Growing Seedlings..........

There are many good ways to go from seed to hearty plants. We have tried several different methods, starting seed both indoors and outdoors, and all seem to work well. This is a testimonial to the versatility of the daylily.

We have a sun room off of our den where we start our seed indoors. The method that we have settled upon is to start them hydroponically. “Hydroponics” is the process of growing plants in water which contains dissolved nutrients. We have a 4’x8’ fiberglass table with 4” sides that we bought from a supermarket when it closed. It was used to display produce. Underneath the table we place two 40gal plastic tanks. We fill them with water and add the soluble nutrients. (There are many sources of hydroponic supplies on the Internet.) We have an 80gpm submersible pump like those used for fountains, etc, and a recirculating system that allows the pump to fill the table to 3” deep and then overflow thru a standpipe back into the tanks. The pump is on a timer. It runs for 30 minutes every eight hours, then the water drains back into the tanks after feeding the seedlings.

Seeds are begun in January or February. They are planted in 13” x 13” x 7” plastic dishpans which have many ¼” holes drilled in the bottom. Seed spacing is only 1” apart in both directions, so we plant about 140 seeds in each dishpan. The table will hold 15 dishpans. We supplement the natural sunlight with fluorescent lighting. By early April the seedlings are about 15” tall, very healthy and vigorous, and very crowded! After danger of frost is passed, they are transplanted outside in seedling beds, 5” apart, with rows 8” apart. By then they have big, healthy root systems and quickly enter a rapid growth phase. We leave them there for two years, where they grow off and bloom.

Sometimes we accelerate the process by presprouting our seed. Seed from each cross, along with an identifying plant tag, are wrapped in a one-forth section of a damp paper towel and placed in a covered plastic container for several days. We add a small amount of peroxide to encourage fast sprouting. When the seed begin to sprout they are then planted in the plastic dishpans and go onto the hydroponic table. When presprouted, they push their little shoots up thru the planting medium almost overnight.