How long are you going to leave your seeds in the fridge Bob. Mine are just going into their third week and I might take them out after the weekend. Do you think that's too soon?
Most of the things I've read say six weeks but mine have been in about 4 and are coming out this weekend. If nothing happens they can always go back in..
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
as the original question was about dahlias. I'll stick with that. I collected dahlia seeds on a mountainside in Southern India ( where they never have frost ) and they germinate a treat in a frost free greenhouse from March onwards.
I have a very large outdoor table, which I cover with chicken wire when all the seeds to be stratified are in place. The wire tightly holds down plastic trays of compost, the seeds themselves and a topping of vermiculite. I love watching it in freezing winds and rain, without my precious trays getting blown away, or one of my 11 cats getting at them.
The best successes I've had through stratification are the wild, or species roses. They come up all at once as soon as the weather conditions are right. I've done some trilliums this way too. Native deciduous trees are also very successful done this way (except the Oak, which I find needs to go in a warmer place to get started immediately before the winter gets going, and they seem to grow better under cover for the first winter too.
Check out Jackiegear on ebay for detailed growing instructions on her tree seeds. There are many sellers who give excellent stratification instructions, though they sometimes vary in their methods.
I tried this for the first time in Feb this year with a free pack of sea holly I got from a magazine.
I left the pot in the fridge for about 5 weeks and then put them on the window sill for a few weeks. At this point I realised I didn't read the packet properly and hadn't given them the initial warm stage they were supposed to have but about half a dozen have come up
That's good Victoria, so disappointing when nothing happens.
The warm first relates to what happens naturally. It's warm when they set seed, then cold in the winter, then it's warm in the spring and they germinate.Magic
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How long are you going to leave your seeds in the fridge Bob. Mine are just going into their third week and I might take them out after the weekend. Do you think that's too soon?
In the sticks near Peterborough
Most of the things I've read say six weeks but mine have been in about 4 and are coming out this weekend. If nothing happens they can always go back in..
Thanks Bob, might leave them another week. I have a second lot waiting to go in but don't want to spoil my chances with the first lot.
In the sticks near Peterborough
as the original question was about dahlias. I'll stick with that. I collected dahlia seeds on a mountainside in Southern India ( where they never have frost ) and they germinate a treat in a frost free greenhouse from March onwards.
BTW, the seed I collected was from Dahlia Imperialis: the tree Dahlia, which can reach 6 metres tall.
I've had them 2.5m in the first year, but not flowering yet.
I have a very large outdoor table, which I cover with chicken wire when all the seeds to be stratified are in place. The wire tightly holds down plastic trays of compost, the seeds themselves and a topping of vermiculite. I love watching it in freezing winds and rain, without my precious trays getting blown away, or one of my 11 cats getting at them.
The best successes I've had through stratification are the wild, or species roses. They come up all at once as soon as the weather conditions are right. I've done some trilliums this way too. Native deciduous trees are also very successful done this way (except the Oak, which I find needs to go in a warmer place to get started immediately before the winter gets going, and they seem to grow better under cover for the first winter too.
Check out Jackiegear on ebay for detailed growing instructions on her tree seeds. There are many sellers who give excellent stratification instructions, though they sometimes vary in their methods.
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/treeseedsonline
Used to sell some seeds pre-stratified, and they germinated very well indeed.
Update on the seeds in my fridge
Paeonia cambessedesii germinated in the fridge and Aquilegia skinneri after about 2 weeks back outside.
That's the only action from my artificial winter so far
In the sticks near Peterborough
I tried this for the first time in Feb this year with a free pack of sea holly I got from a magazine.
I left the pot in the fridge for about 5 weeks and then put them on the window sill for a few weeks. At this point I realised I didn't read the packet properly and hadn't given them the initial warm stage they were supposed to have but about half a dozen have come up
That's good Victoria, so disappointing when nothing happens.
The warm first relates to what happens naturally. It's warm when they set seed, then cold in the winter, then it's warm in the spring and they germinate.Magic
In the sticks near Peterborough
I must have been lucky
Or else my fridge only works sporadically...
They've been outside for about a fortnight now and another one has come up.