A different way to start Daylily seeds
13 comments
When I bid on daylily seeds on the Lily Auction, it often takes 2-4 weeks to recieve them in the mail. Sometimes the seeds will begin to sprout, so they have to be kept going. I haven’t had a lot of luck with them, a couple of seeds will grow, but most will die. There has been a method I started experimenting with last year, and when I recieved a pack of 5 seeds that had little root tips showing this year, I used this method and achieved 100%.
I found fruit cups in my village store and bought a bag of fish tank rocks from another (light colours so you can see the seeds). With an inch of rocks in the cup, I filled it with water so that it barely touched the seeds. Then the lid went on and it was put in a warm window sill. By the end of a week, I had sprouts and roots on all 5 seeds.
The next step is to transplant to individual dirt-filled cups to grow on until the spring.
I have found that more seeds can be started in a smaller space, and it is easy to transplant into cups. Remember that daylily seeds are fairly large, and that once sprouted the lid needs to come off for air circulation, and seedlings should be handled only by their leaves. I also transplant into pre-moistened soil.
13 Dec, 2012
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Comments
Nice one, thanks Wylie...:>)
13 Dec, 2012
Is it innovation is the mother of invention , or someting like that ?
Well done , anyway , Wylie .
13 Dec, 2012
Thats a good idea Wylie, I really hope they continue to grow for you, never would have thought of using the gravel from the fish tank.....
13 Dec, 2012
Glad you all enjoyed this. To use the rocks again, I pop them into my pressure cooker.
14 Dec, 2012
I have not tried this method yet, it is something to keep in mind, thanks. I've tried the other method where one uses a few drops of peroxcide and a drop of bleach in about 100ml of water in a cup and keep the seeds in it until they sprout, but it did not work so well for me.
14 Dec, 2012
The peroxide and bleach are to combate mold/fungus from growing in a high humidity enviroment (I soak my seeds in water with peroxide before sowing). The rocks keep the joint between root and stem out of the water.
14 Dec, 2012
A lovely easy method i will copy this. I've used vermiculite in the past but the gravel can be reused :o)
driad its 'necessity is the mother of invention' or at least thats the version I know.
14 Dec, 2012
Much quicker than the damp vermiculite method :-)
15 Dec, 2012
Last year I had a seller send me some seeds that were packed in damp vermiculite, and every one of them had sprouted :(
Fortunately, he replaced them. Next year I am hoping for Canadian Border Patrol x Fringy to flower with green edges.
16 Dec, 2012
You'd think a daylily seed seller would know not to send them like that wouldn't you!!!!!!!!
Now that would be something, just wracking my brain trying to think of any varieties with green edges, nope can't think of any :-)
16 Dec, 2012
Thanks , Seaburngel , you're right , sometimes you get half a saying into your head , don't you ?
16 Dec, 2012
For next year, I have 2 using Fringy (Junzi x Fringy is the other one), and I will be starting several more using Fringy and Chartreuse Wonder. Real hard to find anything with green. The one you might like the most is Kazoo x Fringy - Kazoo has an applique throat. I have started soaking the first batch of seeds (mostly my own crosses), and in 3 weeks I will be sowing.
16 Dec, 2012
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What a good idea, where theres the will theres a way!
13 Dec, 2012