Steps to Success with Perennial Seed

Sowing perennial seeds and more importantly, being successful with them is a subject that is full of myth and lore. Here's the easiest way to get more garden plants.

To Begin With

To begin with, do not freeze your seed if they're in envelopes or packages. Dry seed does not freeze well at all. There is a safety mechanism built into perennial seeds that allows them to be frozen if damp (as in outdoors) but not if dry ( as in a seed pack). Dry freezing does bad things to many seeds.

Your seeds are fine if kept dry and at room temperatures or in the crisper of the refrigerator. I store most of mine in shoeboxes stacked up in a cupboard.

The Single Most Important Thing To Know

Is that you're going to mimic nature. Seeds germinate because of hormonal changes inside the seed. Our job is to mimic the conditions the seed wants.

If you understand this, you're well on the way to success.

Two Important Temperatures

We need to be able to provide two important temperatures to the soil for our perennial seeds to germinate.

The first is 40F. And you can get that in the crisper of the refrigerator.

The second is 70F and you require a heat mat for this. Room temperatures are generally too cool (soil temps are 10F less than room temperatures) for good germination.

One Important Number

The number is 90. Ninety days in fact.

Perennial Seed Success

Here's the deal.

Some perennial seed wants to be cool at 40F for 90 days and then warm at 70F for 90 days in order to germinate.

Some perennial seed wants to be warm at 70F for 90 days and then cool at 40F for 90 days in order to germinate.

The vast majority of perennial seeds will germinate using the first technique. 90 days at 40F and then move to warmer temperatures of 70F and watch them germinate within 90 days.

How To Do This

You can sow your seed in pots and put them in the frig crisper or the beer frig.

Or, you can put the seed in a baggie with a barely-damp handfull of vermiculite and then put it in the frig.

After 90 days, remove the pot/seed (you now sow the seed into a pot if in a baggie) and give the seeded pot warm temperatures of 70F soil temperature.

The seed will (usually if alive) now germinate.

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