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["Sage Austin | Eureka! Design" <eureka AT hctc.net>]

Lisa, it works well only for those seeds that need cold stratification, 
like purple coneflower, milkweeds, etc. Usually the seed package will 
say cold stratification is needed. Some people use paper towels, some 
use damp sand, but I use coffee filters and small plastic bags for 
starting my prairie plants in the fridge.

But most vegetables need warmth to sprout (temps are usually on the 
backs of the packages), so I have not used this method for them. 
Instead, I plant them in flats in the laundry room where I can control 
the temperature, and have the flats sitting in large upturned plastic 
lids (from storage bins) in about half an inch of water (with some 
Medina Plus mixed in). I have a heating pad on medium underneath the 
lids until they sprout, then I move them off so the roots don't get 
damaged.

I don't cover them with plastic as this causes damp off here, and I keep 
a ceiling fan going in the room to prevent this. Once they have their 
second set (first true set) of leaves I pot them up into 3" pots, and 
after they have stabilized in a couple of days, move them out to the 
green house where the temps fluctuate more but they get plenty of light. 
> From there I begin to harden them off, 2 hours extra every day outside 
until they are fully hardened. That's when they go into the garden. The 
only things I plant directly in the garden is lettuce & mesclun, grains, 
and root crops.

I've gotten almost all my flats and pots from nurseries who discard 
them, as they can't be recycled. I just sterilize them first in a bleach 
water bath before use.

--Sage
Way Out in Texas

Lisa Kae Van Meter Perry wrote:
> Have any of you tried this or use this method?
>
> Read recently in gardening forum of a person who start their seeds in damp
> paper towels that are put in a plastic bag in the fridge for certain seeds.
> After they sprout, that's when this person plants the seeds.
>
> My initial thought was that it seemed like extra work, though not much. But
> it might work better with old seed--to find out which seeds will germinate
> and then plant those.
>
> Just curious.
>
> Lisa
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