Most of mine are sown in plastic pots. In my case the pots fit in a flat with a ventilated bottom that keeps them all in one place and makes them easy to handle. Then I slide the entire tray into a clear Glad kitchen bag that I have punched holes in (with a hole punch) before I unfold the bag. You will need to enclose something that will keep the plastic elevated and off of the seedlings.

I am Zone 6 also and I have lots of sprouts.

Ellen, if I am reading your post correctly, a friend of mine, who does not winter-sow and had never heard of it at the time, did pretty much exactly that.

She sowed her seeds directly into the pots she wanted them to be in all season. She then covered the pots with plastic wrap, using toothpicks to keep it up away from the soil. I don't remember how she secured the plastic around the big pot.

I don't recall *when* she did it - seems to me it was a bit later, maybe March. This was many years ago, but the image of a blue pot keeps popping into my mind, and I know that pot was ceramic, lol, so it must have been warm enough for the pot to stay out, but cold enough that she wanted to give the seeds an extra bit of protection.

Gee, rereading this I see I'm not really much help because I can't remember anything, lol! Well, I do remember she did this, and I know she had success with it, but I'm sorry I can't be of more help with the details!

Good luck!
:)
Dee

haha Dee, I appreciate your comment even if you forget the details. What are details anyway?! :)

At any rate I'm going to give it a try, life is one giant experiment, right? And I'll post how I do.

Sooner- i'm thinking you transfer out of those plastic pots after germination? Or are these the final planter?

Seems like I remember reading where Trudi actually threw some seeds in a baby pool and had sprouts. I bet your idea will work great! Be sure and share pics. Nik

I remember someone doing that a few years ago. They put sticks in the pot to hold up the plastic. I think they used dry cleaner bags, or a clear grabage bag. It worked fine.
Jennie

It'll work just fine - the idea of sowing directly to the "permanent" pot is covered in the FAQs. No mention is made of covering the pots with plastic, but the couple of times I did it, I did cover the top with vented plastic.

Works fine.

PV

I was thinking of doing the same thing with a big round pot I have and putting it in a plastic sleeping bag cover I stole from hubs. It even has a zipper on one end!! I planned on using shish-ke-bob sticks to hold it up and away from the babies You could just use a clear plastic bag the same way. Another thought I had was doing my window boxes the same way. Just slide the whole thing in a garbage bag. Bamboo shish-ke-bob sticks are pretty cheap... I have some stainless ones too.

I like this idea... I have a hanging pot I stick on my front door each year. I might just Wintersow it and cover with plastic.

Karen

I wonder if those shower caps from the dollar store would work, they're almost clear. Even if the elastic wouldn't hold up, I bet they're the right size and then a bit of duct tape?

I've done that with a hanging basket and some petunia seeds. In my case, they whole basket fits into a five gallon bucket and I have the plastic bag over the bucket. So far, the sprouts seem to be doing ok.

I do this every year with my window boxes and other large containers. Cover them in different ways.

1. Used large piece of plastic, stuck dry cleaner hangers (without the cardboard) in the soil to hold the plastic up. Used clothespins to secure the plastic to the window box. I remember seeing photos of pots with water bottles used to keep the plastic up.

2. Covered separate areas of the pot with individual 2L tops (bottoms cut off). This was great for using with seeds that have different germination times.

3. For containers that are still small enough to pick up easily I put them into a large clear plastic bag.

woo-hoo - a new twist on WS'ing, at least new to me.
Let's patent this. (Just kidding!)

Nancy drew- you mention shower caps, I was thinking of them also for my milk jug containers. They are the right size. But the ones I got from the $ store - do not have enough elastic. They stretch out in no time.

Well thanks for all these ideas. Great minds think alike. :)
I'm intrigued by trying this new twist. I'll read over these ideas and see what I come up with for a covering idea. There's always a way.
I will report back with results.

el

I tried that with annuals in hanging pots for a couple of years. I don't even remember what the seeds were (petunia and trailing sweet peas, some others) but I know that I didn't have good results. They sprouted but never grew much. I think I gave up and tossed them into the compost around late July or so. Made me wonder why they didn't fare as well as those I transplanted from jugs.

Karen