I suspect the storage method in fridge is the problem you may be
having. Seeds are living , breathing and undergoing biological
processes. When in fridge, they need to be kept moist, but , and this
is critical, need to breathe. This can be accomplished several ways. I
like storing seeds in damp peat moss, as then there are air spaces
around seeds. When burrittoed they need to be opened and aired out
periodically. By far the best method is planting in a small seed flat,
and putting wher it will experience chilling, such as an unheated
garage, or in botom fridge, if a small number of seeds and there is the
room.
You basically only need two months of chilling. So no need to use snow
to chill seeds after cold period. Allthough if they dry out you can
reset all the chilling .
How di you store them in fridge? In a sealed plastic bag?
When you say rinsed, did you mean soak and rinse?
Did they dry out when in cold cellar?
Chuck Chapman
Re: Digest Number 5285
Posted by: "patti.ensor@gmail.com"
patti.ensor@gmail.com
patti.ensor
Sat Aug 22, 2009 12:39 pm (PDT)
0D
Just for fun and to see if I could, I crossed Red Butterfly X
Pretty Pansy.
The pod just cracked and I found 19 see
ds, 15 are plump and 4 are
crinkled.
I'ma novice at the next step. I live in zone 5 (cold winters, cool
nights
and warm day summers). Last year, using seed from 4 different crosses,
I
tried planting in both a prepared bed and prepared pots (clean coarse
sand
combined with seed potting mixes recommended by people on this
discussion
list). To pretreat the seeds I rinsed them several days and then
refrigerated some (not in a burrito), planted some seeds in pots that I
then kept cooled in a root cellar all winter and the last third of the
pots
I planted (the pot) in the soil outdoors. I scooped snow onto the pots
in
the spring to continue the cooling and to keep the soil from drying
out.
Not a single iris leaf emerged.
I'm looking for suggestions. Should I find someone else to try to grow
the
seeds or is there something else I could try?
Feel free to contact me directly since this is not specifically about
photos.
=0
A
Thanks!
Patti
