Sowing Seeds

Some Like It Cold: Cold Treatment for Seeds

Ill.: www.pngfly.com & www.iconfinder.com, montage: laidbackgardener.blog

Probably 95% of the seeds you might want to sow in your garden: annuals, vegetables, etc. need no pretreatment of any kind: you just sow them, water once and up they come! 

However, that doesn’t hold if you start growing perennials, trees and shrubs, at least those from cold and temperate climates. Oddly, many of these plants won’t germinate—or will germinate poorly or irregularly—unless they go through a prolonged period of cold weather. This process is called “cold stratification” because originally the seeds were layered (stratified) between layers of moist soil before exposing them to cold, but term “vernalization” is also used. The term “cold treatment” seems to be gaining ground, though, and it really does best explain the process.

The most obvious way of giving seeds a cold treatment is to sow them outside in the fall, but that often leaves them exposed to insects, mammals and inclement weather. It’s far safer to give seeds their cold treatment indoors, where you can keep a closer eye on them … and where nothing can eat them. It’s usually carried out in January or February so the young plants will be ready to plant out come spring.

Giving hardy seeds a cold treatment replicates what happens in the wild. There, the seeds fall to the ground in the autumn and remain there all winter, exposed to cold and moisture. Then they germinate in the spring when the weather warms up. 

The need for cold stratification developed over many millennia as a way of preventing seeds from germinating at the wrong season. Seeds that don’t need cold stratification often start to germinate when the weather is unusually warm in the late fall or when there is a January thaw, then the fragile seedlings are killed when cold weather returns. Those that have an obligatory need for stratification, however, won’t react to unseasonal conditions. They essentially have an internal clock telling them: “Look, it’s too early to germinate! Wait a few months more before you start to sprout.” In general, the longer the winters are in the plant’s native land, the longer the cold treatment it will require.

Cold and Moist

Beginners often don’t understand one vital detail: it’s not cold alone that stimulates germination, but cold combined with moisture. So you can’t just place the seed packets in a fridge for a few months and expect the seeds to germinate well, you need to put them into contact with moist soil first.

The other common error is freezing the seeds. Although most of these seeds will tolerate freezing temperatures, freezing the seeds is not necessary and actually slows the process down. For best results, give temperatures just above freezing, between 34 °F and 41 °F (1 °C and 5 °C). And as luck would have it, the temperature of a typical home refrigerator falls right in that range: about 35 °F to 40 °F (1.6 °C to 4.4 °C).

A cold treatment is pretty basic: just sow the seeds and put them in the fridge. Photo: pinetreegardenseeds.wordpress.com

At the end of the cold treatment, remove the containers from the fridge and place them in a warm bright spot (about 70 to 75?F/21 to 24?C is ideal for most seeds) to stimulate germination. Many of these seeds are fairly slow to germinate, so don’t be surprised if they take 3 or 4 weeks to sprout, sometimes even longer.

All these seeds require a minimum number of weeks in the cold, but there is no maximum. So, no harm comes if you prolong the cold treatment beyond the minimum.

After their cold treatment, the seeds will start to germinate.

From this stage on, simply treat the seedlings like any other. After germination, remove the plastic bag. Start watering whenever the soil starts to dry out. Fertilize when the plants have about four to five true leaves, etc. Finally, when the weather outdoors warms up enough, start acclimatizing the seedlings to outdoor conditions (place them in the shade for two or three days, then in partial shade for two or three days, then in the sun for two or three days). 

Once they’re well acclimatized, transplant them either to a nursery (plants, such as trees, shrubs and slow-growing perennials, that will take more than a year to be presentable) or directly to their final location (annuals and fast-growing perennials).

No Space in Your Fridge?

You can also sow the seeds in packs of moist vermiculite or perlite. Photo: www.wyomingnativegardens.org

If you lack space in your fridge, you can try a different method of cold stratification. Simply mix the seed in a few spoonfuls of moist vermiculite, perlite or potting soil. Seal the mix in a small plastic bag and put it in the fridge (this takes much less space and you can even pile your bags of seeds one on top of the other). When their cold period is up, simply lay the seed bags somewhere warm and fairly bright. As soon as you see little sprouts start to appear, very carefully pot up each seedling in its own little pot and water. Then proceed from there as above, growing them on and eventually planting them out.

Double Cold Stratification

For some seeds, a single cold treatment is not enough. It takes two! These seeds are very slow to germinate in the wild, often taking 2 or 3 years before they show any sign of life. However, you can get them germinate the very first year treating them to a double cold stratification. Here’s how:

Give the seeds 2 to 3 months in the fridge, expose them to warmth for 2 months, then put them back in the refrigerator for 2–3 months. This time, when you bring them out of the fridge, they should start to germinate … and if they don’t? Put them back in the fridge and try again. It once took me 4 alternating cold and warm treatments to get some stubborn trillium seeds to sprout!

100 Seeds Requiring a Cold Treatment

Here are 100 plants that germinate best with a cold treatment (there are thousands of others). Check the seed envelope or the seed supplier’s web site for more information.

  1. Abies (fir)
  2. Acer (maple, most species)
  3. Aconitum (aconite)
  4. Alchemilla (lady’s mantle)
  5. Allium (ornamental onion)
  6. Amelanchier (serviceberry)
  7. Aquilegia (columbine)
  8. Asclepias (milkweed, some species)
  9. Astrantia (masterwort)
  10. Baptisia (false indigo)
  11. Buddleia (butterfly bush)
  12. Caltha (marsh marigold)
  13. Caryopteris (bluebeard)
  14. Cercis canadensis (redbud)
  15. Chelone (turtlehead)
  16. Cimicifuga (bugbane)
  17. Clematis (clematis)
  18. Cornus (dogwood)
  19. Corydalis (fumitory)
  20. Delphinium (delphinium)
  21. Dicentra spectabilis, now Lamprocapnos spectabilis (bleeding heart)
  22. Dictamnus (gas plant)
  23. Dodecatheon (shooting star)
  24. Echinacea (purple coneflower)
  25. Eremurus (foxtail lily)
  26. Eryngium (sea holly)
  27. Eupatorium (Joe Pye weed)
  28. Filipendula (meadowsweet)
  29. Forsythia (forsythia)
  30. Fragaria (strawberry)
  31. Fuchsia (fuchsia)
  32. Gentiana (gentian)
  33. Geranium (perennial geranium, cranesbill)
  34. Goniolimon (German statice)
  35. Helianthemum (rock rose)
  36. Helianthus (perennial sunflower)
  37. Heliopsis (false sunflower)
  38. Helleborus (Christmas rose)
  39. Hemerocallis (daylily)
  40. Heuchera (coral bells)
  41. Hibiscus moscheutos (perennial hibiscus)
  42. Hypericum (St. John’s wort)
  43. Iberis (perennial candytuft)
  44. Ilex* (holly)
  45. Incarvillea (hardy gloxinia)
  46. Iris (iris, many species)
  47. Kirengeshoma (waxbells)
  48. Knautia (knautia)
  49. Lathyrus (perennial sweet pea)
  50. Lavandula (lavender)
  51. Leontopodium (edelweiss)
  52. Lobelia (hardy lobelia)
  53. Lonicera (honeysuckle)
  54. Macleaya (plume poppy)
  55. Magnolia* (magnolia)
  56. Malus (apple, crabapple)
  57. Mazus (creeping mazus)
  58. Mertensia (Virginia bluebells)
  59. Muscari (grape hyacinth)
  60. Myrrhis odorata (sweet cicely)
  61. Nepeta (catmint)
  62. Oenothera (evening Primrose)
  63. Opuntia* (beavertail cactus)
  64. Paeonia* (pivoine)
  65. Penstemon (beard-tongue)
  66. Persicaria (fleeceflower)
  67. Persicaria orientalis, syn. Polygonum orientale (kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate)
  68. Phlox (phlox)
  69. Physalis (Chinese lantern)
  70. Picea (spruce)
  71. Platycodon (balloon flower)
  72. Primula (primrose)
  73. Pulsatilla (pasque flower)
  74. Quercus (red and black oaks)
  75. Ranunculus (buttercup)
  76. Ratibida (prairie coneflower)
  77. Rosa (rose)
  78. Rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan)
  79. Sambucus (elderberry)
  80. Sanguinaria (bloodroot)
  81. Sanguisorba (burnet)
  82. Saponaria (soapwort)
  83. Saxifraga (saxifrage)
  84. Scabiosa (pincushion flower)
  85. Sedum (stonecrop)
  86. Sempervivum (houseleek, hen and chicks)
  87. Sidalcea (prairie mallow)
  88. Silphium (cup plant, compass plant)
  89. Staphylea* (bladdernut)
  90. Stokesia (Stokes’ aster)
  91. Syringa (lilac)
  92. Thalictrum (meadow-rue)
  93. Tiarella (foamflower)
  94. Tricyrtis (toad-lily)
  95. Trillium* (trillium)
  96. Trollius (globeflower)
  97. Tsuga (hemlock)
  98. Vernonia (ironweed)
  99. Veronica (speedwell)
  100. Viola (violets)
  101. Vitis (grape, some species)

*Some species in this genus require a double cold stratification.

If in doubt, find out where the plant grows in the wild. If it comes from a cold region and its seeds ripen in the fall, there is a very good chance that its seeds will require a cold treatment to germinate.

Adapted from an article originally published on January 8, 2016.

Garden writer and blogger, author of 65 gardening books, lecturer and communicator, the Laidback Gardener, Larry Hodgson, passed away in October 2022. Known for his great generosity, his thoroughness and his sense of humor, he reached several generations of amateur and professional gardeners over his 40-year career. Thanks to his son, Mathieu Hodgson, and a team of contributors, laidbackgardener.blog will continue its mission of demystifying gardening and making it more accessible to all.

7 comments on “Some Like It Cold: Cold Treatment for Seeds

  1. Pingback: Learn When to Sow Your Garden Seeds – Laidback Gardener

  2. Charlotte

    Thank you! A very helpful read 🙂 I was wondering, do purchased seeds need to be stratified or have they already been through this process?

  3. Do Plum and Peach seeds require cold treatment? And can these be grown in tropical countries where the temperature range throughout the year is 12 – 32 Degrees Celcius ?

    • Plum seeds do need a cold treatment and indeed, may need two prolonged periods of cold to germinate, so can take two years to sprout. A cold treatment is not absolutely necessary for peaches. They sprout better after a cold treatment, but some may sprout without one.

      There are some peach varieties that will adapt to tropical conditions, but they do best with a long period of nights below 7 degrees C. Plums need temperature conditions in order to flower.

  4. Pingback: The Gentle Giant – Laidback Gardener

  5. Stratification can also be referred to simply as chilling, even though that typically refers to fruit trees. I find that many seeds get all the chill they need if sown in autumn, even in our mild climate. Fir, spruce, maple, saskatoon, redbud, etc. I know there are seed that would not be satisfied with the minimal chill here, but I have not found them yet.

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