My campanula hasn't sprouted yet either Deanna. I sowed it right after you sent it.

I still have a lot of things that haven't, but per suggestions here I'm trying to patient (hard!).

Do you have some of the same things planted in both kinds of soil, and have seen germination in one kind of soil but not the other?

No, because after my first sowing if the seed was small they all went into the new mix. The only comparison is my very small seeds from the first sowing are sprouting in the original mix. Flowers types differ, only size is similar. I'll keep waiting! I'm glad to hear yours haven't sprouted. You're quite a bit warmer than me, so that makes it easier to be patient.

So...you knew what seeds I was talking about from my thread?! I can't wait to see it grow!

I still have more jugs that haven't germinated than ones that have. I used my own blend of seed starting mix and potting soil in all of them but it could be some batches of mix had more SSM and less PS. I haven't noticed a difference. Most of what has sprouted so far is the same as other folks on the forum. The things that haven't--like delphinium, coreopsis, gaura, tall phlox, perennial salvia, among others--are generally later to germinate from what I've read on this forum. Keep in mind it's still March. Last frost date here in north central CT is four weeks from now. We just have to be patient and let Mother Nature do her job. She's been doing it a lot longer than us!
I WS a few jugs of lettuce that got toppled over by the wind--there are lots of little sprouts in those jugs even though the soil got tossed all around.

I have read that if the soil gets to over 160 degrees (?or some #) it CAN become toxic....

It is still really early yet,

Is that 10-day germination info for sowing inside or sowing outside after the danger of frost has passed? If so, it's going to take longer than 10 days by wintersowing. The seeds will know when the conditions in their containers are right. I think all of us in the mid-Atlantic region have some things that haven't sprouted yet.

Campanulas IMHO are s-l-o-w- growers. HTH.

I figured it was the famous campanula seeds! :D

I was out looking again today, and there are some things that are just not doing anything yet. Still early. It throws you off, though, when a bunch of things start coming up together!

OK, I'll wait some more. I can't say I'm at ease, though. Over half of my perennials have sprouted, but I don't think any of those sprouts are from this soil. That means most of my sprouts from the other soil are up and going. I will continue to wait, though! I could have poisoned my soil. I remember reading how to do it on the web, but I can't remember if I followed the instructions exactly or thought, "Gee, I'll REALLY kill those microbes!"

So...it's waiting...and waiting. Glad to hear campanula are slow. Some other things like thyme and rosemary are in that soil. Aren't they slow, too?

Connie, let me know when you see green!! If they don't sprout, you can bet I'll be buying more. Wanna get some more seeds?!

I found this:

"Oven Method- Spread soil not more than four inches deep in non-plastic containers, such as seed flats, clay pots and glass or metal baking pans. Cover each container tightly with aluminum foil. Insert a meat or candy thermometer through the foil into the center of the soil. Set the oven between 180° and 200° F. Heat the soil to at least 180° F; keep at this temperature for 30 minutes. Do not allow the temperature to go above 200° F. High temperatures may produce plant toxins. After heating, cool, remove containers from the oven and leave aluminum foil in place until ready to use. The heated soil will give off an odor. "

200 degrees is pretty hot....

Germination times on the packets are for starting inside under lights. It has no meaning at all when it comes to wintersowing.

You are in NH, don't know what part, but I'm about 20 minutes, at most, from the Nashua border and I just got my first germination over the last 2 days.

The weather has been so very unusual, warm, cold, flooding rains and more flooding rains over the next couple of days, the poor seeds really don't know what to do with themselves.

You may or may not have a problem with the soil, but, it's still way to early where you are to start to worry about whether the seeds will not germinate.

I'm seeing germination earlier this year than I have ever had in the past 6 years of wintersowing.

Oh, that's only 4 containers of mine germinated out of about 300 of them. I'm not worried and have about 200 more containers to go out yet.

Try and be patient, you probably will be pleasantly surprised over the next couple of weeks. The temps could be as high as 80 degrees on Easter, at least that's what some of our forecasters are saying right now.

Fran

I've had moistened mix sitting around for a week or so, and discovered white fungus growing in it. Was your mix wet? It's possible that a "bad" fungus like damp-off got established in it. When we sterilize stuff, we create an environment without competition for whatever can get there first. However, let's just hope all those seeds are slow-germinators.

I once cooked my soil at about 210 degrees for hours, then read that bit about toxins developing (I didn't know what temp was right for sterilizing, so I figured I'd just get it to boiling temp. Boiling temp is 212 at SEA LEVEL. I forgot that it's lower at my "elevation" of 600 feet.)

To test whether the long bake had toxified the mix, I did a germination test with tomato seeds using the "toxic" mix as well properly baked stuff. Both had great, equal germination, and I grew all the tomato seedlings into plants. So, I no longer believe that baking the soil at high temps always leads to toxicity.

stagerat, I am SOOO happy to hear this. I mean SO HAPPY. Thanks for posting.

I have thyme seedlings in my questionable soil! YEA!!!!!! I checked this morning and either there was nothing or I missed them. This afternoon, in the cold New England rain, I have dozens of thyme seedlings popping up! I am so relieved! I'm assuming all is OK and they're going to live. Whew! Now I'll just have to be patient and let "thyme" do its work on the campanulas. HAHA!! Oh, I'm just too funny.

deanna you crack me up!