I would plant them in potting soil and keep them evenly moist until they come up. I have never seen any point in trying to germinate them then planting them. Most seed will germinate in about 14 days, but there are some that take longer. Be patient, I have had some go as long as 60 days.

Put them in a little ziplock bag and fill at least half way with a solution comprised of 1/2 gallon of water to 6 tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide. Seal the bags and put them in a handy plastic container with a lid, fill the container with the same solution, put the lid on and stick them in a dark closet. They need dark to germinate. Check on them in 4-5 days, and then every day thereafter. If they are viable, they will eventually sprout and you can see the little white root poking out. It may take weeks for them to germinate. Keep the solution fresh - change it every 3 days. If they are not viable, they will eventually get squishy as they start to decompose.

We've just learned this month that making a depression in the soil medium in the cups, and placing the seed on its side, with the root end facing downwards works really great. We don't cover the seeds anymore. Put a loose plastic sandwich bag over each cup until you see green shoots. You can take the bag off then. Later, you can add some sifted soil medium around the hole to cover everything except the green shoot. Keep the cups in a pan of water, away from direct sunlight until your seeds are sending up green shoots. You can then move the pan into direct sunlight. Once they have added their second set of leaves, you need to change the water in the pan and add a weak fertilizer solution. Change the water every 3-4 days. I'm having great luck with Schultz's Expert Plant Food -- comes in a 10 oz container. One scoop per gallon is all you need.

Good luck. Let me know if they germinate.

Nancy

Thanks Bambi and Nancy for the advice.

Nancy I have not heard of your method before. I always thought moisture and warmth from a light source would get a seed to sprout if it is a viable seed. I have not heard of soaking in a solution and putting in a dark closet. Won't hurt to try it. I have some seed I can experiment with.

I tried the small plastic containers with lids because of convenience. Guess I will try other methods until I find one that works well for me. And yes I do need to learn more patience. I check my seeds 3 and 4 times a days. :)

Thanks
Andrea

Andrea, from what I understand, the sustained darkness is very important. I suppose it simulates being underground? I even cover my containers with a dark-colored towel, in case the closet door is opened.

I'm afraid I'm far too curious to wait 6-7 days, as suggested by another daylily hybridizer. I can hardly wait 4 days to take a peek.

I have found that if I put my seeds in solution and leave them in the refrigerator for six weeks before putting them in the dark closet, it improves the germination rate. This year, I got lazy and just soaked the first group without chilling. Too many were not germinating, so I soaked the next batch in the fridge. The difference was remarkable.

I do seem to have one or two seeds in many of the bags that haven't germinated and apparently aren't going to do so. I suspect that may be attributed to an extremely hot summer coupled with a severe lack of rainfall this year while the seed pods were growing. Last year, when there was more than enough rainfall, the germination rate was in the upper 90 percentile.

There are those who have said they just plant their seeds directly in the ground. I'm not brave enough to do that yet. I still like to baby mine and watch them sprout and grow.

Nancy

I don't know if it would be called ignorance? :>) or just beginners luck, but when I found my seed pods that the bumblebees had pollinated this year, I just took them immediately over to a window box outside that I had recently cleaned the plants out of, planted them about 1/2" in the soil, and they all came up and are doing great! I might not be so lucky next time, but thankfully, after reading some of the posts with the issues of germination, 100% of mine came up with nothing extra done. Jan G.

Last Jan. I started seeds and had 2 crosses that just did not want to germinate. I soaked them in the fridge for 5 wks, then put them in a dark warm closet still soaking, 1 germination after 3 wks. Put them back in the fridge 2 wks, back in the closet, 1 more germinated in a couple days, wait 2 wks in the closet no more sprouts so back in the fridge. Then shortened the cycle to 24 hours in the fridge, 24 hours in the closet. Seemed like they responded to the change in temp. more than the length of time in each temp. Got a few more to sprout that way.

Kept doing this until March. Out of 15 seeds I now have one seedling planted that survived a fungus gnat attack the wiped out about 2/3 of my entire crop.

These were purchased seed so I have no idea if they were old, if they had been mis-handled, wasn't a good cross, or what. Just know that batch was a booger to germinate. I had another batch like that where none germinated.

Most of my seeds germinated in I just think it happens sometimes that a whole cross is not viable. Keep trying until you can't stand it then toss 'em into the ground someplace marked and see if they don't surprise you in the spring.

Thanks to everyone for their advice. I decided to try the heat/cold method for the 5 seeds that weren't germinating.

I have a small potpourri warmer with a light that I can control the amount of light/heat. So I left the seeds in the container they were in and set them on the warmer during the day(very low heat)and let them cool at night for 2 days. 3 of the 5 have now popped.

Not sure I would try this again as I was worried to death I was going to cook them. I was constantly checking the heat.
But, it did work. If I wasn't so impatient I would have just sown them in the ground in the spring. But, I'm hoping I will get to see a bloom late next year.

Fingers are now crossed that I can keep the cats and gnats from eating them this winter. :)

Thanks again for all the advice.
Andrea

Andrea, I just learned a way to help control the fungus gnats from another web member, and it's really working. She said to use boiling water to mix my potting soil because it kills the gnat eggs in the potting medium. I was hesitant to pour boiling water onto my plastic potting tray (even though it's heavy duty) so the first batch I mixed in a metal pan. Then I read that someone else pours the boiling water into plastic cups! So I figured that if a plastic cup could withstand boiling water, my potting tray would be all right, especially since I was pouring the water on the potting medium anyway, and not directly on the tray. So I tried it and it was fine. The potting medium "steamed" for a while, and I just let it cool down, and then I filled my plastic cups with it. I haven't had any problems with fungus gnats to date (and I usually do)

I also have noted that I can't keep my cups constantly in a pan of water or my potting medium stays too wet and causes damping off or rotting of the seed. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, but this has been my experience. I pay very close attention to how moist the soil is, and when it seems to be a bit too dry, then I had water (or dilute fertilizer, depending on whether I have seeds or plants) to the pan. This seems to be working for me.

If you end up with fungus gnats no matter what you do, there is an excellent product available that will take care of them in 2-3 waterings. It's called "Knock-Out-Gnats" and is put out by a company called "Garden's Alive". It is a bit expensive, but on the other hand, a little goes a long way. I've been able to keep a garden room (with 2 sets of grow lights - 3 shelves each), a propagator and a small greenhouse free from gnats since last March using only 2 bottles total. And I use every square inch of what I've got, believe me!

Anyway, best of luck with your germination. I am soaking my seeds in the fridge right now. Another member also suggested I might get higher germination rates if I did not dry my seeds for so long (2-3 weeks) before putting them in the fridge. He only dried his for 2-4 days! So now I am only drying them for about 4 days. They don't end up looking so shriveled that way. MacThayer

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden's Alive!

I really like the natural and organic products that Garden's Alive has. They also have a lot of other nifty and practical things that work really well. I have always been totally happy with anything I have ever ordered from them. I never had the gnat problem, as I guess I didn't start enough plants in the house to invite them, but I am glad you listed a product that you had used and it worked, in the event I do get them. Thanks again! Jan G.

Somewhere, I can't recall where? I read about pouring boiling water over your soil or planting medium. Then after it cools you can fill your containers with the soil and plant your seeds. It will kill off any gnat eggs that might be hiding the the soil.
I did this early last spring then planted my daylily seeds. I grew my seedlings indoors under lights and for the first time didn't get any gnats. So I'm here to tell you it worked. And it's free, I didn't have to buy anything to get rid of gnats.

Joy