With winter sowing, chipping & soaking the seeds isn't necessary--the cold, moist stratification takes care of that for you. Did you use potting SOIL in your WS containers or potting MIX? Soil isn't the best to use for maximum germination.

That said, I WS lupines last year which was my first ever attempt at winter sowing. I got beautiful, healthy plants and this surprise third week of September:

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The stem held multiple seedpods but they didn't have time to ripen fully before it turned cold.

I ws Lupine on 1/29 and had germination by 2/11. My seedlings are now 4" tall but no true leaves yet. I am concerned that they will be leggy. Did I sow them too early? I am opening the container on sunny days hoping to make them stockier. Will this help? Gerbera, sorry I can't answer your question as I was wondering about blooming as well. Maybe others have my same questions...

Thanks Gardenweed! I chipped them because I only sowed them in February, and also because I gather that the more stress you remove from the germination process the more likely it is you'll get a hardy plant. I sowed them in potting soil. Though I do have two batches in jiffy pods, which I embedded in several inches of potting soil, so the seedlings would have space below the pod to extend their roots. I've also gleaned from my research that as long as the seeds have the right warmth and moisture, they'll germinate in almost any soil medium. I'll just have to keep a keen eye on them as they begin to come up next month.

Best of luck to both of you. I just tossed...well, placed my lupine seeds in the milk jug of moist growers mix last year, stuck in a label & put the jug out in the cold. I WS them 12/13/09; saw my first sprout March 14. I didn't make a note of when I got the first true leaf but I did pot up and give seedlings to friends in April so they had to have gotten their second true leaves by then.

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linda_jo - do your sprouts look anything like the ones in the photos? I'm guessing mine was about 3" tall when the first true leaf opened.

gardenweed, Mine look taller and kinda leaning on each other. I probably have 15 plants in a milk jug. Maybe I planted to thickly? Yours look stockier. I will take photos and try to post them. I'm not giving up on them though. Aren't they beautiful (yours)?! Thanks for the encouragement.

I didn't count how many seeds I sowed per container nor did I write down what percentage germination I got--I was too excited and overwhelmed that ANYTHING germinated to pay closer attention. I do recall planting the seeds a good inch or more apart so the seedlings would be easier to transplant when the time came.

Linda_jo maybe yours are taller because you're a lot warmer than where I am so they sprouted earlier and are reaching for the light. Mine didn't sprout until March 14 when there's more hours of natural daylight. Yours sprouted 2/11 when it's still dark more hours than it is light. I'm no expert but that would be my guess. Lupines like cold so in their natural habitat they would sprout later as well.

I am expecting some lupine seeds in the mail in a few days. Is it too late to WS them?

Matthew
Indiana.Matt