -- all of mine sit on the west side.

If i want them in the shade... i have an area that is shaded by my 'detached' sunroom.

but they were frozen only 2 days ago.

Got your Dmail....You are welcome, welcome, welcome... SO glad to share

Jonna I think the reason mine have sprouted earlier is that I have moved them to the S side of my house instead of the NE which was mostly N facing

Today, I have Gaillardia 'Amber Wheels' up.

It's really interesting how many DIFFERENT plants we have sprouting among us!

Wait for warmer nights: check. Have faith: check. Stop whining: check!

Hard not to hover though, isn't it?

You northerners just have to wait longer than folks in the south. I'm sort of in the middle of the two and I have sprouts popping daily. Of the 20 jugs I've sown, 11 (I think) had sprouts as of yesterday. Some only have one or two seedlings visible but some are starting to cover the surface. Lots of sprouts visible in the rud Cherry Brandy, the one I was most anxious to try. I expected the Calif Poppies to be the early birds but only 3 seedlings were visible in those yesterday.

Northers, relax, the green wave is spreading your way and I predict that it will be very, very soon. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, but your wait is almost over.

Karen

I sure wish I would see something in my Cherry Brandy jug.....

Wintersown ruds are usually among my earliest sprouters. They're among my favorites for wintersowing because they work so reliably well. I never have doubts that's they'll work well and show up early. They sprouted on Mar. 9. If you didn't see it I posted a pic
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/960973/

A lot more seedlings are visible now, though. I've sown 3 jugs of rud hirtas and all show germination now.

Karen

I've never even heard of most of these plants here....heck, I never heard of most of my seeds I planted =) I've accumulated them in seed trades. oddly enough, most of mine are blue.
wooohoooo I'll have a blue garden after all.

rain again today. maybe i can work on my spreadsheet.

thanks again, Jim.

Almost all my rudbeckias have sprouted except for the Cherry Brandy..... I am TRYING to be patient and hope that it is just a little 'slow' ..... I have some blue and pink chaste trees planted as well - and NO sign of life from them. Anyone have any experience with WS those? I just wondered how long it will take them. Some jugs have hundreds of tiny green SPECKS just starting to germinate and some jugs have little sprouts probably 2 inches tall...... Hope those don't get too carried away - we still have several weeks to go before they can go into the ground......

By the way, my husband asked me the other days WHY I planted these in jugs as opposed to just planting all these seeds in the ground where I wanted the plants. I didn't have a good answer for him................ anyone??

Genna

gen2026, My main reason that I decided to give winter sowing a try is when the plants are young, I have trouble telling the difference between a weed and a desired plant when I direct sow in the ground. I'm hoping that transplanting seedlings from my milk jugs into the ground will help me with this problem. I also think that having a little more controlled environment (moisture, protection, good soil) helps with the germination process. Those are my reasons. (And it allows you to garden in the middle of winter!)

Yeah! It fills that need to garden in January when you are starting to feel like you will never be able to grow anything ever again.
I also agree with the telling the seedlings that you want from the weeds.

Reason 1 : I had bulbs and other things that were supposed to be planted in the Fall, but we got hard freezes and so they all had to wait (most just went in in the last week or so after spending some time in pots on the frozen deck). If I had had to plant all my 120 varieties of perennials I have WS'd, it would not have happened!!!

Reason 2 : If I could not have gardened all winter, I'd have driven my wife nutso (well, OK, maybe she is anyway, since she married me!, but I mean even worse!)

Reason 3 : I keep getting flower seeds from people I meet on Dave's. I had to do SOMETHING with them!

Reason 4 : Although I have lots of "space" to plant flowers, I don't yet have any "place" (i.e. beds) for them. This gives me time to prepare the beds, knowing that I actually have lots of plants to put into them.

Reason 5 : If I get just 6 plants from each of my jugs, I'll have over Euros 1,000 worth of plants. Since I try to keep my out-of-pocket expenses for each of my gardening enthusiasms to Euros 50, I am WAY ahead here!

Reason 6 : (I saved the best for last!)
I'm a vegetable grower. This is absolutely the first time since I was about 12 years old (and that's almost 50 years ago, folks!) that I have tried to grow flowers from seed. Without the "idea" of winter sowing --- and, especially, without the lively and cordial exchange among all of you on this thread (in all its permutations) --- I would almost certainly not taken the leap.

then there's us, whose ground is still frozen, or it's freezing temps outside and who aren't patient enough to wait till spring to plant? =)

ha ha ha @ "lively and cordial"

What?

You're not lively?
You're not cordial?

OK, I'm gonna go back and edit that:
"... without the dull and boring exchange among all of you except Phyl, who is really snoresville ..."

Better?

LOL... I meant calling us lively as opposed to saying we're nuts....off our rockers! =)

Jim, speaking of veggies...I sent you some squash seeds in our last trade. have you seen/grown that type before? that was my garden trophy this year. my first time to find the seeds AND to grown them.

Well I KNEW there had to be a reason !! And I have plenty of weeds that I am trying to get rid of ....so it is a good thing I am not having to try to figure out what is good and what needs to go! LOL

Thanks!
Genna

Hey, Phyl, I've not yet received my envelope from that trade. Will let you know.

thank goodness DH has never asked why...he just asks where....LOL

I have mine trained pretty good on the "where do you want the hole dug" when I come home with a new plant in tow..... but this WS is new and he wasn't quite sure I hadn't lost my mind!! But he is amazed at the little sprouts growing in the jugs!! One has WALL TO WALL seedlings.... Loves Lies Bleeding I believe but not sure.... and he said HOW MANY SEEDS did you put in there?? I said, I don't have a clue, but OBVIOUSLY a LOT !! ! ^_^ It has sure been a fun experiment! Can't wait to see if I can actually get SOME of these to maturity and have blooms to show for all this work!!

Genna

Checked my containers today and this is what I have sprouting!

Tomatos I got from WS forum
Brad's Black Heart
Cherry tomato trio
Homestead

Plus:::::::::
Yellow daisies I collected from my beds
Bee and Butterfly mix
Black and Blue salvia
Red Milkweed
Flowering Crab Apple
Monarda Raspberry Delight
Deb's Special Mix (this one has sprouts climbing out of the top of the container!)
Pink Crepe Myrtle from a tree I love in my yard
Globe Amaranth Strawberry Fields
French Marigolds
Purple and white Swan Cone Flowers
Sunshine Tree (thanks Lazlo)
Lazlo's Mystery Mix :O)
Texas Star Hibiscus
Tritoma Red Hot Poker
Flowering Dogwood
Orange Profusion Zinnias
Red double Zinnias

"So, not too bad and I'm planning on doing around another 5-10 jugs this weekend."

so my 5-10 turned into 15 containers this weekend LOL.. I'll post them on the other thread.

Funny.. I was given some seeds in a swap here on DG and one of them simply said "Strawberry Fields". I had no clue what I had received. So I just had an EUREKA moment when bobyrd said that Globe Amaranth Strawberry Fields had sproutlets. :)
Something else to WS... woohoo!! I hadn't up to this point.. I have SOOOOOOO many seeds yet that I haven't touched!

Heres the PF link to Gomphrena, Strawberry Fields
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/235783/

I thought it a little tricky. It didn't germinate until it got pretty warm as I remember, grew slowly. A little tricky to place in a bed because it only did well if it got full sun, but had to be placed near the middle of a bed because it was 2 feet tall. Pretty but wirey, it needed support in heavy rain or wind. Sure is pretty, though.

Karen

I'm in it for Jim's Reason #5, too. WSing gives me a way to get the most for my gardening buck. But even more importantly, for a gal on a budget, WSing is instant gratification! It would have taken YEARS for me to fill up our flower beds with plants from the nursery without going over budget. And while I know (or actually just figured out a month ago) I am going to have to wait a year for my perennials to take off, I am going to have lovely flowers all over for pennies a plant! I think WSers win.

GB

Seems I always get better germination rates from wintersown seeds than those I direct sow. I think birds, insects, and other critters often dine on some of the direct sown seeds, and there are often chances of heavy spring rains washing some away. Guess those are the biggest reasons for me. I typically see germination in wintersown containers some time before direct sown seeds, so it gives me a bit of a head start too. I also grow a lot of perennials, many of which prefer cold stratification, and wintersowing is the easiest way for me to provide them that.

I'm also in it for the money! LOL A package of seeds is cheap and it's even cheaper if you trade seeds or are given seeds. Buying plants is expensive and if I sow 20 seeds and get 10 plants (or more), then I've hit the motherlode!! What I don't plant in my own garden, I can give away or take to a plant swap or always pot up to give away later.

Stephanie, it has been such a money saver for me too. The cost of all the lights, energy, pots, soil, pest control, etc. to keep seedlings going indoors (let alone space) adds up pretty quick for plant hogs like so many of us. I still do all the indoor stuff too for warmth lovers and slow growers, but no matter how many lights I add, its still a space race, LOL.

Just did a jug check and I have sprouts in the following today!

Mallow - Zebrina
Rudbeckia Cherokee Sunset
Rudbeckia Cherry Brandy - woohoo!!