Re: HYB: seedlings

Except that I'm worried about the same thing (see my post Tuesday).  As
Donald says, most will probably be ok with temperatures 5 or so degrees
F below freezing.  Those that are seriously damaged by a little bit of
freezing probably wouldn't do too well in your climate in the long run.

But like you, I'm worried about the ones that may be trying to germinate
or already up when temperatures drop into the teens again, or single
digits, or colder. Betty W has posted that her fall germinated seedlings
don't make it thru the winter outdoors. It's been <so> warm for such a
long time that burying in deep mulch wouldn't have kept them cold enough
to prevent germination.

I got an offlist note from a mid-continent zone 8 saying they had
seedlings that came up outdoors <before> our December blast of cold.
Into the low teens, upper single digits, and all of those seedlings
survived.  More are coming up now as well.  No way to know what didn't
make it, but I find that encouraging.

Thanks everybody for the thoughts on this topic.  I guess I will just
bring in all the pots with babies that are actually visible before the
next severe cold spell, and just cross my fingers with the rest.
Fortunately, the outdoor pots didn't get planted until late, so probably
haven't had enough chilling to come up yet.

Depending how cold it gets where you are, covering the babies with a
mini-greenhouse made of a couple of layers of plant bed covers or
plastic for the worst of the cold might give them enough protection to
survive.  I have gotten about 10oF of frost protection using a double
layer of Reemay (kept green beans alive in outdoor temps down to 20oF &
kept tiny iris seedlings alive down to 10oF).

< I'm new to zone 7 and have never experienced the problem. I sure don't
know, but Linda Mann might have an idea. Jim Ennenga>

< With all this mild warm weather , I need some helpful advice
..Seedlings   are sprouting , have any of you experienced this dilemma?
if so  What did you do  to prevent freeze off . I'm sure it will get
below freezing again.>
--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.korrnet.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
photos archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
online R&I <http://www.irisregister.com>

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