Sun or shade? Water?

I'm very excited about trying this method. I haven't had a whole lot of success with tossing seed out in the fall , too much I believe gets washed away by fall rains, or eaten by critters. And it comes up willy nilly too spread out when it does come up.

Last winter I decided to sprout most of my stuff indoors... I lost many things inside that i sprouted under lights last winter...damping off, drying out (we have wood heat) then I had a chipmunk that got in and ate some of my plants aaarrgghhhh.... not to mention I don't have enough room to do all the plants I want inside. By doing this I can try to sprout more or a variety !!!

~Julie =0)

This will be my fourth winter for wintersowing. With the snow and rain, I have never had to water the jugs/containers until the weather warmed in the spring. The seeds aren't going to germinate until the temperature reaches their needs, so watering them in the dead of winter isn't going to help.

Hineni: LOTS of gardeners in your growing zone wintersow seeds VERY successfully!!! Yes, I would check your hose situation now and its proximity to where you will have your wintersown containers. You do NOT have to have snow in order for wintersowing to be successful! Rain, sleet, & ice storms will also provide moisture to your containers. However, as stated above, if you don't receive moisture from Mother Nature & you don't want the soil in your containers to dry out, please provide adequate moisture if this is the case. Winter winds can dry out your soil!

jab91864: Lots of gardeners have gone through the very same experiences that you have! Those are ALL excellent reasons why we wintersow and have found it to be so rewarding! I hope you will too!!

woodthrush: You are very lucky that you don't have to provide extra moisture during the winter and you have adequate amounts of snow & rain to keep the soil in your containers moist. Yes, you are correct when you say that seeds will germinate when temperatures reach their needs, but watering during the winter months will help if you don't receive adequate moisture from Mother Nature. Winter winds can be very harsh and can cause your soil to dry out! If you soil depth is not at least 3", you soil will dry out too quickly! Then you must provide it. Dried Out Soil = Dead Seeds!

The soil in my jugs is frozen solid until spring, so adding water wouldn't help as it would freeze on contact too. Wintersowing is just mimicking nature in a jug. Seeds naturally fall to the ground and lay there all winter. When the spring comes and the soil warms, spring rains, the seeds germinate.
Seeds can lay on the ground dry for a long time and not die. Too much moisture can rot them if they aren't germinating yet. It all depends on your temps.

Thanks Shirley, I'm probably making it more stressful and worrisome than I need to! And if I fry/dryout/drown or somehow otherwise kill all my WS plants...well, there's always (gulp) the garden centers :D

~Sunny

ditto what woodthrush said - you are mimicking mother nature, but under controlled conditions. You want to choose where the plants will grow and protect them from critters - by sowing them in containers, they won't be blown or float away to another location in the yard or neighbor's yard. You also won't have birds or rodents eating your seed.

You'll know what it is because that container is labled.
carol

I didn't get my containers out until March and they all germinated fine when the weather warmed up. I would put seeds like Morning Glories and 4 O'Clocks out in January because they need to go through several freeze thaws to soften up enough to germinate. As always, it would help to do some research to determine if you need to do something special with a particular seed.

beaker, Thanks for the tip on the 4:00 and MG's, I have search the ws site, and it doesn't tell you which seeds to start in which month, Which would be a great thing for them to post... unless these old tired eyes over looked it. lol Is there such a site that tells you this? I have done alot of searches trying to get info on my seeds and whens the best time to start them etc... and I haven't come across anything.... Just a few searchs lets you know the seed can be WSn but doesn't say what month to start them... Sorry for babbling, it is way way past my bed time...

Connie

One tidbit I picked up last year (my first) from a seasoned veteran: If you sow large seeds, like MGs and 4:00 too early they can rot in all the moisture. I did an experiment. I put out just a few of each early, like January, in cups, and the rest around late February or early March. The earlier-sown ones did rot, but those done later did well. But then, we get a lot of fluctuating temperatures and monsoon rains. Maybe that makes the difference.

Last year we had a prolonged warm spell in January. A few things germinated then, but survived. That probably contributed to the rotting of the seeds.

The best way to determine when to sow which seeds is probably to ask others in your zone what has worked for them. And probably your results will vary in a year with unusual, freaky weather.

Karen

Thanks Karen,

Plastic Jug question for WS'ers:

I know that we're supposed to gradually increase the transpiration holes at the top of our containers as the weather warms up. But how do you do this with plastic milk or water jugs? Is it adequate to simply leave the caps off? Or do we need to start cutting or enlarging holes in the upper part of the jugs as the weather warms? I don't think that's the case because it would be rather tricky. But if that's not the case, how do you increase the plants' breathing room when spring comes?

I haven't seen this issue addressed elsewhere...or maybe the answer is obvious to everyone else but me! :-)

juju,
If I understand this correctly, (if not hope someone explains this to me too :o)
When wsing in M or W jugs, you leave the small lid off and put a few slits around the top, the jugs are cut in half or 3/4 around and taped shut... with the bottom half filled with 4 inches of soil (planters choice) that leaves plenty of room left for growth and breathing,

Now I am not sure just when you start taking the top half off or just take it off? in the spring, I believe its when there is no more chance of frost...

Do I have this right???

Connie

Welcome jujucaps to another wintersowing MD gardener!

It's time to make the slits in the tops bigger when your sprouts are actively growing and I know it's time to remove their "tops" when they start peeking through! This one was yelling at me to let it out of its container! Live and learn!!

Connie:

"I have search the ws site, and it doesn't tell you which seeds to start in which month, Which would be a great thing for them to post".....the Wintersown Website can't give you a month to start your seeds. It varies widely from city to city and state to state, let alone country to country. For example, if I ws my MG's in early March, you probably won't sow yours until 6 weeks later. Maybe even longer depending on your temps.

Yes, some seeds may rot, some may dry out, some containers will get knocked over, dogs will start playing with them, kids will kick their soccer ball into them, but the rest WILL germinate!

Thanks Connie and Shirley!

jujucaps: Re: transpiration holes. What I did was leave caps off all winter. When initially preparing/ sowing the jugs I put small slits or holes near the top of container- sort of near the "shoulders". When it started to get warmer it wasn't hard to enlarge those. When it got really warm, I either opened the upper half of container (i.e. take off tape and prop open), and eventually discarded the top half all together. Worked for me last year.

Karen

Great thanks for the info, So I pretty much had it right except the extra slits or bigger slits when the seedlings have sprouted out really good (maybe an inch or 2? :o) My hubby thinks I am nuts, my neighbor talks to me about WSing, I think once she sees how mine turns out she will want to do it too... I was showing her all the spots I want to do in the spring. I told her about the lasagna (sp?) bed and she wanted to know how to do that :o)
She gave me some dianthus seeds tonight and you should have heard my hubby, MORE SEEDS, oh brother rofl, and I gave her some 4:00's

Shirley I appreciate all the info, being in zone 5 and in Michigan, never knowing what our weather is going to be like... (haven't heard a weather man yet that can get it right) rofl I would really hate to start my seeds to early, I had planned on doing it the first part of January... Now I see I have more hunting and searching to do (yuck) My poor eyes lol

Connie

Yes, YOU know the sights & sounds.......eyes roll back into their sockets, head starts shaking from side to side and muttering sounds come out of their mouths, HOWEVER, once they see your success and start adding up the dollar signs in terms of plants NOT purchased at local nurseries & ones located on the other side of the U.S., a HUGE smile from ear-to-ear is formed whenever they speak of your wintersown successes!!

:o)

Thanks Shirley, I needed that. lol

Karen -
Thanks for that explanation. It's exactly what I needed.
Now the part I dread will be cutting all these platic jugs I've been saving...My basement is starting to look like a recycling center!

hey juju, I am also going to try this method using the gallon zip lock bags, http://www.wintersown.org/wseo1/Winter_Sowing_in_a_Baggie.html I thought that really looked interesting. Connie

I tried the baggie method once too. We get a lot of snow and I couldn't keep them upright, and they would collapse on themselves.
Pam

Thanks for the link, Connie! I am definately going to try the ziplock baggie method. I bought some gallon-sized freezer bags at Target today. (If only I was such an early bird in other areas of my life!)
Pam - do you think that sticking some drinking straws in the soil would help keep the baggies from collapsing?

Thank you jujucaps for the drinking straw idea! I've been trying to think of something easy to use to keep the baggies propped up and straws sound perfect. This is my first year also and I'm planning to try several types of containers. The 2.5 gallon bags from Hefty look like they would hold as much as a milk jug... maybe even more.

Joanne

PVick's idea in another thread is to use scraps from the small plastic venetian blinds to hold up the bags

http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=2637324

I've had luck with bent hangers or old plant markers stuck in styrofoam. I bet they'd work just as well in the soil. I was using them in an old comforter bag with several pots in them. I've also used bamboo stakes cut to length, although a few of the skinnier ones seem to have rotted.

w

More great ideas, thanks claypa and winging. I'm hoping the baggies work out well since it is the easiest thing for me to get my hands on in large amounts. My biggest concern is disturbing the sprouts if the baggies have to be moved. Hopefully I can find a good spot to put them where they can stay from sowing until plant out.

Joanne

Go to the dollar store and pick up some cheap clear plastic bins to put the baggies in. That way they can be moved en mass without too much trouble. I used cardboard boxes one year and of course had problems moving soggy paper.

carol

I'm wondering if the rotted MG seed was because of the the extremely warm weather last winter south of here. We really didn't have that problem here. If you plant your MG seed later, I'd be inclined to nick and/or soak the seeds prior to setting out if doing this later in the season. Planting out in January, I wouldn't bother with that.

Do you ever have a problem with warm weather in MN? Just wondering... I guess summers anywhere (except the beach) can be a problem.

xxxx, Carrie

Yes we do. In fact, we haven't had a really old fashioned Minnesota winter in several years. I remember a few years ago in January my Iris started to green up and I was running around in a sweatshirt in our 40 degree weather. Usually, January is our coldest month with temps 30 or so below zero. And two winters ago, it was very cold, but we had no snow. That was awful. I lost a lot of lilies that year because the frost went too deep. It's always something.

Same here, beaker. Last winter was hardly a winter, no snow. And I can't remember if it was two years ago or three or even four, but it was so cold, instead of the schools having a snow day, they had a cold day!!!

xxxxx, Carrie

I didn't nick or soak any seeds, including the MGs and 4:00s. Like I said, those biggies sown later did great.

Karen

QUESTION: One buys gallon or 2 gallon size zip-loc bags. One buys bags and bags of dirt. One buys heated Ex-acto knives for cutting through plastic. One buys containers at the dollar store. Paint pens from Michaels, to last thru the winter. Duct tape, freezer tape, etc. I'm planning to WS, don't get me wrong. But when you look at all the NON-free items you are accumulating, are you really saving that much money? Has anyone ever kept track of how much you're spending?

xxxx, Carrie

I admit I bought a few trays at the dollar store, but I haven't spent a dime on anything else. I haven't bought any markers yet, though. Last year I paid four dollars for a flat of annuals. They were great, some are still blooming, but think how far that same four dollars takes you growing your own plants. I'll probably be able to swap some plants with my neighbors and give some away, too. The hot knife looks really handy, but you can heat a knife blade in a candle flame or on the stove top, too. I happen to have tape around the house, but I'll probably wind up buying soil.
I have this fantasy of bringing seedlings to my local nursery and trading some plants with them.

WTG, claypa, great fantasy! I like it!
xx, C

Are you saving money? Compared to a greenhouse or equipment to grow inside or compared to purchasing your plants? Even if you compare against a low cost mail order place like Bluestone Perennials (around $3 per plant) you are still saving a lot of money. With $10 worth of seed and $40 worth of supplies you can easily end up with 200 plants. Seems like a good deal to me!

- Brent

It also seems to me you can forgo a lot of the frills -- recycled containers are great; no need for the heated knife (though I got one); compost might work just fine -- you can always sterilize it. The only thing you would HAVE to buy is something permanent to write the labels. That's what appeals to me about winter sowing -- I don't have to build a light stand, don't need heated wires for bottom heat, etc. And I can use stuff I'd throw away for the containers.

Now the seeds -- I don't want to confess how much I've spent there. But I don't spend a lot on clothing, so this is my indulgence. And if I just traded, I wouldn't need to spend much there either.

Don't worry, I WILL be wintersowing. I don't have space to grow from seed inside and I resent paying for someone else's greenhouse. I love the idea of being able to start stuff they don't stock at home depot. I just wanted to point out that all these 'extras' could add up. I guess I was wondering if these carefully crafted containers could be reused.

xxxx, Carrie