- It is still cold outside, but it is time to get those seeds started.

Today on Oklahoma Gardening, we show you how to cold stratify seeds and offer some helpful tools to make your seeding process easier.

Underwriting assistance for our program is provided by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, food and Forestry, helping to keep Oklahoma Green and growing.

Oklahoma Gardening is also a proud partner with Shape Your Future, a program of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.

Shape Your future provides resources for Oklahomans to make the healthy choice the easy choice.

I love sharing with you guys the cool things that plants can do.

We're back here at the Student Farm.

I wanna share with you a tropical plant that you might find in some Oklahoma landscapes.

It's important to know which plants we are dealing with so that we can continue to maintain them successfully for years to come.

Today we are talking about a new popular way of starting seeds, and that's called winter seed sowing.

Now you might have heard about this.

This is sort of a hybrid between starting seeds indoors and also having them stratified via the elements of outside during those winter colder months.

So basically what we're doing is stratifying seeds.

So stratification is a process that some seeds need to go through in order to germinate, and it basically mimics winter.

Now, you can do this indoors by using some sort of inert material like sand or pearlite and putting your seeds in there and then putting them in your refrigerator.

But by winter seed sowing and doing this outside, we're not only saving that bottom door in your refrigerator, but we're taking advantage of the natural elements that are happening outside.

So before you get started, you're gonna wanna collect a few materials.

This project is a great way to recycle milk containers or old juice containers.

You just wanna make sure that it's something either opaque or transparent to allow some of that sunlight to penetrate into the the seed bed that you're creating.

You'll also need either some scissors or what really works well is like a carpenter knife or an exacto knife to be able to cut the container.

You will need a drill or some sort of a hot punch or something to create drainage holes in the bottom.

And for the way we fasten it, you could use pipe cleaners.

And so again, you can either use your drill or a simple paper hole punch will also make those holes in the container if you don't have that, some people use duct tape, however, I prefer the pipe cleaner method.

And the other thing is you're gonna need some labels and a marker and a coffee mug.

You're gonna need some potting soil or some sort of seed potting soil mix.

And then finally, the actual seeds that you're gonna need to plant.

So you can use a lot of different seeds.

Anything that is hardy perennial, something that says plant in light fall early spring, those work really well.

So we've got some wildflower seeds that we're doing.

Sunflower seeds also work well.

So another little kind of term you might look for is something that says self sowing.

And you can also plant some vegetable crops early or late winter, early spring to go ahead and get those started.

Especially some cool season crops like spinach.

So here's what we're making basically is a container to create a greenhouse effect that you'll place outside.

So we've got a couple of different containers here.

We've got milk containers, and we're just gonna go ahead and take this water container and use this for our next one.

And basically, like I said, a lot of different containers you can use.

So this is a nice way to recycle them.

You wanna make sure that it is something that's transparent because it helps with that greenhouse effect, allowing that sunlight to penetrate in there, causing those seeds to not only germinate, but continue to grow until they're ready to be transplanted.

You can use those clamshell take home containers if you want.

You just wanna make sure that you put holes in the top of it.

In this case, what we're gonna do is take this lid off so that it has that exposure to the elements.

Now, before we start cutting this, 'cause we're gonna have to cut this in half.

In order to get into the inside and actually germ or sow our seeds, we're gonna drill holes in the bottom of this.

Anytime you're working with a container, you wanna make sure you provide plenty of drainage.

So we're just using a drill.

And again, go ahead and put extra holes more than you might think you need.

So you wanna make sure that you have plenty of drainage holes in here, because otherwise your seeds will get too saturated.

Now, we used a drill, but you can also use like a hot metal punch or something like that to make those holes in there if you want.

So at this point, we need to cut our container almost in half.

We're gonna leave it partially attached so that it is still sort of hinged.

And an easy way to do that so that you're drawing sort of a a straight line is to get a coffee cup and just put your marker on that coffee cup and then circle your container around.

And then we'll just leave it again, a little bit of a hinge there where we're not going to cut.

But before we cut that, there's a couple of things.

So when we think about when we're opening this, we're gonna need to actually close it somehow.

Some people use duct tape, but another method is to go ahead and drill a hole above and below that line opposite where your hinge is gonna be.

And we'll use a pipe cleaner to actually attach it.

So we're gonna drill a hole below the line and above the line.

And this is so that we can actually close our lid to our bottom here in a minute.

And it's just easier to do that while it's still attached before we cut it in half.

So at this point, we're ready to go ahead and cut our container in half, and we're gonna again, start over here.

Sometimes an exacto knife or a carpenter knife works the best.

So our container has a nice hinge to it for us to open and fill it.

At this point, we're gonna get rid of our drill and pull out some pre moist and potting soil.

It's just nice and easy to go ahead and moisten your potting soil beforehand, so you don't have to worry about that.

After you've got your seeds in there, we're gonna add that you want about three to four inches of that potting soil in here.

Okay, so you can see we've got the potting soil in there.

You always wanna make sure you're leaving about an inch of lip, just so that when the elements come, they don't necessarily wash the seeds away.

So we've got this.

Now we really just need to put our seeds in here.

We've got a mix of wildflower seeds that we're gonna use.

Again, you can use a lot of different cool season crops, some sunflowers, things that say self sowing.

A lot of those will really be good options for this winter Sowing, and depending on what seeds you're sowing really helps define when you should be doing this.

But kind of a range is usually from December to March, even as late as March, you can be doing this process.

Of course, we are here in Oklahoma, so one week it's, you know, snowing, and then the next week it's 60 degrees.

So kind of be aware of that.

But again, these seeds are acclimated to Oklahoma winters.

So we're gonna go ahead and sow some of our wildflower seed mix here.

And the reason why we're doing this as winter seed sowing, you might think, well, why don't I just put my wildflower seed mix outside and direct sow them if they're adjusted to the winter?

Well, you can do that of course, but the nice thing about doing this is you're actually controlling and protecting these seeds a little bit more.

So if you were to scatter them out there in a prep seed bed, a lot of times we have winds and we have water that come through, not to mention critters that come through.

And there's a lot of other seeds that are in that ground.

So when you start to see things germinate, you're wondering, is that my wildflower?

Or do my wildflowers not germinate?

Or did they disappear?

Whereas this allows you to kind of control that.

So anything that we see coming up we will know is wild flowers.

Of course, we did use a potting soil, not a top soil.

So again, top soils won't drain as well, and they also would have potential weed seeds as well.

So we're just gonna sprinkle a little bit more potting soil on top of this to kind of cover that seed just a little bit, not too much.

So of course, anytime you plant seeds, you wanna make sure to label those so that you know what is germinating.

So I've just made a wild flower label here, and it's important to kind of maybe put that label on the inside so that it doesn't get lost.

Some people will write it on the containers, but you have to worry about that fading over time also.

And now you'll know why I drilled this hole.

And so basically we're gonna use a pipe cleaner to go ahead and fasten our lid on here, and we will just tighten that up around there.

You can see I've taken the lid off.

So when we place this out, we'll be able to still capture some rainfall or snowfall that will continue to moisten this.

So after you have all your containers planted, then it's a matter of just setting them out there and waiting for them to germinate after they've been exposed to that stratification.

And spring starts to arrive.

When you see them starting to germinate, that's when you wanna make sure to check them more regularly and ensure that they do have plenty of moisture in there for those seedlings to continue growing.

Also, you wanna make sure that they're not getting too hot on those really warm days.

Believe it or not, a real greenhouse effect can happen.

So you might even find that you need to open this up and allow more of that cooler air to come in there.

So continue to allow them to grow to about a couple of inches and wait until they have their first true leaves before you go ahead and then transplant them into the garden.

Now, not only does seed, so winter seed sowing help save your refrigerator space, and also you don't need any special grow lights in your kitchen or in your living room in order to start your transplants.

But the nice thing about these is because these seedlings have been growing outside in the winter, they're already acclimated to the conditions that you're currently experiencing.

So you don't have to harden off your transplants.

So if you haven't tried winter seed sowing, I suggest give it a try in order to get your spring garden started.

- This is a really exciting time of year because we finally get to go back out in the garden, get our hands in the soil, and get to watch our little plants that we started from seed grow into the big plants that they will become over the season.

So if you start transplants over the wintertime or over the last few months, you know that you didn't have to use all of the seeds that came in an individual packet.

So what do you do with them whenever you're done planting them inside or just trying to save them for next year?

A lot of times we wanna keep them in the refrigerator because it's an optimal temperature to make sure that your seeds stay viable from this season to the next season.

And so oftentimes, if you don't have some kind of storage system, you can use just a plastic Ziploc baggie or some way instead of just throwing all of your seed packets inside of your refrigerator.

One way that I really like to store seeds, because I've got a lot that I'm taking care of here, and so I have all kinds of different plants that I'm starting here at the Botanic Garden.

And so what I like to use are these photo storage containers.

You can get them at a variety of places.

You can find 'em online.

They're pretty cost effective, and they do a really good job of keeping your seeds organized and stored together.

What I like about it is that it is fairly airtight, so you don't have to worry about moisture getting in there and molding any of your seeds.

So whenever you do this, I bought this size because I knew most of my seed packets would fit in these, but I have all of these different, all of these different containers within here.

So I'm able to organize them by the type of seeds that they are, by the time that I'm planting them or whatever other ways that you would want to organize them.

So for example, I have some of my cool season on this side 'cause that's whenever I would start them is together.

Then I have my warm season over here and I have them separated by type, depending on how many seeds I have.

So there's all different kinds of options.

So there's this option, and then this one, the packages or these little storage containers are a little bit bigger so you can store bigger seeds in them.

So another reason that I really like these is because these are really easy to take to the greenhouse or to take outside.

So if you're direct sowing a bunch of spinach or lettuce outside, you can just grab one of these that's designated for your lettuce or spinach or whatever you're wanting to direct sow, and you can just easily carry this outside.

It keeps all of them together and it keeps all of the dirt off of it.

And it helps also to repel some of the water that might happen if you are taking these around the garden.

So whenever you're storing your seeds, you wanna make sure it's an airtight container and that you wanna keep it in a cool place like your refrigerator.

But I highly suggest giving these a try so that way you can keep your seeds organized and ready to go for next season.

- Today we're at one of our favorite places, Bustani Plant Farm.

And joining me is a familiar face, Steve Owens, of course, owner of Bustani.

Thank you.

How are you doing, Casey, for having us here?

I know you're closed, so I appreciate you letting us in.

But we wanted to talk a little bit about what gardens and nurseries are doing in order to get ready for April.

And we've been talking about starting seeds a lot.

So let's talk about how you get all your plants ready.

- Sure.

We, we grow a lot of stuff from seed.

We do some stuff from cuttings, things like that.

But yeah, a lot of, a lot of things from seed and you know, we, we grow a lot of native plants here right.

And we have to come up with certain methods to get those seeds to germinate.

I think a lot of people have, have grown seeds from, from tropical places, warm climates like tomatoes, peppers, zinnias, things like that, where all you have to do is plant them, keep them a little bit moist and the the warm temperature will cause them to germinate.

- Right.

- Well, here, here, here in Oklahoma, you know, we're in a temperate climate.

We have cold winters, we have hot summers.

So the seeds here are a little bit trickier to get them to, to sprout.

And they have these, the seeds have these natural protection mechanisms that keep them from sprouting until the conditions are just right.

So what we try to do is provide those seeds with something that's gonna be similar to a winter time.

- Okay.

- So what we do is a cold, moist stratification.

- Okay.

- And you've talked about stratification on the show before, right?

- Right.

It's a physiological response for that, like you said, protection for the seed.

'cause we know yesterday it was snowing it seemed like, and today, it's now summer all of a sudden.

- Yes.

Welcome to Oklahoma.

I've been doing this method for about 17 years, and I've had great success.

Okay.

Success with it.

And I'll show you down here, we got some flats.

- Yeah, - Just a few of our mini flats.

But the cold, moist stratification, it's different than just putting the seeds in the refrigerator because out here the seeds are going to experience a little bit of wet dry, a little bit of warm, cold, freezing thawing, that kind of thing.

Right.

And we leave these flats outside - Okay.

- All through the winter.

And we want to do that for about 90 days or three months.

So we, we try to have this done in early November, but, but you can see all the labels we've got of the plants here, and you look at 'em and you're like, that just looks like a flat of gravel.

Right.

There's a reason for that.

Okay.

And I'll, I'll just show you real quick over here.

Okay.

Kind of how we go about it.

I've got some, some seeds of thread leaf blue star when we're native perennials, but we'll, we'll sow these, you know, on - The pretty thick there.

Yeah, - Yeah, yeah.

Kind of thick, probably at home.

You, you, you don't have to do it that thick.

- Right.

- But this is a, this is a seed starting mix.

It's, it's very fine.

It's mostly vermiculite.

- Okay.

- So we, we have those fine particles get good seed to soil contact so that moisture will, will, will get in there.

But we sow those seeds.

We, well then we'll take some of the soil and just put just, just a tiny, not that much, but just a, a tiny, you know, little bit of soil over the seeds.

And then you, you see all this gravel looking stuff - Here, right?

Yeah.

- We, we covered this with it's granite chips or granite grit.

- Okay.

- And this is, - And where do you get granite grit from?

- Good question.

That's, it's actually an agricultural product.

- Oh, okay.

- People will buy this for their, their foul, their - Oh, their chickens.

Yeah.

- Chicken, chickens, turkeys, that kind of thing.

But you'll, you'll sometimes see it as chicken grit or just granite grit.

And I cover the seeds with this for a number of reasons.

Number one, some of the really small seeds, I mean, these, these aren't small, but some of the really small seeds, if we have like a big rainstorm - Okay.

- The, just that intense rain can splash the soil, splash the seeds away.

- So that's another layer of protection, - Sort of Absolutely.

- Breaks that impact from - The Yeah.

Yeah.

They're not really covered.

I mean, they're, you know, it's only about a quarter of an inch.

Right.

Light, light can get down in there.

Another thing was, and - I would imagine if it was a, a larger grid, then you would have problems with germination, right?

Yes.

So the size works well.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

You don't want the really big chunks of gravel - Don't get gravel off your driveway.

That's - Right.

Unless it's really, really fine.

- Okay.

- But this will also protect a little bit from some of the rodents.

It's crazy how the mice will find these seeds.

Yep.

And come wanting to dig in there.

And birds as well will come and try to take your seeds and a little bit from some of the frost heaving, like just from the wet and Oh, okay.

Cold and freezing, freezing fog.

Is that what distance is happening again?

Yeah, that is, that's a little bit, that's a little bit of the frost heaving right there.

When we have those really, really cold days, we, we get a little bit of that.

But again, we leave these outside for 90 days or about three months.

So - Just like this or I mean, those boxes used for something - There.

Yes.

Yeah.

That is one more step.

- Okay.

- This is, these are just some frames with hardware, cloth, and you can see all the labels are kind of pushed to the side.

Right.

Right there.

But yeah, we put that over knee, over the top.

And that is another layer protection from anything that wants to come in, come in and eat our seeds or just, just disturb those.

Okay.

But these, these will sit out here on the ground in the sun and, and, - And that ground contact's important.

Right.

- Very, very good point on, on the ground.

You, you do get some, some thermal conductance, just the warmth from the ground, it, it makes a difference.

Versus putting them up on a table where a lot more cold air can get underneath.

- You've got some that are germinating and some that haven't yet.

So where are we at af We're after 90 days.

And of course you're doing this for nursery production, so it's, your timing is very important.

Yes, - Yes.

After, after those 90 days or whatever, we want to get the plants popping up so we can get those into small pots and have them ready to sell when we open here in the springtime.

So what we do, we'll take these into the greenhouse for us.

It's usually around the 1st of February, and we'll put 'em on a heating mat.

Okay.

And it's kind of amazing, Casey, in two or three days, this stuff just explodes.

I mean, it just, the seeds think, oh my gosh, the ground is constantly warm.

Spring is here, and spring is here.

And they, they, they start growing.

And then I really get busy potting those up.

- So what is your process?

We've got some here.

Are these ready to be potted up?

They're pretty thick there.

- Yeah.

This is a, this is another dimension of sowing the seeds outside.

This is a standing Cyprus or Okay.

Or IPO opsis.

And it's a biennial and out of the wild, these things usually germinate in the fall.

And they'll grow a little bit in the wintertime.

And then when the spring comes, they, they make a little bit of a rosette, and then as it gets warmer, they'll bolt Okay.

And start flowering.

- Yeah.

- And then set seed and drop the seed, - Do their thing.

Yeah.

Start - The process all over again.

I mean, it's kind of amazing.

These little guys are here, will be about five feet tall Wow.

In, in June.

But they are, they are very thick.

So we take these high tech, high tech tools here.

This is just a bamboo skewer.

And we'll come in and just kind of tease them loose, go way below the soil, pull these up, and they - Just try.

And each one of those guys is pretty important to you, right?

- Each one of these?

Yes.

And then we'll just kind of tease them loose and we'll just have the little plants here, pot those up into a little cell, let it fill that with the roots, and then we'll pot it up to its finished pot later on.

- Well Steve, it looks like this method clearly works for you.

So I would say you are doing something right.

- It's been working great for 17 years, - So obviously we've got a long way to go in just a few months from these tiny little seedlings to your cell.

When is the sale opening?

- It's, it's April the 16th.

That's our official opening date.

Always mid-April when we open.

- Okay.

And so these will be in nice sized pods for us to purchase then?

- Absolutely.

They'll grow quite a bit by that time.

- All right.

Thank you so much.

- I've got a new seed starting tool today that we have started using at the Botanic Garden quite regularly.

So it is a handheld precision seeder.

Sometimes you have seed that's really, really small or seed that's really expensive, or maybe you only have 10 very rare seeds and you wanna make sure that every single seed makes it where it's supposed to go.

So I use this precision seeder for those kind of instances.

So what you do is that it has several needle nose tips on it, and you select the appropriate size tip for your seed, place it on, let all of the air out by squeezing, place it so that you can pick up your seed and gently start letting that air suck in.

It'll suck the seed up onto the needle nose and you'll be able to place it exactly where you want it to.

And then with just a little bit of a squeeze, it'll let go of that pressure and place the seed precisely in the hole.

So if you are looking for a tool to help with seeding, if you're seeding precision, if you have expensive seed, or maybe even if you have a little bit of dexterity issues and you need help picking up the seed, something like a mini handheld precision seeder would be perfect for you.

- There are a lot of great horticulture activities this time of year.

Be sure and consider some of these events in the weeks ahead.

If your New Year's resolution was to start gardening, you won't wanna miss next week's episode of Oklahoma Gardening.

Today we are at one of our favorite places, Bost Pine.

Lemme try that again.

Haven't tried winter seed sowing.

You might give it a chance.

I don't like that.

Close.

To find out more information about show topics as well as recipes, videos, articles, fact sheets, and other resources, including a directory of local extension offices, be sure to visit our website at Oklahoma gardening dot OK state.edu.

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Oklahoma Gardening is produced by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service as part of the division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University.

The Botanic Garden at OSU is home to our studio gardens and we encourage you to come visit this beautiful Stillwater Gem.

We would like to thank our generous underwriters, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, food and Forestry, and Shape Your Future, a program of the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust.

Additional support is also provided by Greenleaf Nursery and the Garden Debut Plants, the Oklahoma Horticulture Society, the Tulsa Garden Club, and the Tulsa Garden Center.