YAY CC!!! As I said already on FB, I cannot wait to see mine! I hope my leap of faith is doing great too! I am SO excited for you!

Randi

CC, So Sorry, my mom was signed ionto my computer and forgot to sign out and I got on... The previous post was from me! Oops!

Randi

Thanks Carolyn for the info. I was thinking I'd have to buy a tarp to place over them just for this occasion. Love the pictures.

Your quite welcome!! I went back out there after I sowed a few more containers and I noticed that something else had germinated in that pan. It is actually in that fuzzy first picture and I was to dog gone cold to hang around to try and read the tag. Yes I also place my containers outside in my sweat pants and fuzzy house slippers, no they don't have bunnies on them, lol. Anywho the other that had germinated looks to be doing pretty good also and it isn't as strong as the stock was before the freezing temps came in.

I plan to keep an eye out on it, we have another low dip next week. I think another 2 days solid of freezing temps, so we will just have to wait and see. As of right now I would say no extra protection is necessary!!

Oh and by the way one of my lasagna pans collected a little water in it and it never thawed today, so if it got up to 36 I sure couldn't tell it, and yes my bottles are frozen to the pan in the ice!!

If anyone was wondering what I was using for plant tags. It is an egg carton, well the sides of it, I never could find any blinds!!

Exact same weather patterns here... not quite so cold, but 22* abouts... so amazing a few weeks ago to go outside right after a freezing spell and find NEW sprouts! And no snow cover.

Extremely amazing, silver cat!!

Well here is an update on my weather, yesterday if it got above freezing it was only for a few hours and today we are looking at the same thing. Tomorrow is a high of 46 and then monday about the same as today and yesterday. Then we are going to drop down below freezing temps till NEXT Saturday.

So next week if I still have my babies I think that is pretty significant to disprove the advice given by some that say you need to take extra steps to protect if a cold snap moves in after germination.

Yep this is me in real life also, you either love me or you hate me, there is no inbetween!! LOL

no comment.

Carol your not alone there I am sure, lol.

I tell ya why I decided to press the issue and prove it. I had done some research about a certain plant I am growing. There was a ton of conflicting info on how to grow it and how to get the maximum germination, well I followed the hardest steps to get the germination. Which was 3 season of moisture or warm cold warm cycle. Well much to my surprise before cold weather set in I had a sprout. 1 set of true leaves. I have been keeping an eye on this little guy this entire time, hoping I sure didn't screw up. Then I hear several throw out all of these warnings then saying how they no longer sow on december 21st and they only start in february because they lost all of their plants. So I get a little more scared about my baby. Well I check on it some more and guess what it is A-OK.

So needless to say I decided to start a thread so others will not be scared by these warning and let the pictures show the proof!!

Here are my containers today, I didn't venture out in our biggest snow of the season, LOL. So this shot was taken from my window!!

Yesterday I went out and checked on my containers and everything looked good. I even found a few more sprouts. Mexican hat and stevia have started germinating.

I think the difference in the seeds that are sprouting for me and surviving this cold snap are things that actually reseed in my area. I noticed someone had mentioned marigolds earlier how they sprout at the first sign of spring then die when a slight frost moves in. Well the person was in zone 5, well I border 6 and 7 and marigolds do not reseed in my area.

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Oh and the snow is still coming down!! Who wants to go build a snowman?? I almost have enough snow to build one without dirt and grass showing up in the snow!!

Whether seedlings will survive the cold is variable and lots of factors come into play.

I think the biggest variable is the kind of plant. I've never lost any seedlings here that were hardy in my zone. This includes perennials and hardy annuals like poppies or larkspur. I have lost tender annuals- zinnias, marigolds, and tender annual lupine come to mind.

Next is weather conditions. A few hours of freezing temps during the night in zones 7 or 8 is one thing. But hard freeze conditions might last day and night for days on end in the more northern zones. That's a whole different ball game.

It was in my first year of wintersowing that I lost those annuals to frost. That hasn't happened since because I know now to give them extra protection when necessary. Covering them only takes a minute and I'd rather do that than lose them. I know that a lot of new wintersowers follow the lead of experienced people on this forum and feel it's only fair to warn them that their own results might vary, especially in the north. Been there, done that.

Karen

You know Karen I think that is the key, cause zinnias do not reseed here either. I think when some have mentioned about losing their tender annuals maybe they are referring to ones that do not normally reseed.

Maybe instead of warning against planting annuals maybe there just needs to be clarification on what has been effected by freezes.

As of right now only 2 perennials have sprouted for me. The rest are annuals that reseed in my area. I have had deep freezes also, the weather has changed and they say that Friday we are going to be once again above freezing temps.

In a zone without snow cover, I have learned that winter sowing is a whole different creature from further north... we don't have hard freezes. That is key.

I do not have any experience with WSing in a colder zone and have figured out a system that works right here. I get a week of sun with lots of sprouts, then a week of nasty freezing rain. But nothing below 20*F, and the jugs don't go much below 40* inside. The babies do quite well in the ice and sleet. :) I am very happy that the faith in the little greenhouses paid off. :)

Knowing that they can take the lowest temps that we get here, I am attempting to get the sprouts as mature as possible before the sun gets really hot here and starts killing small things. So I've had them against a brick wall in part sun to get germination, then moved the sprouts to more shade and start opening them when the weather permits.

One type I will wait for next time is Tithonia-- though it's on the WS list of hardy annuals in the FAQ. The jug DID protect the ones away from the sides, but they shoot up so quickly that two of them touched the sides and got nipped. :( Wouldn't do nasturtium or sunflowers either for this reason. But the slower-growing perennials are very happy.

Carolyn,

Which seeds have sprouted? You didn't mention which they are.

Karen

Well let me ask this to make sure I am having hard freezes. Since that point keeps being brought up.

Last tuesday we dropped below freezing, well we have only been above freezing for MAYBE 10 hours since. We have gone anywhere between 11F to 39F. Not including yesterday, I believe we got up past 40F for a few hours. We will continue to be having these kinda conditions till Friday of this week. Dropping as low as 10F not to exceed 30F.

So would that be considered a hard freeze?? I mean I have been thinking it is but maybe I am wrong.

Dill, marojam, lupinus perennis, mexican hat, stevia, monarda citriodora, virginia stock. All as of yesterday!!

The only 2 that are perennial are the lupinus perennis and the mexican hat or botanical Ratibida Columnaris.

Yes, I'd call 11 degrees a hard freeze.

Yes, I think those are all pretty cold hardy. I would expect them to take a freeze. Zinnias, though, a different story.

I have never given hardy annuals or hardy perennials any protection or special handling for cold, and have never had a problem. It's only the very tender annuals. In fact I don't remember anyone recommending those things for hardies. So I think you might have misinterpreted some recommendations you saw here.

Karen

Let me ask do zinnias or marigolds reseed in your zone??

I've had a few profusion zins drop seeds and sprout in late summer or fall, then they freeze out over winter. They never reseed the next year. Marigolds either.

Cosmos, on the other hand, reseed so much that they're becoming a problem. I'm going to really limit their use, leaving maybe a few. But they don't tolerate any frost for me, either.

Karen

Ok, thank you for clarifying that for me, I was beginning to wonder if it was only me that never had them reseed!! :)

My Marigolds reseed like crazy, I have to yank volunteers every Spring.

What kind of marigolds do you grow?? I have grown several types and never had one to reseed. Now calendula that is a different story!! It reseeds nicely in my flower beds.

Marigolds are the one thing that doesn't volunteer like crazy in my yard. I've probably had a few reseed and hoed them out with all the other problem reseeders. But I don't remember a volunteer. Last year I found my first-ever geranium volunteer.

Karen

The Marigolds I grow came from the dollar store...there was a reqular run of the mill type. a giant and a beautiful cream colored type. They all re-seed for me. I also harvest the seed every year.

I'm in zone 6b, Marigolds, zinnias, sunflowers, Calendula will reseed here. Sometime a snapdragon if it's the last to die off in the Fall.

Tonight is the last night to drop below freezing!! I checked my containers today, and I do not believe some of my spouts could handle another week of below freezing temps. Some aren't looking to good and that lupine has me a tad worried. I did notice 2 other sprouts in the lupine container, so maybe I am just paranoid. Mid next week we will know for sure!!

Well I just checked my containers, well I got good news and bad news.

Bad news that lupine that had germinated before the freeze is not going to make it, though now I have another new sprout so I will cross my fingers it may get a cotlydon before another freeze moves in. Also lupine does not reseed in my area, it does not even grow in my area and yes this is the perennial that needed a cold period.

Good news pretty much everything else looks great, I found some new sprouts also. Now my soapwort, mexican tea, bronze fennel, rosemary and a dianthus has now germinated.

So for what I think no matter if it is perennial annual herb veggie if it reseeds you can winter sow it with no extra protection after germination even if a freeze moves in.

If doesn't reseed you may lose it after a freeze that happens after germination!!

Carolyn, are you sure that your lupine was a hardy perennial? There are some that are annuals. Lupine is one in that category. I sowed it one winter (thinking all lupines were hardy perennials). It froze to death in it's jug. It was my first year to WSow, 2006. She probably doesn't remember this but Drippy sent me some leftover sunrise seeds, and they grew and did fine for me.

Karen

Oops, I meant to say lupine sunrise.

Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: lupine surise

It was a perennial, it was Lupinus perennis. I figured for sure out of all the plants that had germinated that one would not be bothered by the freeze. My thought was that it is native to the north so it likes cold weather. Well I suspected something was wrong when the sprout started going from a healthy green to a more brown like color you know when a leaf has been hit by a freeze. Well I kept an eye on it and tried putting some dirt on it, but deep down inside I knew it was gone.

Yesterday it was even more brown, I didn't remove them I just let them be and I found another sprout. I will do something if another hard freeze moves in. The first go around was fine at the first 2 days but by the 4th it was looking sad end of the week no change. Though this week I just know it is gone!!

Huh. That surprises me, too. I don't think I've ever lost a hardy perennial to cold or freeze.

I guess there's no second guessing Mother Nature. When we wintersow, we hope for the best but have to be prepared to accept the not-so-good too.

Karen

Karen I took this just a little bit ago. Unless the seeds were mis labeled this is suppose to be Lupinus perennis a perennial lupine and I purchased the seed. I circled my first sprout, it is black today. I have 3 new sprouts and 1 more that has germinated in my bottle.

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Here is my lasagna pan, ya know it sure doesn't look that green in person but boy that thing looks green here in this picture.

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Cool!

Karen