Should I separate paper towel lavender seeds?

[mplaag]

I started about 20 or 30 lavender seeds a week ago. I didn't refrigerate them, just put them in a wet paper towel. Now only two have started out of the whole bunch, most don't show any signs of starting.

Should I separate the ones that have from the ones that haven't and then refrigerate the ones that haven't?

[rainbowgardener]

Definitely separate the ones that sprouted and get them soil and light. They will quickly die where they are.

I don't understand about the refrigerator though. Lavender needs temps of at least 70 to germinate. I sprout my lavender seeds on a heat mat.

Don't be discouraged about the rest of the seeds and do keep them moist. Lavender can take two weeks to a month to sprout.

[mplaag]

Thanks for the reply

About the refrigerator, I read in a couple places that lavender seeds in nature take up water in the fall, freeze in the winter, and then can grow in spring. Sometimes if they haven't been exposed to the cold they won't grow. One woman wrote about leaving them in the refrigerator before trying to sprout them because nothing else would work, but they grew just fine after that.

[rainbowgardener]

You are talking about cold stratification. It has not been my experience that commercial lavender seeds need it. And in general, just putting the seeds in the refrigerator doesn't work very well for cold stratifying. You need to plant them first in moist potting mix. Then cover the whole pot or whatever they are planted in in plastic wrap and put that in the frig.

But I expect if you are just patient, more of your seeds will sprout.

[sepeters]

I use damp sand to cold stratify my hyssop, works pretty well and the uniform color of the sand makes it easy to find the seeds. Should work for lavender.