too much money ...

dollar store.. $1 turkey pan ...

get some good potting media .. your biggest cost .. preferably seed starter mix... finer texture ...

review link as to sterilizing media in the oven ... THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THAN A BUG INFESTATION IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER ...

wash pan in 10% bleach ...

fill pan with moistened media ... cover with alum foil.. turn on oven... baste away per instructions ...

remove from oven ...

let cool ...

meanwhile garbage pick some mini blinds .... and clean those in the bleach .... and get a dark carbon pencil ...

cut slats into small pieces ...

carefully poke holes in bottom of turkey pan ...

clean seeds... plant about 1/4 inch deep ... mark mini blind pieces with the pencil if you want to keep track of crosses or momma, if OP .... the carbon pencil has a half life about as long as the plastic blind.. if you dont smudge it ...

place under lights... 10 to 14 days.. hosta will magically appear ...

dont make it harder than it has to be .... nor more expensive ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Ken,
Do you still have to bake the soil if it is organic soil?
Carol

Since there have been several questions recently about growing hostas from seed, I'll post a link to a very helpful article by Bill Nash:

About Seeds and Hostas

Don

joshuaslc,
It is very encouraging for me as a daddy to see that you are taking every precaution in giving my little seeds the best of care. LOL!I will be sending them in a couple of weeks.

Denny

I do about the same as Ken except I use old Baby Wipe containers and use a paint pen to write on the cut blinds. I've also found that if I search enough at Goodwill or the Salvation Army here that I can find metal blinds that last much longer then the plastic.

I've been growing seeds for many years trying a lot of different methods, and had the best luck with deep take-home plastic bakery containers set into a larger pan of water. I sterilize everything by pouring boiling water thru it twice. So easy, less mess.

Don't start seed too early, they'll be too large before Spring.

Jamie, it seems to me that paint pens rub off metal mini blinds whereas the paint is absorbed into the plastic and stay readable longer.

I like the baking pan Idea I was thinking of useing broken platic knife's for markers with perm marker what about soiless mix will that just ass well? Will be keeping track Ja-n-case Denny you like any of them that I foster father for you lol. Want to give full credit to the hybridizer Josh

Hi there
I have been a lurker here in the hosta forum through the years- and got bit quite hard (again) by the hosta bug this year....
I wanted to let you know that the easiest and most reliable way I have found to start hosta from seed is Winter Sowing. There is a forum here in GW that will tell you all about it far better than I could-
I do start several things under lights in doors in the winter here in MN- and have done so with hosta as well- but by far the best (and easiest!!) results for hosta have been from wintersowing.
This year I am looking forward to sowing my own hosta crosses after learning how to save pollen- bag and tag blooms- I can hardly wait for the seed heads to ripen!!
Have fun makin' baby hosta ya'll- and please someone tell me how you select which babies to keep and which to cull... I seem to plant them all out-
Julie

i tried all the paint pens.. they eventually fail ...

i was told.. when they dug up herb benedicts garden ... after he passes... they found plastic marker with pencil.. that were over 25 years old ....

carbon is a the building block of the universe... it has a half life of billions of years .... all paint will fail .. eventually ....

but as usual ... with hosta.. whatever works.. works ....

now.. as for sterilizing ..... think hospital operating room .. and sterilize everything.. period ...

you have been swarmed by gnats in the garden... imagine in january ... minding your own business.. watching tv... and a swarm of fungus gnats buzzing the tv or you .. it can be maddening... and you cant really bomb the house... been there.. done that ....

you are working inside the house.. in a very particular environment ... this isnt the place for 'dirt' .. nor soil.. nor compost ...

buy a professional media.. and you will be better able to control the variables for success ....

ken

I have been doing some think and yo can buy those rubermaid containers at those discpount shoppiung centers there about to two three feet high and about a foot and half wide and about three feet long. to keep the with high humidty and light inclosed in the container, all I would have to do would be to figure out some way to keep water off my carpets. lol I think there deep enough and they'll be inclosed so my kids/ dogs wont play with them has anyone tried this yes I know it a little more expensive. but thy only cost about 5 to 10 buck Josh

And... watch out for that organic soil. Mine came with tiny little flecks and pieces of wood mulch. Sterilize it all you want... it is a mold spore dream come true.

the big bin will fail .. just too big.. how do you get light down to the soil level????

you do understand.. that at the 4 leaf stage.. you will be repotting into new soil ...

you ask a question about containers.. we provide specific options.. and that little drummer in your head tells you to march another direction ... been there.. done that.. went back and started with someone elses successful method ....

i understand trying new things.. that is how new things are discovered...

but why dont you pick one of the suggestions.. and learn how to grow the seeds successfully.. before you start making it significantly harder ...

the bin has no drainage... hosta.. are not bog plants.. they need air in the root zone ....

i have also used regular flats...

you will not fail.. if you consider.. and master all of the following ....

AIR
WATER
LIGHT
FOOD
RE-POTTING
SOILESS MEDIA
STERILE ENVIRON

water is a issue in a bucket/bin ... or the movement of the water .. thru the root zone.. and then away ...

ken

PS: a bin big enough to hold the flat... with support under the flat ... to keep the soil within 3 inches of a fluorescent light... and the bin traps the water that falls through the flat .... and the light rest on top of the bin ... hmmmmm... maybe you are on to something ... sorta.. lol

Ken, what about damping off? I'm wondering about air circulation if someone actually used that big bin idea. I've never had any problem with damping off, but I do keep a fan going in my seedling room, both for that reason and also to promote strong plants. Have you, or has anyone else, every have damping off problems with Hosta seedlings? And do you think it might become a problem if someone used the big bin idea? Not me... I'm sticking with my usual methods... just curious though!

I have done the winter sowing,i loved it, got all the advice i need on the Winter Sowing forum.
I guess if you are doing this with your childern, you would want to sow in doors, so they can see the whole process of seed growth.
As for me though, i found the WSing so much easier,and i did use the big rubber made containers,i call them sweater boxes, because they are not real deep.
You can use milk containers,all sorts of things.
Make it easy and have fun.
Carol

I am taking your advice into consderation I was not throwing it under the bus. I was planning in getting my kids invovled. I was thinking those sweater boxes too. I can drill hole into the bottom and hang lights over the top. I work at a cabinet company and a petstore so wood for the setup and the lights are a none issue. I was just thinkng as a larger container for comparsions but in hind sight being in smaller containers would be mor movable. The larger containers would just provide more root growth. Josh