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seeds Paper towel germination questions
- Thread starter lazienfat
- Start date
I guess I wasn't clear enough. You don't put a covering of paper over the seed but you do put a lid on the cup, which essentially makes it a solid inflated baggie.
I borrowed one of MillWorkMan's photos from his Grow Log to demonstrate how cool it is.
Now compare to a row of baggies. More difficult to observe the seeds:
I would expect better germination performance from seed that were surrounded with a moist medium.
I woulda thunk the same thing (wrapping the seed) until PepperJam posted up his test run. I guess that type of cup holds the humidity quite well and the top of the seed doesn't care!
My earlier post about putting extra layers of coffee filter on the bottom to compensate for the more 'plush' paper towel texture is the only unknown for me at this point.
My earlier post about putting extra layers of coffee filter on the bottom to compensate for the more 'plush' paper towel texture is the only unknown for me at this point.
I like this plastic container trick. I have about a hundred of them kicking around. I pray we don't get pounded with another big snow storm this weekend so I can finish getting everything together. This looks so fast and easy that I guess I'll start marking them up tonight and pickup the coffee filters tomorrow. I really didn't want to mess around with the Ziplocs this year because it consumes too much time.
Thanks for the tip!!
Thanks for the tip!!
Yea, thanks to Mills and PepperJam and prolly several others for posting these methods.
@ SuperHot, if you have a bunch of those containers, you could run a few tests yourself to see if seeds germinate better with a paper cover over the top of them, as in both sides wrapped, or if it is okay to leave the top of the seed uncovered. You could hedge your bets that way...
@ SuperHot, if you have a bunch of those containers, you could run a few tests yourself to see if seeds germinate better with a paper cover over the top of them, as in both sides wrapped, or if it is okay to leave the top of the seed uncovered. You could hedge your bets that way...
Yea the best results came from leaving the seeds uncovered in the cups. I am now having seeds that were in ziplocks for 4 weeks and very-low-to-none rate of germination all starting to germinate in cups with no cover on the seed! Its very exciting! I was thinking of even throwing the seeds away that were in ziplocks for 4 weeks, but i had extra cups and just tried it for the heck of it
Also make sure to have the paper towel moist. If you have a heating mat, the water will evaporate and become dew on the lid and perhaps leaving the paper towel dry. open the cap and moisten the towel again while leaving the dew on the lid. that way you have a good amount of moisture in there, but don't drown the seeds
Well, I can now testify that it is not 100% true that "the coffee filter is so finely woven that the roots never grow into it." I just found some of my douglah and congo trin sprouts refuse to budge from the coffee filter. C'est la vie! However, I have decided to continue to use the coffee filters instead of paper towels. The reason for this is because the weight of the coffee filter is apparently less than the weight of the paper towel. Many of the sprouts which I have done between 2 sheets of paper towel come out all twisted up, but the coffee filter is light-weight enough for the sprout to just raise it up as it grows.
AlabamaJack
eXtreme
+1 SS
and I will go out on a limb here and say I don't like the baggie method...
reasons:
roots grow thru paper towel or otherwise get entwined in the media they are on...very few are moved without breaking some of the fine hairs that are where your nutrients/water are absorbed...when you break a root, there is an opening in the epidermis of the structure leaving it open to attack by uglies....just like a cut on your hand...
IMO once you put a seed down for germination, it should not be touched until first transplant time...usually 4-5 weeks...by that time, the plants have had plenty of time to establish themselves in this media...can you say rootball city?
that is the main key ingredient in a plants life...
ok so tomorrow will be a week and I have had only 1 Cumari Passarinho has popped. Staying between 78 and 88 degrees and quite moist. When the towels dry out I tap the condensation down and tilt the container to re-wet them or add more if needed.
Is it possible to keep the towels too wet???
Is it possible to keep the towels too wet???
@ Justaguy, I keep my baggies on the moist side--enough to see a few drops of excess water. This would be harder to judge with a container, but if the towel is moist and you see condensation, should be good to go.
@ AJ--Just spotted your post about reluctance using baggies due to possible damage in transfer to planting. This is a point well taken as I sometimes lose around 25% in the move (as in they germinate, but don't come up after moving to the planting medium). As you noted, there are some amazing tiny hairs on root systems subject to damage.
One mitigation mentioned coffee filters instead of paper towels. I've done about 30 baggies, and have yet to have a root grow through, and the fine hairs stay on top of a 'good' filter.
It is important to move sprout carefully--use tweezers lightly grasping the seed head, never the roots.
Another approach is plant all seeds as soon as the first 'soldier' in the coffee filter batch germinates. This becomes just a way of soaking the seeds. Maximum pre-germination and minimum root damage in transfer. (This could be quite useful in other vegetable seeds that take a long time to germ out in the garden.)
One area where the baggies and containers totally kick ass is testing seed viability. It is so easy and I believe quicker to test older or suspect seeds using the coffee filter baggie / container. Also when a weak tea solution is added to the baggie, (I think) germination is speeded.
When all said and done, it may be a 'wash' in terms of the advantage of seed viability and possibly being able to skip one potting up procedure....has some advantages but perhaps not for the big league growers....
@ AJ--Just spotted your post about reluctance using baggies due to possible damage in transfer to planting. This is a point well taken as I sometimes lose around 25% in the move (as in they germinate, but don't come up after moving to the planting medium). As you noted, there are some amazing tiny hairs on root systems subject to damage.
One mitigation mentioned coffee filters instead of paper towels. I've done about 30 baggies, and have yet to have a root grow through, and the fine hairs stay on top of a 'good' filter.
It is important to move sprout carefully--use tweezers lightly grasping the seed head, never the roots.
Another approach is plant all seeds as soon as the first 'soldier' in the coffee filter batch germinates. This becomes just a way of soaking the seeds. Maximum pre-germination and minimum root damage in transfer. (This could be quite useful in other vegetable seeds that take a long time to germ out in the garden.)
One area where the baggies and containers totally kick ass is testing seed viability. It is so easy and I believe quicker to test older or suspect seeds using the coffee filter baggie / container. Also when a weak tea solution is added to the baggie, (I think) germination is speeded.
When all said and done, it may be a 'wash' in terms of the advantage of seed viability and possibly being able to skip one potting up procedure....has some advantages but perhaps not for the big league growers....
