FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I'm in Texas (zone 8b I think, kinda the lower end of the North east corner just outside of Dallas). Is out door seed stratification an option or are our temps not consistently cool enough to trigger them?

Teanuhkixbum wrote:I'm in Texas (zone 8b I think, kinda the lower end of the North east corner just outside of Dallas). Is out door seed stratification an option or are our temps not consistently cool enough to trigger them?

Hi! First off what are you interested in stratifying?? Depends on what but I don’t think it gets cold enough there in Texas to naturally stratify seeds! But that’s just my guess!

Specifically a native new jersey drosera right now, but have some other temperate seeds coming hopefully!

You can put seeds into test tubes of distilled water and throw them into the refrigerator for 8 - 12 weeks.
I've had good luck with stratifying temperate seeds this way.

Good growing,
Mike

Teanuhkixbum wrote:Specifically a native new jersey drosera right now, but have some other temperate seeds coming hopefully!

You have a choice to use the fridge method to stratify! The weather there stays to warm to naturally stratify them!

You can most definitely stratify temperate CP seeds outdoors in your location. I’m in southeast Texas and do it all the time. I know people in Dallas and the surrounding areas that have no problem stratifying temperate seeds outdoors there.

KategoricalKarnivore wrote:You can most definitely stratify temperate CP seeds outdoors in your location. I’m in southeast Texas and do it all the time. I know people in Dallas and the surrounding areas that have no problem stratifying temperate seeds outdoors there.

Good to know! I’ve always been under the impression that Texas is usually too hot to!

Nope it works just fine. In fact there are wild, native S. alata not too far from you.

And if you’re not a member yet, search for our Texas CP group on Facebook, Texas Carnivorous Plants Group. Lots of very knowledgeable Texas growers there.

I am a member there! I am trying to be active in both places so I dont annoy one set of people with all my newbie questions at one time Hahahahaha!

Thank you all for your input! I think I will try some each way on the couple I have now moving in to cooler weather and experiment some! No better way to learn, but I didn't want to just straight waste seeds if it was impossible!

You should be fine stratifying outdoors. Most temperate plants that require cold stratification are from the southeast. Even more hardy plants like Darlingtonia share similar climates to that of northeast Texas. Here is the range vs. a USDA zoning map.

spruill771 wrote:You should be fine stratifying outdoors. Most temperate plants that require cold stratification are from the southeast. Even more hardy plants like Darlingtonia share similar climates to that of northeast Texas. Here is the range vs. a USDA zoning map.

USDA zones aren’t a good representation of climate. They’re just based on the one coldest night a year. The climate of the Pacific Northwest and northeast Texas are really quite different. Although they’re in similar USDA zones with similar extreme cold events, somewhere like Portland has much more stable weather, especially in the winter. In low elevations, the Pacific Northwest has a growing season that’s more than a month shorter than that of northeast TX. And Darlingtonia, for instance, grows at higher elevations with a shorter growing season. Northeast Texas is much more prone to wild temperature swings — especially in the winter. Tyler, TX has been nearly 90° in January, but has also been -3°. Portland has never been warmer than 66° in January (and as cold as -2°. In the summer, the Pacific Northwest cools off significantly at night — average lows are below 60° even in July/August. In northeast Texas, average summer lows are in the mid 70°s.

Even if you look at precipitation, they’re not all that similar — while precipitation amounts are similar, the Pacific Northwest has 2-3x the number of rainy days per year (although the rain is less evenly distributed throughout the year).

I’m sorry I seemingly overreacted to this, but it drives me insane when people use USDA zones as the only factor to compare two climates. They’re terrible for that.

I really enjoyed and appreciated that response about zones, I got mine wrong anyhow, but either way, that is why I always try to give my location as well as zone when asking questions like this. My question was actually spurred from the fact that our temperatures fluctuate so much and don't actually stay cold. If stratification requires extended amounts of cold weather.... That doesn't so much happen here.

Teanuhkixbum wrote:I really enjoyed and appreciated that response about zones, I got mine wrong anyhow, but either way, that is why I always try to give my location as well as zone when asking questions like this. My question was actually spurred from the fact that our temperatures fluctuate so much and don't actually stay cold. If stratification requires extended amounts of cold weather.... That doesn't so much happen here.

You’ll be fine stratifying outside. I prefer stratification inside because it’s faster and can be done at any time, but outside works too. I mean, there are Sarracenia that grow in much of east TX — from Beaumont all the way up to about Tyler. They require stratification, and they even grow wild, so outside stratification should work.