Hi Lynne. These have been pretty darn persnickity for me with winter-sowing too! I tried them two years in a row. Last year, I got only a few to germinate for me (like 3 or 4) and promptly killed them off. This year, I got no germination at all. I'll probably give them another try this coming winter, though.

Maybe someone can chime in and help us out!
:)
Dee

Thanks for the input, Dee... Anyone here have any success??

Maybe this will help give you and idea...

Here is a link that might be useful: Gerbera Daisy Crop Production-Auburn.edu

Vera,

I read many sites about conventional seed starting, which was why I was curious about anyone's success with wintersowing Gerberas. Wintersowing seems to work on others that are problematic...

For our climate in Zone 5, it almost sounds like a candidate for Spring Sowing, then overwintering-- and probably not getting blooms until the second year.
I bought one cheap at Lowes, and it was blooming when I purchased it. The plant looked sickly after a few days in the ground, so I snipped the bloom off. Well now, it's leafing out, but the leaves look kinda odd. I think I may pot it back up in prep to bring it indoors for the winter.

They are such beautiful flowers, but I'm not sure if I want to go through the trouble to have them.

Yes, I'm sure you have :D
My intension was to show you culture requirements (temp, moisture,ect.) as you can see they are prone to rot. They just require a little more special care...kind of like Annual Vinca which is just not very well suited to this method. Finicky plants need finicky care :D

Vera

Vera, I hope I didn't come across sounding snippy, didn't mean to if I did. So I think you answered my question, that these probably aren't good candidates.. Oh well.. I'll focus my energies and seed saving on the million others that do well!

Lynne