Its freezing

I planted some seeds last night in a mini green house, Tomato's, Marigolds and Alyssum. It froze and so did the dirt in the trays.
My question is, will they be dead do I need to replant.
Any tips would be good, thanks.

 

First of all :wlcm: to GC

What I would do is bring them inside, warm them up and see if they do anything. I've always done my seeds inside so from person experience I wouldn't know if freezing actually kills seeds.

 

I`ve had sown seeds freeze in the past and they were fine as it happens-maybe just got luvky that time I don`t know, but they will not germinate below a certain temperature. It can be a pain to bring them in now they are all outside. Can you put the mini greenhouse up against a warm wall to help protect it from the cold or perhaps drape some bubble wrap around it to give triple glazing effect?

 

Richard - freezing shouldn't be any problem for seeds. In fact seed banks are kept in deep freezes, which can keep them for long periods of time.

The danger comes once it has germinated. Some seedlings contain natural antifreeze and don't mind the cold. But others don't. Its safer to assume that no seedlings will withstand frost.

As Claire says, most seeds won't germinate if the temperature is too low.

 

Yes, like Peter says, I had only just sown mine and they would not all have germinated by then, although some did, I can`t remember what they were now off the top of my head, but they were flower seeds not tomatoes.

They may have been allysum-but perhaps they were alchemilla ( spelling??) they definitely started with an A.


(thats gonna bug me now)

 

I can't seem to get anything done just now, this time last year i had tiny seedlings on the go, this year so far that's impossible, there's still loads of snow around, we had another heavy fall on weds there and yes it's bloomin cold, everything is frozen solid :( i'm sure your seeds will be ok richard :thumb:

 

From the replies it looks like I'm okay for now, the weather forecast is for warmer weather over the next 10 days so I should be okay. I'm in Sussex so they should be safe in the mini greenhouse thing from now on.

Thanks again.

 

Richard, it certainly suggests you are a bit too early, although I doubt any real damage has been done.

 

Sowing too early is a common thing with gardeners, impatience seems to take over after a period of growing inactivity (and I am not immune). In an unheated greenhouse you really are asking for trouble with half hardy annuals at this time of year. The middle/end of March is early enough.

 

Christopher Lloyd always used to say don't sow flowers before 1st March. And for some half hardy annuals such as Cleome and Tithonia, he said 1st May. He said that with the likes of Cleome, you might get away with an earlier sowing, but if your are unlucky it could be hit by a cold spell, which would knock it back. Once knocked back it tends to sulk and never grows properly afterwards. I have experienced exactly that.

 

It`s practically impossible to resist though, I have sown limnanthes and nemophila today-mainly because I perversely determined that spring had arrived.

 

Know what you mean. We had glorious sunshine this morning but frost tonight. I have oodles of seeds I'm itching to sow, but limited windowsills. The sweatpeas take priority:gnthb: