Same here. Not silly at all. :-)

Call me dense but ever since winter sowing became a fad -- and I do understand the reason and benefits-- I can't get the point of needing or wanting to go to the trouble to winter sow seeds that only need warm temperatures to germinate easily and quickly? Its of no benefit to these seeds to winter sow them even though they most likely will germinate in spite of it.

Unless its just the only time a person has to do this and/or they need to do it all in one stroke for convenience or whatever, it seems like it would be smarter, if not safer, to sow those types of seeds in late winter or early spring, but again, maybe I'm missing something that is obvious? Common sense says even if it gets cold next week, whats to keep them from germinating later on if we get a warm spell in January or February which typically does happen-- especially in the states south of the Mason Dixon line.

Hey TR, I'm with you....but some perennials I don't know if they require chilling or not. Some that have a wide geographic range, the more northern strains do...and more southern don't.

So...I'm just playing it safe (or as safe as I can). I also found this method tends to give the best results for minimal input of any method I've ever used. So it's kinda I have a hammer and everything looks like nails (well to a point). I'm not ready to just throw easy annuals that I KNOW don't require chilling in the mix and leave them out there for the heck of it.

I also have a silly feeling that the seeds may rot if stratification isn't met and they just sit there on warmish wet soil. That's probably incorrect, just a feeling :)

Last year, my rudbeckia trilobas (which do typically require chilling) sprouted in mid to late Feb, and were just fine to freeze repeatedly after germination.

This post was edited by dbarron on Wed, Dec 17, 14 at 5:24

TR,

I personally do lots of perennials and most need that cold period and it is soooo much easier to do them in containers along with everything else. Anything I try to start under lights or at a windowsill, usually fail me tremendously!!

Tomatoes, cup and saucer vine, hyacinth bean vine tho I will be trying at a windowsill or my mini greenhouse in early spring because those are tender and warmer climate plants and tend to not work with winter sowing for me!

Yes they can sprout during a warm spell in jan or feb but the seedlings, unless annuals(which shouldn't be done till later anyways), make it just fine! They might not grow till it warms up again but they don't die!! It surprised me for sure!!

and P.S. I would make sure temps are pretty cold before starting!! like below 40's. I see a lot of people starting already this year and it usually doesn't start till after the winter solstice (DEC. 21st) which means its officially winter....hence "winter sowing". I'm just worried about starting too early so I will not start till after the solstice and if it's cold cold. Here, we are having an unusually warm winter so far. I did start things that need a warm-cold-warm period already tho.

I wouldn't worry about starting any seed earlier than the winter solstice that specifically needs cold stratification to break dormancy, example: shrubs and several natives most of which commonly specify instructions to sow in fall. When in doubt I usually refer to one of the germination charts you can easily find online.

From experience both I and a friend of mine have had some types of seeds rot if winter sown in containers in our warmer & inconsistently cold/warm winters, especially the smaller seeds that lack harder outer coverings. Its not warm enough (70 degrees average) for them to germinate but sitting in that long period of damp soil certainly doesn't do them any good. These same seeds came easily when sowed at the proper temp and tested as having high germination rates in a damp paper towel test. It was not the end of the world since we had extra seeds but we both decided we'd wasted time and had some empty containers that never sprouted anything at all treated that way. We knew it wasn't bad seed, just bad timing for us here in the south.

Most hardy annuals and perennials do best sown in early fall here since they germinate well in those milder temperatures, they have time to put out good root growth, can be planted in the ground and spend winter as a healthy green rosette ready to take off early spring with a huge head start over those sown in winter or spring.

I believe different rules apply south of the Mason Dixon line and what works well up north doesn't necessarily work the same further south.