Griff, it sounds like maybe you've started using some parents with the
genes that take an extra cycle of cold? Frustrating! Most of the west
coast parents that I've mixed with my stuff seem to germinate <much>
better the first year than crosses between two strong survivors here.
Not always tho.

It's wierd - some from burritos that get at least two cold cycles (one
in the fridge, followed by sunporch to germinate, followed by outdoors
to chill some more, followed by outdoors warmth to germinate) still send
up a big wave of germinants the following year. If the winter
temperatures are erratic (i.e., most winters here), they get multiple
chill cycles on the sunporch!

Most crosses germinate well with the two chilling cycles.

Then there are those IMM crosses, most of which have terrible
germination, even after two years.

Another thing I've noticed tho, and I hope this isn't what's going on
with your seeds this year - seeds from a really poor season (i.e., frost
damaged parents, drought or excessive rain while pods are ripening) seem
to have low germination.

All that blather just to say here's hoping they are at least going to
germinate next year! I'm not suggesting that you start
burrito'ing/stratifying in the fridge - tho I do enjoy watching the
little green sprouts come up in the dead of winter, it's a lot of
trouble. & sure beats the 1 to 3% germination rates I used to get here.

Enjoy the break?

< Germination, however, is confounding -- holdover pots crowded with
sprouts, and virtually no sprouts in this year's pots. Essentially, a
year of crosses lost. -- Griff>

Linda Mann
east TN USA zone 7