HYB: germination!

Following suggestions from Donald Eaves and Sharon McAllister, this
year, I didn't pre-soak seeds in the toilet tank, just wrapped them in
paper towel burritos, dipped the burrito in cold water, squeezed out
most of the excess, leaving them wet, but not too soggy, and put the
burrito in a foldover plastic sandwich baggie, then stacked them in an
open tray in the bottom of the fridge for about 3 months.

About two weeks ago, I planted seeds in various sizes of pots, depending
on how many seeds.  4 inch pots for around 20 or fewer seeds, a couple
of pots for up to 50 seeds, 8 or 12 inch pots for multiple pods with
lots of seeds.

Following Betty's suggestion per Paul Black for keeping seeds from
getting splashed out of pots and keeping them from drying out, I
shredded up leaves (mostly American Elm) to cover the pots a few inches
deep, put window screen on top of the leaves, and have been watering
every day it hasn't rained.

Like the watched pot, nothing germinated until I forgot to check them
yesterday - today, I see sprouts in about a half dozen pots.

I will leave them outdoors until it threatens to get really cold (lower
than mid-20s), then will bring them in to the unheated sunporch to
"push" seedlings thru the winter to get them outdoors as early as
possible next spring.

--
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>
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