In article ,
Harry Haller wrote:

Can you tell me what I'm doing that is so wrong, and how to do it
right?

Last year I tried to grow Sassafras seeds with no success. This year I
will try again!?! I followed the instructions on the seed packet
approximately.

You've been given good technical advice. If you don't mind, I'll add a
few fairly ignorant comments.

(1) If you haven't thrown all your pots of no-shows away yet, bury them
in your garden for the winter. It's amazing what can come up after a
year or two on occasion.

(2) It's quite possible that despite doing everything right, the seed
you received was non-viable. I don't know anything about the company
you ordered from, but for many species, if the seeds aren't carefully
handled with suitable temperature and humidity from collection until
you plant them, germination can be dismal. While some companies are
very careful, others feel that as long as the seeds they send you are
from the species named on the label, they've done their part. Seed
could be old, could have been exposed to excess moisture and then
redried multiple times, could have been exposed to excess heat or
dryness, etc. It also may not have been mature when collected, or
otherwise defective -- e.g. empty or aborted or poorly developed seed.

The times I've had the most success with seed of wild plants is when
I've collected them fresh, when the plant is dispersing them, and
planted them immediately where the temperature cycles and precipitation
they are adapted to can set off germination as the seed "expects". So
I'd recommend that you collect your own seed, and plant lots. If
sassafras doesn't occur in your area, see if you can find someone to
send you fresh seed from an area with a climate similar to yours. You
might also consider planting the seed you have now shallowly in a high
humus soil (leaf mold would be ideal, since sassafras is a forest
understory and edge species) and sinking the pot in a sheltered spot in
your garden, under a shrub would be good, perhaps covered by a few
handfuls of autumn leaves. If squirrels or mice are a problem, cover
the pots with screen. Note that seed may keep germinating for several
years if you put the pot back in the ground and keep it watered after
you remove this year's seedlings.

This is the ultimate low-tech approach, but it has the advantage of
managing factors that nobody may even be aware of. Once you go with
controlled conditions, you have to control everything. It's not good if
you need very reliable, repeatable results, but it has the advantage of
simplicity for an amateur.

Sassafras is a wonderful tree, beautiful and fragrant. I hope you have
better luck in germinating it next time, whichever method you use. I'm
outside its range, or I'd offer to collect seed for you. If your
objective is just to get a few trees, sassafras suckers like crazy, and
getting a few pieces of freshly cut root, kept cool and moist until
planted, may be the easiest method. Or perhaps you can dig up suckers
or seedlings from a fencerow or the edge of someone's woodlot (with
permission, of course).

Good luck, and let us know what happens.