Need easy ways to start seeds in refrigerator.

I have seeds that instructions say to pot up & put in the refrigerator for a time to stratify. Now, I know that idea would go over with my DH like a lead balloon, opening the fridge to find it overflowing with potted seeds & no food. Would it be possible to put the seeds in moist paper towels and put in plastic bags & refrigerate and accomplish the same thing? Any help would be appreciated.

I know a professional grower who told me to just stick the seeds in the deep freeze for 5 days and then germinate like you do everything else.....works for me.....I don't have refrigerator space....

put them in the deep freeze in the packets they came in.....then, after 5 days, just plant the seeds like you would any seed...

This message was edited Feb 17, 2007 9:59 PM

Ok, but would it be better to keep them in the fridge longer, say 4-12 weeks?

I'm fortunate to have a fridge in my garage that I use only for plant material, so I stratify (chill) all kinds of things. I understand the logic of the academicians who say the material doesn't really stratify if it isn't in a moist (very) medium, but I have basically ignored that advice for years, and I don't have any problem. I've done both (with moist medium and without), and I can't really tell any difference. I stratify dogwood, redbud, oak, various kinds of perennial seeds, bulbs, tubers and all kinds of packet seeds by placing them in a ziplock storage bag, dating it and putting it in the fridge. I chill things for 90 days or so, during the cool days of our short winters, and when the spirit moves me, I begin potting them. Although I have a greenhouse, I do most of my propagating outside in our hot, humid climate. I use the greenhouse primarily for storing tender plants. I try not to get caught up in precise gardening instructions. Nature does most of this for us - if we don't kill it with overcare, it will grow. Well, that's my lazy gardener approach, and I'm stickin' to it. Good gardening! BTW, I mention the 90 days because many things don't require that long of a period, but it doesn't seem to hurt any of the plant material.

I pre-chill seeds in zip lock baggies of damp vermucilite. Once I see sprouts I pot them up,either individually or or small seeds I sprinkle seeds and vermucilite over a tray then sprinkle a little more vermucilite over the tray to be sure seeds are covered.

P

Hey, I messed up in my earlier post - I should have said lightly moist medium instead of (very). Sorry.

An even better "lazy gardener approach" to seeds that need cold stratifying might be wintersowing... check out the forum by that name!

Well, I would prefer to do that but my DH is the one who does the planting (I have a knee replacement and the other knee isn't too good, either) and in the autumn when we do craft shows every weekend, he is too tired, so I have to use the fridge or freezer method. I am very interested in all your posts and have read them. I will probably try them all and see if there is any difference. Thank you all for your advice. Judy Showers

Here's some jap.maple I put in the frig last fall. They've been out and under light for about a week. I'll tranplant some time this week once a few more have sprouted.

P

critterologist, I've been ignoring that forum, because I knew it would get me in trouble. Now I'll have containers everywhere. I just keep finding "easy" ways of doing this stuff. Thank goodness I have 5 acres away from our home to putz around on, guess it will be full before I intended. I'll give it a try on a small scale. Moderation in all things!:))

bigred, I just wait until the heat and humidity are up outside, but you do get a several month jump on me. Looks like you don't take the wings off - nature doesn't either. You must have the soft touch when you transplant the little creatures, I wish I did - my stubby, arthritic fingers just don't work well sometimes. Not that it matters, because there are tons of seeds, but what kind of germination rate do you get for your JM's? Thanks for the pic.
Ray

Whatever's good enough for Mother Nature is good enough for me but I do squeesh seeds out of pulpy seeds to speed up germination. I have a baggie of fuzzy false solomon's seal seeds I didn't clean pulp off but they should germinate any way.

Germination precentage on JM,for me,is low(5 out of 20?). The fresher the seeds the better the germination. So far I've only had seeds from trades so I don't know how old they were when I put them in the baggies. I understand if you sew JP seeds as soon as they're harvested,the better the germination.

I put these JM seeds in the frig 11/06 and just last week,took them out and set them on the heat mat w/a magazine under them so they didn't get to warm and they started sprouting in a few days.

P