At last, I'm seeing sprouts!

Hi All
This is my second year trying WS and I must say I don't have the same success I keep reading about. I have about 24 jugs outside this time around and tonight I finally saw sprouts in two of them. My corn cockles and some yellow hollyhocks are up. Helen in zone 5

Congrats, Helen! I'm trying WS for the first time this year, and I found some little sprouts a few weeks ago.

The green is coming your way, folks. I have maybe 15 or 20 sprouted out of about 35 jugs so far. Some only have one or two sprouts, though. A few have a lot of seedlings, but all are still very tiny. Only alyssum have true leaves, I think.

It's that time of year. Everyone should be seeing lots of green very soon.

Karen

Glad you are seeing some green, Helen! Enjoy your sprouts:-)

It has been warm enough in the past week or so to germinate a few of the tender things I have sown. A cold front is coming this weekend, so I hope they survive. I have sprouts of annual salvia, one tomato, nicotiana and I just sowed them a week or two ago. They just sprout too fast with a hint of warmth.

I've actually only sown a few jugs of tender things, and a few cups. I've been holding off until later in the season until we're safer from frost. Hoping to do more this week.

Karen

Helen~ Less than 1/4th of my W/Sing jugs have germinated. This is my 2nd year as well and is about par for the course until later this month when germinating goes gangbusters around here in my backyard.

So far monkey flowers and snapdragons have sprouted for me in zone#5.
has anyone in zone#5 has any poppy sprouts yet?

I've had a fair amount of germinating in the past week.

I think it's just a matter of a week or two until you start seeing some action in your containers. Don't fret too much although I know it's hard not to.

I thought maybe my seed had rotted because I used watersorb moisture crystals, but they are all beginning to wake up. (Except for some seed that is known to be difficult and erratic...)

I am holding off on my tender annuals, too, just like kcqrna. The weather here is so unpredictable, I'd rather be conservative than heart broken by a bunch of frozen zinnia seedlings. )-:

hey skimper--in what zone are you? is there a reason you haven't posted that with your address? just wondering... (-:

Hello:Tabasco,
I am in zone#5.I would say in a couple of weeks We will see more germination from wintersowing.

Skimper~ no poppy sprouts here yet!

Last year my wintersown poppies sprouted toward the end of March.keeping my fingers crossed within a couple of weeks.

Hi, this is my first year wintersowing and things are sprouting really well so far. I do have poppy sprouts (papaver rhoeas & papaver somniferum) here in zone 5a. So far 19 out of 25 jugs have germinated. They are all hardy annuals & I think all pretty easy stuff to germinate though - perennials may be trickier to sprout (?). And it has been so cold so far this spring. I bet your seeds will start popping too very soon, Helen.

Shirley poppies:

rebecca, sounds like you will have a bumper crop of seedlings this year! Aren't you happy about that?

Then, are you planting any perennial seeds at all or are you waiting until mid summer or fall? I don't know that they are trickier, but they often take some time to loosen their seed coats in the moist cool environment.

Of course some seeds are very challenging...I can't do them. I've just graduated from zinnias last summer! (-:

I'm glad I held off on my tender annuals. We are gettting a nice cold blast here this weekend.

tabasco: I sowed a bunch of tenders this weekend- zinnias, cosmos, marigold, angelonia,nasties - don't remember what elso but I did about a dozen gallon jugs and about a dozen cups. Hopefully this will be our last freeze for the year. Probably too much to ask but I can wish.

I also found one burgundy gaillardia sprout, a big deal for me because I always have a poor showing on gaillardia.


Karen

No poppies in my WS containers yet, either. I'm hoping they didn't drown, because those were the only containers I had standing water in, and I had to add a bunch more drainage slits after some hard rains. Also had them standing in a pan, which of course held water, so they had no chance to dry out.

I do know the seed is viable, though, as a few came up in the trays I planted inside. I guess I have a little bit of the scientist in me. I like to plant things in different soils & circumstances, and compare the results. You should see my silly database. . .

Helen, good luck with your WS efforts! This is my first try, and so far I have sprouts in two containers, agastache and heliopsis.. :~) Nothing yet on poppies, swamp milkweed, anise, fennel, celosia, or lupines. At least I have lots of green babies in my inside trays, and all the bulbs I planted last fall are going like gangbusters!

Booker

Yep I am so excited to have poppy seedlings finally! I've tried direct seeding poppies several times and got zilch. This wintersowing stuff has been awesome so far! Now I just hope lots of seedlings become lots of flowers sometime soon...

I'm not doing any perennials, because we may be moving this year so there doesn't seem to be a point. I can't wait to try them once we've got a permanent spot to put them though.

I sowed some tender things (euphorbia, salvia, diascia) earlier - they haven't sprouted yet. Are the seeds killed by the cold, Karen - is that why you wait until later to plant them? (Or are you just worried they will come up and then be killed by a cold snap?) I hope I didn't plant them too early...

Booker, I bet other people would find your experiments useful (I would). Do you have anywhere that you post the results online?

Booker: Seeds are fine in the cold. It's just that an early warm spell can cause them to sprout early, then the seedlings damaged by later freeze. In my zone that can happen easily because it's not unusual to get an unseasonably warm spell in winter. Unfortunately the cold returns for a long time before it consistently stays warm. It was around 75 degrees here a few days ago but will be 28 tonight...

Karen

Rebecca, I don't have them posted anywhere. At this point it is just an Excel file. I don't have a webpage or anything, and no clue how to start one (other than my classroom one through Scholastic, but that is all through templates).

Is there an easy way to share that info? I'd planned on submitting to the WS database once I had some results, but that wouldn't include any of the info on comparing other methods of starting.

Ideas, anyone?

Booker

Thanks everyone for the encouragement! I'll just keep an eye on them and try not to fret. Thanks, Helen

Bookerc, YOu could post your excel spreadsheet on your Journal Page (maybe). I'm not really an expert but I bet it would work.

I have poppies and violas sprouting here in Zone 5, but only four out of 32 jugs have germinated at all. Am I supposed to take the lids off now, or wait until they have true leaves?

I have stuff slowly germinating - most amazing thing so far . . . some left over Oriental Blue Delphinium seed from last year - some of them actually germinated even though they are over 1 year old! (I kept the seeds in a bar fridge)

More sprouts today! Now I have lupine, bronze fennel, and I think a couple of anise. Still nothing on the poppies or swamp milkweed, but I'm getting more optimistic with every success!

I was so thrilled to see sunshine and blue skies today! I NEED to get my garden tilled and started, and it has been so cold and wet!

Booker

poppy sprouts today!! I swear they weren't there yesterday, but are very visible today. Zone 5

poppy sprouts and black pansy sprouts today.

Tabasco, I tried everything I could figure out to post my Excel doc.on my journal, but couldn't make it work. If I tried to cut and paste it in, it didn't come out as a chart, and all the words just ran together.

Anyone have any hints?

Did you try your Diary?

I have poppy sprouts today as well! Had to plant out the larkspur today their roots were long and visible on the bottom of the jug!

hlssunny, any luck in those WS containers? Mine are finally really starting to pop. (oops, wrote "poop" but that would be my dog, not my seedlings!). You are probably still a little cooler than me, in Central IL, but I know your turn is coming!

I feel a little silly--just realized that the Swamp Milkweed seeds Critter gave me, which I wintersowed, are the same thing as Butterfly Weed. I was looking over my database, and noticed they were both asclepsias. Never made the connection before. . . They are different colors, though, so it will be great to have them all!

Funny, the stuff I recently sowed indoors popped up within 3 days of planting, and are going like gangbusters, while the ones I planted over a month ago are still kind of staying the same size. Do annuals tend to take off a lot faster than perennials?

Yes, to question about annuals and perennials.

And swamp milkweed is quite different from butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa). The butterflies will enjoy both of them, I think although it might be best to look up their growing conditions. I think they are slightly different.

All this is making me feel better. I was late winter sowing (March 11th) and have only a few little babies. I was really starting to get worried. The few I have up are some grasses.

Hi Booker
I checked out my containers Monday night and several more had sprouts. Unfortunately I can read the tag from outside of the milk jug so I can't be certain which ones they are! Helen

Lots more things sprouting . . . but everything is soooo tiny? How will they be big enough to plant in just 4 weeks?

I was wondering the same thing...but I guess we'll see a big growth spurt between now and then.

They say they are smaller when you put them into the garden but will catch up with seedlings started under lights in no time...

Mine are pretty tiny, too. Just started a new container of the blue poppies today, since I've had no sprouts in that container, and think I drowned them. Here are some of my tiny itty-bitties.

edited to say those are the Heliopsis ox-eye false sunflower from Critter.

I think most of my seeds washed into the edges of the containers!

This message was edited Apr 18, 2008 6:25 PM

Mine went to the sides of the containers, too.

I'm not sure what to do about that, but it did seem to inhibit some of the seed germination...

Would perlite sprinkled on top help anchor the seeds down, I wonder?

Mine are tiny like yours, bookerc, but I'm assuming with a few warm days and a bit of sunshine they will bust open with growth. And I planted mine in Miracle Grow planting mix, so I assume they have a bit of fertilizer to give them a boost. Right?

As of Saturday I have 6 jugs sprouted out of about 25. I'm hoping the odds improve as the weather gets warmer! I must have forgotten to poke holes in one container; it was very soggy. When do we remove the tape and open the entire container? Helen

hissunny-- I am not sure what zone you're in there (perhaps you would like to add it to your Identification info so it shows up on the left with your name,city and state?) but you will have to judge when to remove the lids according to what you have planted and how the weather is.

If you have perennials hardy to your zone, most likely they will do well with the tops off when your weather gets sunny and cool and the rain isn't too intense. You can begin by taking the tops off during the day and replacing them at night. These are plants like digitalis, aconitum, hardy geranium, aquilegia, campanula.

Tender annuals (like zinnias, etc.) will require a more conservative approach. You don't want them to be caught in a cold front and frost up or freeze out. Leave those lids on for a while, but well vented so that they don't get overheated on a warm and sunny day.

It takes a bit of 'finesse' on this if your weather is changeable like ours in Cincinnati.

Good luck. t.

Thanks Tabasco - as of Monday night I had 15 sprouted containers out of 27. I'm very pleased with that. I was using up old seed so I'm sure that is contributing to my success rate. I did as you suggested and added my zone. We do have very changing weather all year long; our spot is very windy and spring comes late here. I'm starting to take the tape off the jugs where the sprouts are bigger. Mine are all perennials. I tried to tell a friend what had sprouted and could only come up with 5 or 6 names so I need to look at them again! Helen

My perennials get little protection after they sprout, if any at all. I figure if things like digitalis, columbine, and rudbeckia can stay green all winter in my flower beds, they'll be OK in jugs too. I open the lids when they're tiny but germination is good. Tenders like zinnias I protect from frost .

It's been so warm here of late, like temps in the 70s, everything has been open for quite a while, and I'm planting out. I have put some into beds- a few BBs, a few forget-me-nots, maltese cross, 3 jugs of rudbeckia, snapdragons, alyssum, digitalis, rose campion, petunias, amaranthus, and columbine. Probably others that I am forgetting. I still have a lot to plant out, though.

If only life wouldn't interfere with gardening so much. I have to do things for my elderly Mom today, take her to the doctor on Friday, too. And it's supposed to rain tomorrow. I have to take a professional course/test in 2 weeks which requires a lot of study and I haven't started yet. Getting all this into the ground is going to be a challenge this year.

Karen