Nancy;
I was thinking the same thing, I live in Calif. and the cold weather we get is most likely to be in Jan or Feb. and that might be temps in the 20's. This is my first year with seedlings and I have some up about 6" and was wondering if I could seperate them into individual pots or the ground to give the ones that have not come up room.
Looking forward to some of the experts here to give us the answer to our questions.
Thanks Ted.

I hope someone will give us an answer soon. I need to get these seedlings situated, whether in pots or in the ground.

Tinker's Garden site has a wonderful section on hybridizing daylilies--everything you need to know concisely presented. They say seedling should be transplanted when they are 6-8 weeks old and have four leaves, and are usually about 6 inches tall. Six inches is also when they say new seedlings should be mulched to prevent weeds anyway, so if you transplant at six inches you can mulch at the same time.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tinker's Garden Hybridizing Daylilies

Thanks for the info. It looks like I need to wait a week or two more.

This is my second year raising daylilys from seed and I am still in learning mode but here goes, here is my 2 cents worth.. As long as the container has 3-4 inches of potting mix under the seedlings, I'd leave them until you think they have all sprouted and have at least two leaves. Then you can pot them up or plant them in the ground. I prefer to plant them in the ground. Our weather allows plenty of time for them to be well established before winter and potting them up only seems like more unnecessary work and more watering to be done. Usually, I just lay the water hose in the seedling bed 1 - 2 times per week and let it just drip for several hours.
I plant them about 6" apart and rows about 10" apart. But, last year in April, my sister was in the hospital and I just didn't have enough time to care for my seedlings, so I just dug a hole and planted the entire contents of a large plastic cup, about 6 seedlings...They were totally neglected but still one managed to surprise me with 3 lovely blooms this spring! Just remember, if you have the space plant further apart it will be longer before you have to dig and divide them!
Happy Growing!

AlanaG

najoba,
What hardiness zone are you in?

I am in zone 8b, about an hour north of Houston. We may get one or two hard freezes before Christmas. It doesn't really start cooling down much until the latter part of October.

Alana, I would much prefer planting them directly in the ground. Thanks for the info.

Nancy

Nancy,
If they are growing well in the pots, they don't need to be transplanted. I start my seeds in August and plant in October usually. I would suggest using this time to get your seedling beds prepared.
I wait for day temps in the 80's and start transplanting. I get decent bloom the following year. I do cull some of the weaker seedlings and plant on 8 inch centers, but I'm considering going back to 6 inch spacing. I recommend planting so that you can get to all seedlings easily. Plant two rows and then leave an aisle for example. The closer you plant together, the sooner you must get any good seedings out and into better spaced beds. I completely redo my seedling beds on a three year cycle.
If you haven't yet, you might visit Mary and Eddie Gage with Spring Creek Daylily Farm in Spring, Texas. They're very nice people and Mary is very active with AHS. They should be in the AHS Display Gardens list, or at least the source list. Yell if you need more help.
Good luck,
Ed

Thanks, Ed for the info. I am not far from Spring.

I have five seedlings in each of the plastic cups, so I figured it would be getting too crowded for them? It would be best to wait until it gets cooler in October, but I need go visit my children in CA sometime soon and am afraid hubby won't want to worry about seedlings while I am away for two weeks.

I still have twelve seed pods that aren't in any hurry to ripen, so I suppose I will have to store them for the winter. Do I just put them in a glass jar or ziplock bag and refrigerate them? Do I need to add damp peat moss, vermiculite, or anything else?

Thanks,

Nancy

Hi Nancy,

Not knowing what size cup the seedlings are planted in - as long as they appear to be growing well, green and increasing, then they are doing well and you don't have to transplant them immediately, IMO. I personally feel that trying to transplant in high heat will set them back more than waiting for a little while longer for cooler weather. I usually get a good growth spurt in the fall as things cool off. This is the ideal planting time I feel.

You could probably show your hubby how to water the seedlings. Just stress to use a gentle shower of water and give him a schedule. Most of us guys are trainable! ;0)

When you are ready to leave for CA, put a swatch of panty hose, nylon cloth or even cheese cloth over each pod and twist tie them on. The seeds will be contained and waiting when you return.

I shell my pods in the evening. Inspect the seeds for any empty or soft seeds and cull those. Let the seeds dry in an open cup overnight. Next day, I write the cross and date collected on a 2x3 ziploc bag and insert the seeds. I store them in the fridge till ready to sprout. I do have some stored for over a year in the fridge and they seem to be fine. I do like to store seeds for 4 weeks before sprouting. They seem to sprout more uniformly when I do.

If you add damp anything to the bags, you may have sprouted seeds when you return. I usually don't add anything, preferring to start the sprouting process when I want.
When I'm ready to start my seeds, I dump the starting mix in big tub and work it, adding water till its throughly moist, but not wet. Fill the flats, tamping the mix slightly into each pot. I put on average, four seeds into a 3 1/2 square pot about 1/2" deep. Firm the mix over the seeds and then gently water each flat. Down here, with 80% relative humidity+, I don't have a big problem with them drying out. But you might cover them or bag them to keep the moisture in. After a week, un-bag and you should have lots of sprouts!

Good luck,
Ed

Thanks, Ed, for all the info! The panty hose (etc.) is a terrific idea for protecting those seed pods. I customarily make a trip down the hill twice a day to check them, and find that some will open within a half-day span. I'm afraid they might have already dropped a few seeds by the time I make my next run. The seed pods still remaining on the scapes were pollinated around July 9, so they should be ready by Sept. 9, right? So far, they are still green and closed up tight.

The cups are those red/yellow/or/blue 16 oz. plastic cups.

I noticed today that some of the seedlings are beginning to grow their 4th leaf.

I have the cups sitting in a half-strength solution of Schultz's Expert Plant Food and water, which gets really cloudy looking within a day. Do I need to change that every day?

Yesterday I transplanted one group of seedlings from a plastic bin that was too shallow in soil depth (my newbie error) to pots. I moved them along with the surrounding soil. They seem just as happy in their new location as in the old. Fortunately, we got a lovely gentle shower right after I finished.

Hi Nancy,
I would sure think the remaining pods would be ready by Sep. 9th, if pollinated on Jul. 9th. I do a squeeze test if the pods starts turning lighter green color. Put one finger across a seam and thumb across the valley on the other side of the pod and gently squeeze. If the pod splits open, it's ready to harvest. I only harvest pods once a day.

Sounds like your seedlings are doing well. Very interesting that you have them sitting in water. Did you learn this from Tom Maddox? How much of the cup is in the water? I imagine the cloudy mixture is from algae growing, fed by the nitrogen in the fertilizer. If the water does develop a film over the surface, it may be going anaerobic and I would be afraid the seedlings might rot. But I'm afraid I can't help you much with this technique, cause I don't grow seedlings this way.

The weather people say we are in a weather pattern similar to what we had in July where we got rain almost daily, so I think I may start planting seedlings a little early this year. Still have lots of old seedling beds to get ready!
Ed

I'll just stay on the safe side and change it every day. I can't recall where I found the info about keeping them in water. Of course, once all the seeds have sprouted, I take them out of water. Those in the water are pending the appearance of one or two that haven't yet sprouted. I probably need to give up on them sooner. That definitely has presented a dilemma. What to do when some have sprouted but not all of them?

I owe all that I have learned about daylilies to all of you and am very appreciative of those who generously share such good information.

Back in February, all I knew about daylilies was that they were perennials and the blooms only lasted for a day. When I bought my first daylilies several years ago, I just dug holes for each one and stuck 'em in the ground. I never touched them until this year. I never watered them, nothing. Thanks to all the rain we've had this year, they began to bloom like crazy, and that got my attention.

The rest is history. Now I wake up in the morning, grab a cup of coffee, and run to the closet to pull out the soaking seeds to see if any have sprouted. Then I run outside and start filling up cups/pots/what-have-you with seed starter soil, plant the sprouting seeds and cover them up with vermiculite. Then I spend the rest of the day either checking on seed pods, hovering over the newly planted seeds with a spray bottle in my hand, misting and waiting for them to sprout, or counting the newborn seedlings. I make at least one run down the backside of the hill to check the field bed for any new developments there. In between times, I am on the computer either looking longingly at cultivars I don't yet have, or I'm keeping detailed records of those I do have. Then, too, I have to keep up with what's going on at GW, Dave's and Tinker's.

I'm not at all addicted to daylilies. ;-)

I think the bottom watering of the pots while the seeds are sprouting is probably useful, but I don't think the fertilizer is doing much if anything. For the first couple months or so the seedling is using the nutrients out of the seed to grow and establish a root system. I doubt the roots are taking up much at this point. I would wait till later and incorporate the fertilizer into my watering.
Ed

I live in a zone 5b Canada and have start some blue day lilies from seed. They are now approximately 5 inches in growth ( planted in cell packs) . When should I plant them in the ground?

Kim

Thank you hoosier_nan