How do I start daylilies from seed?

Can I just drop the seeds in the dirt next to the parent plant or do I have to refrigerate them and force them to germinate? How do I make them germinate??? Obviously I've never done this before, I'm really interested in it though. I'm paying a lot of attention to the scapes too, I'm hoping there will be proliferations!
Deanna
:-D

 

Hey Deanna,
I was wondering that also. Where did you get the daylily seeds? I saw them for sale in one of the seed catalogs. Jo

 

Hi Jo :-D
You can buy them on ebay, and different places but I was going to try to harvest my own and see if I could make them work before I spent any money. I'm kind of cheap I think if you let the pods dry out on the stem you can just shake the little seeds out. Maybe I'm all wrong, hopefully somebody will tell us how to do it :-D
Deanna
:-D

 

Hey Deanna, Nothing wrong with being cheap. I am too. I was just curious like I said I saw them in catalog. The daylilys in the catalog have a different look than most, and most catalogs I've seen sell them bareroot. Anyway hope someone else knows. I'll be watching to see. Jo

 

Hey Jo and Stratsmom, I have daylily seeds

HI Jo and Stratsmom, Don't buy seeds, I have just harvested a bunch from some happy returns daylilies. I will share. Send me a pm and let me know if you are interested. To get them to germinate, you can winter sow them if you get enough cold, but I have had more success by freezing them. Seedfreak

 

Air dry them for several days, then chill the seeds until ready to plant. This can be done in pots or directly outdoors. Before planting, but after chilling, soak the seeds in a solution of 1 ounce hydrogen peroxide to 2 liters of distilled water. When you see the little white root appear plant them where they are to grow or in pots. Remember, if you plant them outside now be sure they have plenty of time to set a good root system before winter freezes get to your area. If you are going to leave them in pots overwinter where they are protected they need sufficient light so they do not get leggy. Hope this helps.

Deanna, if you get prolifs, make sure they develope air roots before cutting them from the scape, and leave a small portion of the scape attached to the prolif. After cutting it you can put the root end in water and let the roots develope better. Then pot them up.

 

Sharon, how long does it normally take for the little root to appear? You leave it in the solution the whole time? My timing might be off, trying to do this in August We will start cooling off in late September, might start getting light frosts in early October (Hard to believe it's just around the corner)
I bought a "Frans Hals" at Walmart last week that has 3 proliferations on one scape! I can see little nubbins starting on the base :-D My husband looked at me like I was nuts when I was showing him their little butts!!
Deanna
:-D

 

The longer the prolif stays on the scape the better.
This site has just about anything you want to know about daylilies. It is invaluable. I guess how long you wait would depend on your first frost date, unless you have a place to keep them protected. They really need a good root system to survive the winter and come back next year.

 

Hey there has been a lot of good stuff posted on here. I'm jazzed too and I can't wait to get some seeds to try. I actually have a red daylily still blooming I don't know what is and stella of course. So I'm going to let some of those go to seed just to see what happens when I plant the seeds. How about that hybridizing? That has me pretty excited too! I really want to try that. Great topic you started Deanna!

 

I just read a thread on a daylily forum and some people over there said if the daylily is not dormant the seeds can be directly planted into the soil, I would imagine after letting them air dry. One guy said the only seeds that need to be pre chilled are dormant daylily seed, and of course if your are storing seeds for later use. So since I don't know if the seeds I got from my lilies are dormant or not I will chill. And when my daylilies come back this spring I will make notes as to which ones are dormant.

Jo, I also want to try hybridizing, it sounds easy and since I am only going to do it for my benefit I think it will be fun.
This is a great topic Deanna, thanks.

 

OH I think so too Sharon, how about the 2 year wait to see the bloom though? Jo

 

Patience, patience Jo Just think, when the seedlings bloom it will be like getting a Christmas present in the middle of summer!!
Deanna
:-D

 

And it will be a Christmas present no one else has. Especially when you start crossing those you start from seed. You could end of with something totally gorgeous and it is all yours, unless you choose to share it of course.

 

If I manage to get a pretty yellow one I want to name it "Deanna Banana"
Kind of corny huh?
Deanna
:-D

 

Nope, not it that's what trips your trigger. That's another good thing, it's yours and you can name it what you want.