You would of had to constantly water doing it that way to get better results. The bigger cups were able to hold more soil & therefore moisture and insulate each other better. Milk jugs are constantly open to snow and rain and better for the greenhouse effect. Interesting experiment though.
This was my first year winter sowing..I had really good results..I didn't use milk jugs ..I used containers from the dollar tree..the tin foil pans that are shallow (still worked) with the dome tops and these plastic containers that came in a pack of 4 with screw on libs..I noticed the key was not letting them dry out..I checked on them alot..it was not plant and forget like some make it out to be .I wet them as needed ..I'm in zone 8a..I also randomly threw cold hardy seeds in my garden..just random on top of the soil during the winter and they also bloomed lol
Not getting enough water was the problem. The seeds dried out so they didn't germinate. Need holes in the containers to let the rain in. Milk jugs are best with no cap.
Hi. I had 100 percent germination for my first time. From watching your video I just Realized I had too many seeds per container. I also planted In containers like you did but I had holes all over the cover. And it did not have a bottom. They did well.
Strawflower have done really well for me in winter sowing containers, too. And they have germinated in quite cool weather. They are one of only a few things that have sprouted for me in this really cold spring that we are having in Minnesota this year.
Why not just use shallower pots (ie the flat trays) rather than scrapping the shallow bins? I think the bigger issue is the water situation and type of potting mix you are using (ie even if not watered acceptable potting mix doesn’t get “rock hard” like you mentioned in the video). The bigger bins have the advantage of being able to hold on to more humidity because it holds more water. This is easily duplicated in the smaller bins by just watering more frequently.
