First Time Wintersowing #7: The sproutlet watch.

I only have 6 ws containers, but 2 of them have sprouts already!

red peony poppy
painted tongue

Quite a few of the nicotiana sprouts. I didn't like gangly plants before but I find a quality in them that I like now. The jury will be out on this until I grow it and then I will know if I like it.BTW I now have 9 sprouted containers out of 21.

i think some of my Lavatera trimestris bit the dust.... it was 25° this morning!!

My Rudbeckia "Marmalade" sprouted today.

And I also have 1 (ONE) seedling from Karen's "green-Eyed Doubles" Rudbeckia!

Tra-la!!!!!! I ate my first kale just now.

Planted it out and just had too much so, ate it, oh my. This is tiny plants but they are so good...... not enough for a proper salad or to cook, just a little snacky handful but oh my.

Also now have sproutlets of dill and parsley out there, but it is the taste of the kale that is my favorite gift of this first day of Spring.

*big smile*

Oh Terese So sorry about your Lavatera trimestris. Don't know what it is but hate that you think it is gone. It was not quite that cold here this morning somewhere in the 30s.
Kyla I have not got dill to sprout. Last year no sprouts and so far this year none but it is early.

I just checked mine for the first time in 3 days and now have 4 new jugs sprouting little sproutlets ..YAY!!

I now have:
Purple coneflower
Mexican Hats
Blanketflower
Dwarf Sunflower "teddy bear"
my yellow Marigolds
my orange Zinnias
Mammoth Sunflower
Oleander
Red cypress vine
White cypress vine
Carpet of snow
Red French Marigold
Dinnerplate Zinnias- 2 diff colors (3rd still hasn't come up yet!)
2 jugs of Lazlo's Mystery Mix
Batchelor Button
TX Bluebonnet
Cosmos (mixed colors)
Amaranth
Gayfeather
Lupines (Gallery Blue and "Russells hybrid mix" (which I bought at a store)

I'm pretty excited about all of these, but there's a few stubborn ones that I'll be REALLY disappointed if they don't sprout!
Also, I saw a couple of jugs that look like they have a light smattering of green algae over the top of the soil. What do I need to do about those??

Chris

Veronica -- i'm sure i have more seeds... i'll just do a few more. Some did make it -- just not sure what condition they are in. I'll put them in the sun room, where it is not as frigid.

I do WSing to save money, too, like so many of you here do. Also because I don't have a greenhouse and I don't have room indoors to sow. Oh, I could sow in my basement, but as gemini_sage mentioned, it's too costly for all the equipment needed for that. Maybe someday I will set up something in the cellar, but not now. Also, having to harden off many seedlings is something I don't have time for. At least the ones grown in outdoor, covered containers don't need that done to them.

I checked my containers today, and I have new stuff sprouted. Here's what's up:

Hollyhock 'Peaches 'N' Dreams'
Delphinium 'Pacific Giants' mix
Showy Evening Primrose
Papaver 'Coral Reef'
Plains Coreopsis
Cupid's Dart

The 'Peaches N Dreams' Hollyhock sprouted this past weekend. As for the other things, today is the first time I've checked on them since Monday. I've thrilled, and hope to see more up soon.

Today I got more seeds sown, 12 pots in all. Will post on the other thread.

Karen

Jim: Glad to hear you got a sprout on my double ruds. I sowed one jug of it and new seedlings are appearing in there daily. I hope you'll see more of them soon, and let me know if you get any doubles.

I really wanted to try a few more of them in my yard but honestly don't know where I'm going to squeeze these things. To compound matters, I gave away a lot of plants last fall and moved others to new spots. I made sure to label everything, but winds have been so fierce this winter that many of the labels were blown right out of the ground and blew away. So I don't even know where many of my perennials should emerge, hence I don't know where I can stick new ones.

Karen

oh my gracious......i have sprouts everywhere!

lol......i dont know what to do next.

should we sow the annuals/veggies the same as we did the perennials? outside in the cold weather?

my family has teased me so much....i can't fail now, ha ha.

Congratulations, nanniepb.

I sowed a few jugs of annuals tonight. Weather is supposed to get colder tonight after storms, so I don't expect them to sprout any time soon. At least I hope not because we still have lots of time for freezing weather here in Ohio. I'll just have to give them protection if that happens.

Until I added to my jug count tonight, I had sown 20 jugs and had sprouts in 15 of them.

Karen

WS to stratify (cold treatment) perennial seeds.

I don't use jugs, I use my refrigerator to give seeds the stratification they need, and it works great, also quicker! No oversowing and can plant the sprouted seeds in flats with plenty of space beween. No planting in a bunch and have wasted seeds. No worry over weather. Can stratify seeds all year long.

How??

I sow using the Deno method. A moist kitchen paper towel containing the seeds, then placed in a ziplock baggie and stored in the fridge for those seeds that need the cold treatment. Stored at room temp for those that don't. Works like a charm every time.

I nicked and soaked Hibiscus seeds then placed in paper towel. They sprouted in 2 days. The seeds were 3 years old. The first time I tried sowing from the same package, I sowed in a flat with seeding mix. One only sprouted. Now, I have 12 seedlings.

All the seedling in the photo were sown by the Deno method and transferred to flats or 6-packs. I have 2 more trays full that were sown the same way. I started sowing on Feb 18.

Looks great, blomma!!

Karen

To show when to plant sprouting seeds, these are hardy Geranium 'Vision' seeds ready for planting. They are also show in my photo above lower left in a 6-pack.

The seeds that haven't sprouted, have swelled and sprouted a few days later.

This message was edited Mar 24, 2009 10:30 PM

When you plant that sprouted seed, which end is up? Also, do you just plant the depth that is recommended for that seed?

I would think it wouldn't matter which end was up with the seeds. It sounds reasonable to me to just place them on the soil and cover just a bit, and they will do just fine.

Karen

Larger seeds that need more fluntuating temperature, I sow in my coldframe in the fall. I leave them in Mother Nature's hands. They will germinate when conditions are right for the variety I sowed.

Here is what I woke up to on Monday. 3/23 My coldframe is covered with a foot of snow. The day before, we had 60+F degrees and I was digging up a new border. My garden fork is still standing in my border surrounded with snow. Crazy Wyoming weather. Perfect for seeds in the coldframe.

Karen
When a root have already emerged, yes it does matter. Why put the stress on a plant and force the root to grow in a different direction. I have notice with all my seeds sprouting that roots emerge from a specific location on a seed. Roots don't just sprout from wherever. This is what can't be seen when you use jugs or flat to sow in. All that is seen then, is when it breaks the top soil. When sown in soil, the seed lays flat and roots can grow from either end and will automatically grow downwards.

Actually, the "birth" of a sprouting seed is extremely interesting to watch. The photo proves my point. You can see that the root is emerging from the same end on all the seeds. None from the rounded end. These are Scabiosa seeds.

This message was edited Mar 24, 2009 10:52 PM

Blomma, How about small seeds like Digitalis or Nicotiana? Aren't they too small to handle?

There are many ways to start seeds. Some folks use a greenhouse or cold frame, some do indoors under lights, some use the refrigerator and/or Deno method for cold strat. These are all effective methods for seeds starting without a doubt. I believe there is a seed starting forum on Dave's specifically designed for chat on these subjects.

However, the focus of this forum is wintersowing. What is Winter Sowing? From wintersown.org:
"Winter Sowing is an easy germination method that starts many seedlings for just pennies. During Winter seeds are sown into mini-greenhouses that you make yourself from recyclables. After sowing, the mini-greenhouse is placed outside to wait for the end of Winter. The seeds will begin to germinate at their own right time when weather warms."

I see nothing wrong with mentioning other methods on this forum, but all current threads have drifted to cold frames and Deno method and things totally unrelated to wintersowing. Can't we get back to regularly scheduled programming, wintersowing?

Karen

Karen, I kept getting confused, thinking "isn't this the wintersowing forum?" LOL

Well, my "mini-greenhouses" just got snowed on again yesterday!
I'm going to start some indoor peppers now!

Well we had a few days of 75+ degree weather - now rain and the temps are dropping again - but from what I understand it should stay in the 40's at night so everything should be fine......

I have some annuals and some other seeds that I desperately need to get started - but used up all my potting soil and now Wally World is out of the kind I prefer!

Genna

Jim, are any of your sprouts tender ones? At least snow give some insulation, so usually they're OK with snow, better than just bitter cold without snow. Let us know how your babies fare.

Karen

I don't think any of my tenders have yet sprouted (not even my Sweet Peas!!! The Poached Egg Plant and the Gazanias are probably the most "tender" of what has come up. Even the Red Sails Lettuce can take a bit of frost! I have a 2nd sprout of your Rudbeckias, but I have moved that tray to the greenhouse along with what looks like my first daylilly sprout. I am getting REAL tired of Winter. It's a good thing I rented the rototiller over the weekend instead of for yesterday as was originally planned!!

Well, I thought that maybe I had started to late in WS. Should have known better for crazy Colorado!! Tomorrow, we are expecting up to a foort of snow here in Denver, and have already had 19" in the mountains(not Denver) for last three days. Low temps, at night, have been around 30*, but will hit low teens Thur and Fri night, with low 30* for the high. Guess I did get things going on time. LOL You guys to the east of CO, look out....

Jim: I'm glad you got another sprout in the ruds. I think they'd be fine with the weather, though. I've never lost one (rud hirta) to cold. Actually, maybe rain/snow would increase germination? I don't know, just guessing. I hope you get more sprouts. I've got a lot of them, but they're really tiny. Not enough warmth here for much growth yet.

We got some much-needed rain here overnight and I'm hoping I'll see more sprouts soon on the five slow-pokes.

Karen

The only one of my ten containers that has sprouted is the one with bachelor buttons. I am impatiently waiting for the others.

This winter sowing thing is so amazing. Most of my containers have sprouted.

Here's what's come up so far:
1. Painted Daisy "single mix"
2. Alyssum "Wonderland Citron"
3. Alyssum "Aphrodite Purple"
4. Alyssum "Golf Pure White"
5. Alyssum "Golf Violet"
6. Lupine "Gallery Pink"
7. Lupine "The Governor" these look like they might be dying.
8. Geranium "Vision Violet"
9. Geranium "Vision Light Pink"
10. Maiden Pinks
11. Larkspur "Kaleidescope MIx"
12. Blue Bedder Salvia
13. Papaver orientales "Princess Victoria Louise"
14. Papaver orientales "Pizzicato"
15. Dianthus amurensis "siberian blues"
16. Matthiola incana (I'm really excited about these. They are from Thomas Jefferson's garden at Monticello, and are supposed to be tall white double stocks).
17. Papaver bracteatum "great red"
18. Papaver orientales "brilliant red"
19. Leucanthemum x superbum 'Alaska' (2 containers)
20. Leucanthemum x superbum 'Crazy Daisy"
21. Larkspur "Blue Cloud"
22. Digitalis purpurea 'Excelsior'
23, Digitalis purpurea "Camelot Rose"
24. Verbascum
25. Cypress Vine
26. Penstemon
27. Zinnia "Bright Border Mix"
28. Zinnia "Envy"
29. Thyme
30. Sempervivum
31. Campanula carpatica
32. Bella Astilbe
33. Hosta Mix
34. Lobelia Crystal Palace
35. Sunflowers

I'm still waiting on some others that aren't showing any signs of germination yet:
(snapdragons, echinacea, stokes aster, zinnia pinwheel mix, 3 different columbines, 2 different delphiniums, bells of Ireland, alchemilla mollis, verbena bon., texas blue bonnet, and dame's rocket).

I'm totally hooked on this. It's so easy, and so rewarding.

Thanks DG'ers!
--Pam

Congratulations, Pam. You have quite a list. There's nothing better than going out and seeing all that green in your first year. I can tell you that each year there's still excitement at germination time but first year is tops. Kind of like you can't believe it's really going to work until you see it with your own eyes.

You'll be happy that you gave this a try. Your life may never be the same, consumed with wintersowing all year.
winter time- sowing
spring- planting out
summer-more sowing, seed collecting
fall- seed collecting, preparing beds for next year's babies.
all year- buying and trading seeds

Karen

Oh, yeah, Karen's got it bad!

Just wait, Jim. You're another newbie who has no idea how habit forming this can be. Next year you might be right there with so many of us, going bankrupt from your addiction to - not drugs- but seeds.

And when your wife threatens to kick you out of the house the next time she walks out and trips over a wintersown container, don't say you weren't warned!

Karen

Hi all! I am visiting my father in FL--which is about 40-50 degress warmer than home... I can't wait to see if anything else has sprouted at home. Well, maybe I can wait a little longer! Nice to be warm!

I didn't realize there was an annual lavatera. I am so confused about all the mallows. I love the looks but am really worried about the perrennials being invasive in CT. Is there a way to definatively answer this question? I went online to the state invasive plants list--but it seems not to have the info I am wondering about. Any thoughts?

OK I admit it, I am such a wimpy baby momma!

We haven't had a good freeze since the first week in March or so. I checked the weather last night and it was supposed to get down to 25* . So, 30 I can handle, 28 is pushing it, 25 plus or minus a few degrees makes me really nervous. LOL. Now I have experimented with two exposures for my wintersowing. The first 50 or so containers are on the north side of the house. They are in 100% bright shade. No direct sun at all. They have been out there since Feb and I am pretty confident anything out there will be just fine. BUT my second set of containers were sown in March, are on an east facing deck and get full morning sun and partial shade from about 2 o'clock on. They have germinated quickly and haven't dealt with any freezing temps hardly. The daytime temps have been in the 70s and the nights in the 40s and I even have tomatoes out there. So I have to admit, before I went to bed last night I threw a blanket over the ones that had sprouted on the deck...... *hiding under the blanket*.

Turns out it only got down to 30 and there isn't even frost on the cars. Whew! But still, I realized what a wimp I really am when it comes to wanting these plants to live. Over the last few weeks of warm weather I have had significant germination. I will have to update my spreadsheet. So now that they are up, I really am kind of babying them. :)

Never hurts to be prudent. Unless I'm pretty sure about something, I'd rather play it safe too.

Lissa ... my first year i was a nut. constantly out there moving them around, in the sun, out of the sun, covering for really cold weather... i still lost a few tenders [but that was before i knew not to sow tenders in the dead of Feb]

this year, since i have them all in boxes ... i still move them... i can move them to the edge of the patio [til DH put the furniture back out] but into the sun, so they warm up quicker. If i know it's gonna be a cold night, i make sure 'single' containers [like the big 3# cottage cheese containers] are in the middle of all the boxes for more protection. And if there are seedlings, i'll put the covers back on if i took them off for a sunny afternoon.

so -- this is my 3rd yr, but i still baby them a bit.

My poor things get left to their own devices! I only move mine if the leaves are touching the sides of the container, or if we can a late cold snap.

Thanks for the reassurance. :)

I just counted and I have 53 out of 115 sprouted. For those of us worried about Delphiniums.... I have Delphinium Ajacis up, but not the Black and Whites that I got from Jonna. I am really hoping those make it. My Larkspur Gentian Blue is finally up. I also have Canterbury Bells that have sprouted. YAY! There was also some discussion about Columbines. I have two varieties that are spouted. One is the giant Blue Columbine. The other is an Aquilegia Vulgaris "Magpie". I still have a few others (the Barlow ones) that haven't sprouted.

I am quite happy with these new arrivals.

I am most surprised by my morning glories. None of them have sprouted?

Morning Glories do like warmth, so they'll probably be along soon.