Somebody Tell Me that That All is not Lost

I'm wringing my hands here looking for some reassurance. The temperature where I lived dropped 40° in one day! We had temps in the 70's until today and right now it's a balmy 22° outside my front door. Over half my containers had sprouted and I don't know if I even have the nerve to go out and check them tomorrow.

Can anybody offer me some encouragement? Whoa is me.

La

A little, but not much encouragement from me.

Very small perennials or small hardy annuals might be OK at 22 degrees. But I wouldn't count on anything tender to survive those temps. If any of the seedlings are big enough to be touching the sides or top of the container I don't think they stand a chance.

Most of mine are outside in covered bins and it went to about 29 here. I haven't looked at them yet because it's too cold for me. I'll check later. A few which are too big and touching the container are in the garage. It's supposed to be possibly in the teens here at night for the next few nights. I think I'm going to move most jugs ( I have 60 jugs sown, most germinated) to my garage tonight and park my car outside. I think I left about 20 jugs out on my uncovered patio just covered with a flannel sheet and a very thin sheet of plastic on top of that.

Time will tell.

Karen

I checked my containers last night. I lost both of the morning glories that had sprouted. The container of mixed annuals that I got from WS.org had sprouted and everything there still looks good. So do my containers of snapdragons and moss roses. The poppies, hardy hibiscus, and jacob's ladder still look good. I'll take another look tonight when I get home from work and if anything else is gone, then I'll move the containers. Otherwise, I'm leaving it up to mother nature.

On another note, I turned the sprinkler system on a week ago to flag the sprinkler heads for the bi-annual aeration. One of my coworkers just told me that his overflow burst yesterday because of the cold. I better get my system drained and shutdown tonight so I don't have that expense to worry about too.

Praying for sunshine and normal temps.
Tricia

most of my seedlings are still very small and the more tender things haven't germinated yet, so I'm just going to leave them to take their chances. It's going to be in the 20's, at least at night, for the next week or so.

Tricia -- hope your system is OK. fixing the overflow and possible busted heads can get costly.
My DH wont let me get the lawn aerated due to the heads... i did it one year and forgot to flag them -- but luckily none of the got damaged.

we thatch, but havent aerated in 3 yrs now.

luckily we got a lot of rain around the time he did the spring fertilization (pre emergence) so we didnt need the system on yet.

as for my plants.... the MG's came inside because i found them all wilty and a few died, plus my 3 lil sunflowers (about 3-4" tall) but they've come back to life in the house.

if anything else starts looking sad, i'll move them to the sun room or garage... but so far so good.... but our worst temps are yet to come.

I brought all of my containers (69 total) into our unheated garage (I have about 80% germination, some small sprouts, others several inches). I left two containers (with small sprouts) outside last night to test their vulnerability. They both look frozen this morning but not dead. I suspect several more nights of below freezing temps will finish them off but that will at least validate my decision to bring the others in. I've nearly concluded the only way this WS thing can be entirely successful is if you have no freezing temps after germination. Sadly, nature is not that predictable.

As I stated in a previous post, I moved mine to sheltered places as well. This is my first year WS and I just don't have faith that things like sunflower seedlings (which germinated when our temps were in the 70s) are going to survive the 20s. My spring bulbs aren't happy. My tulips and daffodils all fell over. The hyacinths look frozen. I'll bet the Chionodoxa forbesii and Ipheion uniflorum are goners too. Only the muscari don't seem to mind. :-( Tamara

I just went out and had a look-see and amazing everything seems to be OK. Last night was supposed to be the coldest so I guess I'll leave everything as is and hope they're right.

Hope you all are faring the same,
La

YES...But I recovered my W/S containers with their tops and covered myCannas and Larkspur that outgrew the containers and will cover themat night until after the dreaded "F" (freeze) is over according to the weatherman on Sunday. Glad your babies survived.

Liars, liars, pants on fires.

So "they" (you know, the proverbial "they") said that Thursday night was going to be the coldest night. Supposedly after that it was going to slowly start warming back up. Well it just keeps getting colder and colder! I put about 1/2 my containers in the garage this morning, but I have a feeling the adage "too little too late" was written all over that one.

They ~ They who in the heck are they? LOL "They" said tonight is to be our coldest and IT IS! 36 right now and going down. All afternoon it has snowed. Snow! We never see snow in the winter. Our saving grace was the ground was too warm after the past week of 70-80 degree days! I say where is that global warming when I need/want it!
Out of kerosene for the heater, plexiglas off the screened in back porch. Plants to cover and Lord have mercy what to do with all the seeds I have started. I am ready for summer!

I disregard the weather predictions as much as possible. My DH relies on hourly (or more frequent than that) updates from the national weather service as he works at the airport bossing planes around. IMHO the predictions are wrong more often than they are right.

Poddie, my dear, it's not 'global warming' any more, it's 'global climate change'. It's warmer than it should be in the places that should be frozen, so they are melting. I guess warm in the Arctic is 33 degrees. And all the extra water has to go somewhere. If it evaporates and precipitates as usual, it's snowing in TX and "ice pellets" are falling in Boston, in April!

I'm glad those of you with seedlings still have most of them. I only have 2 or 3 germinated containers, so I'm not really worried about them.

xxxx, Carrie

Aw sheez... Hi Ms. Carrie ~ glad to see you stirring about.

My agony is... I am passionate about a perennial, herbal, unusual flower this year. I have tracked down a variety of seeds, sowed them, got amazing results on sprouting. (I am not overly confident about seed sprouting.) And have been keeping my fingers X'd ~ watching them like a hawk. Now this! What to do? This is so abnormal for us ~

I think all of my Baby's breath bit the dust.... come to think of it, they were annuals -- so they are probably toast.

Well here I sit at 6:30 in the morning going through my seed jars. Oh yes indeed I responded with a resounding "I'm done" on Tamara's "anybody still wintersowing?" thread. Of course that was before Mama Nature decided to play this big ol' joke on us all. Now I have to figure out just what was lost and for which of those I still have seed. I'll wait 'til it warms up a tad (if that ever really happens) to see if any of my pathetic conatiners bounce back, but I'm getting armed and ready just in case. :-P

All my window sown plants that had germinated were in covered containers on the front veranda. Everything seems to have survived so far including the baby's breath. How much longer is this cold snap supposed to continue?

here's a pic i just took.

the empty section was Cosmos - there was only 1 seedling, and it bit the dust the second day of the cold snap.
The wilty lookin' stuff is my baby's breath... looks like 2 survivors.
and the last section - which seems to be fine -- plus they are really small (0.25" or less) is coreopsis.

Some of my seeds, i used all of them. So, i'll either do without or buy a few packets more.
I;ll have to check my records to see if there is another babys breath somewhere, possibly in my sun room -- but it's been cold in there too (one day it was 22) so those may be toast too.... i havent been out there in about 3 days.

I just looked at weather.com and they say (like I'll ever believe "them" again, LOL!) that the night-time lows won't be out of the 30's 'til the end of next week. Although compaired to what we've had the last few days that's darn near a heat wave.

Your wilted baby's breath may still bounce back. This is what I keep telling myself anyway. Shhhh, don't spoil my illusions.

Lala: I agree- I don't think those look all that bad. They're still nice and green, and might recover, at least some of them.

Almost everything in my yard looks like that- emerging perennials that are established. The coneflowers, of course, looked fine as of yesterday. But so many look limp and wilted- new leaves on hydrangea, gaillardia, columbines, a lot of established things. I'm hoping they'll bounce back when warm.

I'm most disappointed in the columbines. They were WSown last year and I haven't seen them in bloom yet. I was hopeful for some this year. There are a couple of hunks of Origami and a bunch of McCana's giants. The McCanas were about 15"-18" tall and looked so healthy until now. Yesterday they looked limp and were flat on the ground. I'm trying to be optimistic.

Karen

Ahhhhh - i found another container of babys breath in my sun room... and they look very healthy.
it was cold in there, mid-low 20's, but i guess being "out of the elements" helped.

since it's sunny today, and not as windy, i put a lot of the containers out in the sun on my back patio.

Since i've talked about my sun room a lot, here is a lil page i did to show my mom... I honestly couldn't find any pics on my hard drive... but i knew i had this:
http://www.geocities.com/terese1366/cloverridge/3season.htm

Terese

Very nice Terese! I would love to have something like that to lounge in.

Oooo! I wish I had one! Lucky girl! TAmara

Very nice, Terese.

Karen

Thanks guys -- we love it.

this will be our 4th summer with it.
I normally sleep outside, unless it's TOO hot (over 75 with no wind)

I can usually start sleeping out in march -- i know i did last year, but this year, only once so far... and i've been able to stay out as late as mid-Nov one year.

it's like a lil vacation home, but not leaving home.

We've always been dreaming of glassing in the patio for a sunroom - but my oldest child's bedroom used to be a porch, was boxed in and insulated long before we moved here. She has two teensy windows and no closet. Why don't we just strip off all the "bedroom" parts and make it back into a porch??? Thanks for the great idea with your beautiful room!

Lala
Had you removed the covers from your containers yet? I'm thinking yes, since you're in the "warm" south. :) If you had them off, they might be toast and I think you were smart to move them to a protected areat. But if they're covered, you'd be surprised at how tough these little guys are. Don't give up on your sprouts just yet. Depending on how thickly you sowed, you may have more seeds to come up. Even at that, the roots may have survived and might send up new shoots.

I've had some sprouts for about two weeks....mostly perennials....that have amazed me. They've survived 20 degrees for days and three inches of snow! I looked yesterday and there they were, small but still green. I've been doing this for a few years now and it still amazes me at how strong these seedlings are.

I finally got up the nerve to go out and look at mine. the morning glories 'are no more', they have 'ceased to be'. I expected that and have already re-sown. it didn't look like I'd lost anything else. maybe a zinnia or 2. not too many of them had germinated yet. it hasn't warmed up much yet, but is at least in the 30's at night.

who has experience with hyacinth bean? I have one in the house that is about a foot tall already. I understand they don't like transplanting. this is a purple one. I only had 2 germinate and the 2nd one withered. the white ones did nothing. I can plant more, but I wondered what to do with this one until it warms up...it's in a shallow flat. I probably should have done it in a peat pot.

jan

Man, am I lucky. My stuff has been slow to germinate - but what has, is still growing.

And to think I was complaining before . . . live and learn!

I've not cross-referenced my containers with my spread sheet to see which ones, but I have lost a few. I'm keeping the faith though that some late sprouters may still pop up. I didn't have the tops off merryma (thank goodness) so the damage could have been much worse. I've brought them all back outside where they're going to stay. Twice I toted them into the garage and back outside again and finally decided, "no more" After what they've already been through I doubt I could stress them much more, so what will be will be.

I gotta love the irony that I chose the coldest April in how many years to start my WS career.

La

I know the feeling . . . this is my first year of serious gardening. I had my husband tear up a large section of his precious lawn for a fragrance garden - and what do I get? A rather lousy spring. I am hoping summer will be reasonable - not too cool, nor too hot.

I checked on the batch that is on my front porch... i did lose the only scarlet milkweed that i had out there... but there are a few more in the sun room... they seem to be OK.... though they are more protected. its' cold out there, but no wind, rain or snow.... everything else is the same as it was before the cold snap (on April 3rd)
and I still have a bunch of seeds that have not germinated yet, if at all.

I know it's hard to leave them outside, but, remember....they are protected by your covers. And it really does make for stronger plants to have them go through all of those temperature changes. I went through all this the first time I did it. Unless you've got some tender plants (petunias, impatiens....which I still have yet to grow from seed....grrr), they should rebound when it get warm. I believe "leap of faith" is mentioned a lot in connection with Winter Sowing. ;) Just don't forget.....as soon as it gets even a little warm, start creating some air vents. The temps in those containers can double, if not triple. Your sprouts will cook in a matter of hours. Been there, done that. :/

in that image i posted above.... many of the babys breath have "molded" and did not survive.
it looks like there are 3 strong ones that "may" survive.

Here's my forecast for the coming week:

Tuesday
High: 60 Low: 35

Wednesday
High: 55 Low: 35

Thursday
High: 55 Low: 35

Friday
High: 60 Low: 40

Can I get away with another week of winter sowing, or should I call it quits?

J,

we just checked the local forecast, since we are coming up this weekend -- and no nights below 32°

thats a bonus (since we're so tired of the cold) but, if nights are not freezing - then the seeds do not go thru the freeze/thaw thing... right? so then would it be "spring sowing" ?

I still have a few more seeds to sow... got'em in the mail last week

purple & white datura
italian white sunflower
and some unidentified seeds

I'm just gonna put the in some soil and put them outside and hope for the best

I'm not sure...someone told me we could winter sow as long as it was "sweater weather." I don't remember who said it, tho, and "sweater weather" is different in the North than it is in the South! ☺

I still have seeds to sow, mostly sweet peas and ugly stuff. I'm trying to grow enough annuals so I can cram them in the way Tomtom does!!!

Carrie

jasmerr: Sure , people "winter sow" all year. It just becomes spring sowing, summer sowing, and fall sowing.

It's too late for things that need cold strat unless you refrigerate them first. But still time for annuals.

Karen

Thanks, Karen. I figured "all year" sowing would work! ☺