Seeds in refrigerator or freezer?

Forgive the wordiness of this but... I want to grow a perennial from seed. The seeds are supposed to be sewn in fall. I live in SE Louisiana where it typically does not get very cold (our temps are in the 80's now). I think that if I planted the seeds now, they would come up now and the young plants would be ill equipped to survive what winter we do have here. What should I do? Should I wait until it does cool down (Dec, Jan) or can I put the seeds in the refrigerator or freezer until spring so that they are fooled into thinking they were planted in fall? I forget the term for this. Stratification???

I like to hold me seeds over the winter in the refridgerator. Here we have danger
of frost 'til mid-May so I start my seeds in Mar/Apr (some as early as Jan if they are
slow germinators or growers). I suspect our concerns are quite different - I need to
wait 'til its warm when my seedlings are ready to plant out. You might need to worry
about waiting too long or it'll be too hot? (But I'm just guessing on that).

Tam

Well, evidently these seeds need a cold period and I may not be able to provide that "naturally" unless I plant them in Dec or Jan. By mid Feb it's spring here. You put yours in the refrigerator? Maybe that's what I'll do. They can spend from now until Feb. in the refrigerator and then I'll plant them in late Feb or early March. I'm not from here originally and it's amazing what you can't grow here because there's no true "dormant" period. I miss growing the perennials that I grew in TN. The up-side is that I grow tropicals here that I could NEVER grow in TN. Still...we always want what we can't have!

I've plant my seeds and then put them in the refridgerator if I'm trying
to germinate them. I bought a small 2nd refridgerator for all the pots
with seeds. I've read that another way to do this is to put them on a
moist papertowel and put the paper towel in a baggie. Its obviously
a lot more space efficient but you need to watch more carefully so you
can transplant them into soil when they do germinate.
Tam

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If you are stratifying seeds, then put the sown seeds in the refrigerator for the appropriate time. This is to fool them into thinking they've been through winter. If you are just storing seeds in the refrigerator (never put them in the freezer) until time to sow them, that's not stratifying. I sow seeds all year long because I have a nursery, but if I had no place to grow them until planting outside, I would wait until closer to spring (your spring) to sow them. They will do better that way, grow faster, and you won't need to build an addition to your house to overwinter them. I envy your having spring in February.

Never say never. Seeds can harbor insect eggs or larvae through mild winters similar to refrigeration. Most beans & peas for instance. Flower seeds such as moon flowers too. The eggs or larvae are dormant until the seed is planted & watered. Freezing for six weeks minimum is recommended to kill seed born eggs and larvae. I freeze & then move to refrigerator. The one year I didn't do that many saved heirloom seed packs were crawling with bugs. Refrigeration to stratify perennial seeds for germination is a different matter. I've never found short term freezing detrimental even to tropicals. It is important to have seed at room temperature before opening packs or containers to prevent condensation and subsequent moisture loss from seed which will affect germination.

Keep seeds out of direct daylight in a cool spot that keeps a genuinely steady temperature. Think about a virus wardrobe, a cellar, or a room on the north side of your home that stays cool all year. Freezing isn't required for momentary capacity, however you can refrigerate seeds, if they are adequately dry