Oh no! My cold stratified seeds froze!

It happened: I transferred my seeds to another refrigerator, and today I checked them, and they were clearly frozen! In moist vermiculite and plastic bags they were, paw paws, persimmons, beach plums and normal plums. Now I don't think my refrigerator can go much below freezing point, but has anyone had these plants germinate from even partially frozen seeds? Especially I'm worried about the paw paws .

-Janne

Whatever....

In the wild, the seeds are not refrigerated. They are cold, they freeze, they unfreeze, they are cold, they freeze, they unfreeze, etc, etc, etc...

I suggest planting them as you would normally plant them. Either they will grow, or they won't.

Isn't that what is supposed to happen? Maybe you get extra good results!

You'll probably be alright. Even the paw paws are hardy to zone 5 or so which means plenty of cold weather during the winter. They never would have developed this cold hardiness if their seed couldn't survive harsh winters.

I would just plant them as you normally would.

Let us know how they turn out!

hi Janne,

I grow a lot of pawpaws both directly planted in the ground to overwinter and cold stratified in the fridge
here in west pa, if the winter is especially cold and the ground gets frozen without snow, germination will suffer
I put the seeds in the ground and cover with leaves to give them protection
these seeds will partially freeze and for the most part will germinate
I choose to go the fridge route because I have more control
no worries about animals digging them up, frost heaving bringing the up, too cold or too dry a winter
pawpaws, like other plants, produce a gazillion seeds, and are happy if a few make it
someone with only a few seeds or someone wanting to grow a gazillion plants may want to choose the fridge

I started my refrigerated seeds last week  by first soaking overnight in warm water
then put them in a holding box of 3-4 in of potting soil ( pointy side up covered with soil)
put in a warm place and kept moist
next month I'll start checking them to see if they have started to germinate (root emergence)
those that have, I'll transfer to pots (with leaf sprout 3-4 months later)
some may not start to root until June!
don't give up on them if they look good and firm

good luck

Thank you so much for all the answers, I think I can rest more easily, and just wait until the 3 months of stratification is over, after that I'll see what comes up during the summer.

-Janne