Daylily seeds should be hard when they are mature. If they are soft, they are dead. They don't have to be soaked to start them. You can just plant them. Many of us are in a colder zone than you so our seeds sit all winter until we can start them. We find that soaking them seems to speed up the process of germination.

Nancy

I agree these seeds should be fine for planting.

Are you saying you just plant them in the garden with no special germination process, like I have read about so often?

OK, just so I'm understanding you, Hoosier Nancy: are you immediately upon gathering,
dry-refrigerating your seeds loose in a baggie, and then soaking them in the
baggie in the refrigerator in the last week of January? You don't do any
period of dry storage at room temperature first? I've only done the one
batch so far (of daylily seeds - though there have been plenty of other
things over the years), and I've always thought it was necessary to
allow a period of dry storage to prevent molding (except in some rare
cases where the seed should never be allowed to dry). And you don't use any paper toweling to fold the seeds in? I've gotten so used to doing it that way, the thought of just having the seeds loose in a baggie with some water makes me nervous. :)

Alex

I do dry the seeds at room temperature, but only for a day or two. Some people say they dry them longer, but I haven't found that necessary.

When I put them in a baggie, I put a small piece of paper towel in to absorb moisture. I check them a couple of times during the winter to remove any moldy ones. I replace that paper towel piece then.

I start planting in late January because we have a small greenhouse to put them in until the weather warms up enough for them to come outside. (I don't know when you would start them if you direct sowed them.) When I am ready to plant them, I take out the paper towel and just pour a little distilled water in each baggie and put them back in the vegetable drawer in the refrigerator. Some will start to sprout in a day or two. (I have keep some in water for as long a 6 weeks and they never sprouted. They did sprout when I planted them in soil.) I find that soaking them in the water for a couple of days before planting speeds up the sprouting process so that most of the ones in the cross sprout about the same time after they are planted.

Some people put the seeds in the moist paper towel and wait until they have a long root to plant. That requires careful handling of each seed, a luxury I don't have when I am planting 1000+ seeds. It's really a lot easier to plant an unsprouted seed. As long as they sprout rather quickly (instead of the couple of months the books say it may take), I am happy.

Nancy

Thanks for the detailed response!

Yes, I can see that it would be difficult to handle that volume on an individual basis. I look to be starting no more than 125, and that's assuming all these pods do make it to the collection stage, though they all appear healthy at the moment. Actually, 125 would be pushing it since the bed I'm preparing should hold more like 100. But I'll deal with it if and when that happens.

So, given that, I probably will do things in the fashion I've always followed. I'm one of those people who does likes to see a root before I plant, though not a long root since that can be a pain, as you say.

I also have a little greenhouse, but typically when I pot the seedling, it goes under my propagation lights indoors, since the greenhouse isn't heated. When things start to get crowded in April or May (after the inevitable potting-up to bigger pots puts the crunch on shelf-space under the lights), I start moving those plants that can take the lower temps out to the greenhouse. Somewhere along the way, I start the hardening-off process as well, which entails me hauling flats outside for increasing periods of sun. Drives my husband crazy since for the last two years my propagation shelves have been upstairs, and he hates to see me carrying those flats up and down the stairs - LOL! Don't know why he would worry since apparently I only break ankles when I'm walking across the yard, and not from falling down stairs. I'm out of the boot cast now, though, so everything should be just fine. :)

Alex

Many growers start their seeds under lights. We might have to do that with some of them if we have too many. The greenhouse is already over crowded and putting in 12-20 more trays of seeds makes my poor husband have to really crowd the plants. He grows tropical plants like hibiscus, bromeliads, and gingers among others. Our greenhouse is heated but we just can't get the temperature very high.

We have tried starting some daylily seedlings in late August, but they tend to go dormant even in the greenhouse during the winter. We saw no difference in their size and the size of the ones started in January when it was time to transplant them.

Nancy

Nancy - We saw no difference in their size and the size of the ones started in January

That's good to hear. I must admit to being amazed at how quickly my seedlings grew and blossomed. It was definitely the deciding factor in my deciding to do some more hybridizing with the daylilies. If it was going to take 3 years then that would be more of a burden given that I don't know how many more 3 yr periods I have left. LOL.

And I'll have some registered varieties to work with this next season, both dips and tets, but I intend to use some of my NOID x NOID seedlings.

Alex