So, I’ve seen info all over the internet about using hydrogen peroxide to assist with germinating pepper seeds. But recommendations on concentration and time are kind of all over the board, and much of it seems to be picked up from just a few sources, which kind of just mention it in passing. I have been using H2O2 to assist with soaking and germinating my seeds, and have been seeing some positive results. Well, I’m a scientist by training, and I just could not let those pesky H2O2 pepper seed germination “facts” sit out there on the interwebs without some solid data to back up those claims. There are a million different tests that could be conducted. I settled on running a couple of pretty generic ones to learn a bit of a baseline on how effective H2O2 can be in assisting with germinating pepper seeds, and what effect concentration plays into it. I know that holes can be poked into my design, but hey, you gotta start somewhere. Hopefully my pictures make things more clear than my description.
Side notes:
The seeds:
Take seeds, “plant” without soil in a vial rack. Add 5 different concentrations of H2O2 to the rack, and see how germination goes along. One rack has exactly 80 wells, so 80 divided by 5 trials = 16 seeds per concentration. I used 1 rack for Thai, and 1 rack for Habanero, and all “plantings” were conducted at one time on the same day.
Concentrations:
And, the results (as a reminder, each trial group had 16 total seeds):
*The number following each day represents the total # of seeds to germinate.
Thai – the first signs of germination appeared on day 5. Following is the number that have germinated at inspection on each day.
Habanero – the first signs of germination appeared on day 5.
My uber-scientific takehome results – Overall, germination was lower than expected (best was 69% for Thai and 43% for habanero). Water only had some germination, but also some mold/fungus growth. No mold/fungus on any other trial. 100% and 50% H2O2 was damaging to both varieties. Yea, I expected high concentrations to be detrimental, but you never know til you try, and a zero is still data.
Different pepper varieties react differently. 10% was too hot for Habanero, but looked to be pretty good for Thai. Germination had visibly begun by day 5, maybe remove from the soak following about 3 days, then plant. This might prevent the root damage???
Looks like another round of trials may be in order to help zero in on a better low concentration (maybe 2.5% or 5%). Too bad I’m about out of seeds for now. If somebody out there has a boatload of seeds from a known easy sprouter, I’d gladly pay for shipping to continue more trials. I’m not trying to hoard free seeds, but as you can see, you need many seeds for replicates. I went through 160 on this trial alone, and 16 seeds per group is barely scratching the surface. If I were to do it again, I’d use concentrations of 10, 5, 2.5, 0.7 and 0%. You still need 0% for a baseline. Following that, I’d use the “best” concentration, and then test different durations of pre-soak before coffee filter planting.
So, what am I gonna do about it: For now, I think for now, I’ll stay away from higher concentrations of H2O2 for pre-soaking seeds. I’ve used 30% for 1-12 hours in the past, but did it do more harm than good? I dunno. 0.7 to 10% had no mold/fungal growth in these trials, so a lower concentration may be the safer route to go.
A second trial is currently ongoing – similar, but different. I hope to post that experiment sometime next week.
Side notes:
- I normally germinate my seeds on coffee filters inside of plastic bags. In parallel with these trials (starting slightly before), I was using around 30% H2O2 by volume for pre-soaking some various Aji seeds, and I decided to just add the 30% solution to the bags and filter also. Seeds germinated well, but the roots were just torched by the H2O2. A little nubbin was produced, and cotyledons formed, but no real roots. No subsequent roots formed, and all perished. Germination and viability are two very different things.
- Hopefully these trials can be used as a guide for pre-soak (days and concentrations), and another trial can be used to determine a concentration to be added to the germination media.
The seeds:
- Thai market peppers ([SIZE=10.5pt]annuum[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]) [/SIZE]– seeds were removed and dried. Some previous plantings of these seeds showed that these were some pretty vigorous sprouters (around 80%), so they would be my easy-peasy variety.
- Habanero (unknown gifted; [SIZE=10.5pt]chinense[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]) [/SIZE]– seeds were removed straight from the pod and “planted” without drying. Total unknown here.
Take seeds, “plant” without soil in a vial rack. Add 5 different concentrations of H2O2 to the rack, and see how germination goes along. One rack has exactly 80 wells, so 80 divided by 5 trials = 16 seeds per concentration. I used 1 rack for Thai, and 1 rack for Habanero, and all “plantings” were conducted at one time on the same day.
Concentrations:
- 100% H2O2
- 100% Water
- 50% H2O2
- 10% H2O2
- 0.7% H2O2 – this is the often referenced 1 tsp/cup of water concentration
- Label racks (groups 1-5, one for each concentration)
- Individual seeds were pulled out of a vial and added to an empty well in a stratified random design (so that no one group received all of the big or small seeds).
- 600 microliters of fluid were pipetted into each well. The 5 concentrations were mixed using generic 3% hydrogen peroxide and non-chlorinated well water.
- Racks were placed inside of a clear zip-lock bag and placed into my 84 degree germination chamber. A single LED light is centered directly above the racks.
- Sit back and wait, and check every morning for a revelation. Record data.
And, the results (as a reminder, each trial group had 16 total seeds):
*The number following each day represents the total # of seeds to germinate.
Thai – the first signs of germination appeared on day 5. Following is the number that have germinated at inspection on each day.
- 100% H2O2 – Utter failure. No signs of germination.
- 100% Water – Day5=5, day6=5, day7=5, day8=6, day9=6, day10=6, day13=6, day14=8
- 50% H2O2 –day7=1, Then, no further germ.
- 10% H2O2 – Day5=5, day6=6, day7=8, day8=8, day9=8, day10=9, day13=10, day14=11
- 0.7% H2O2 – Day5=3, day6=4, day7=4, day8=4, day9=4, day10=5, day13=5, day14=5
Habanero – the first signs of germination appeared on day 5.
- 100% H2O2 – Utter failure. No signs of germination.
- 100% Water –day7=3, Then, no further germ.
- 50% H2O2 – Utter failure. No signs of germination.
- 10% H2O2 –day6=1, Then, no further germ.
- 0.7% H2O2 – Day5=1, day6=1, day7=6, day8=8, day9=6, day10=7, day13=7, day14=7
My uber-scientific takehome results – Overall, germination was lower than expected (best was 69% for Thai and 43% for habanero). Water only had some germination, but also some mold/fungus growth. No mold/fungus on any other trial. 100% and 50% H2O2 was damaging to both varieties. Yea, I expected high concentrations to be detrimental, but you never know til you try, and a zero is still data.
Different pepper varieties react differently. 10% was too hot for Habanero, but looked to be pretty good for Thai. Germination had visibly begun by day 5, maybe remove from the soak following about 3 days, then plant. This might prevent the root damage???
Looks like another round of trials may be in order to help zero in on a better low concentration (maybe 2.5% or 5%). Too bad I’m about out of seeds for now. If somebody out there has a boatload of seeds from a known easy sprouter, I’d gladly pay for shipping to continue more trials. I’m not trying to hoard free seeds, but as you can see, you need many seeds for replicates. I went through 160 on this trial alone, and 16 seeds per group is barely scratching the surface. If I were to do it again, I’d use concentrations of 10, 5, 2.5, 0.7 and 0%. You still need 0% for a baseline. Following that, I’d use the “best” concentration, and then test different durations of pre-soak before coffee filter planting.
So, what am I gonna do about it: For now, I think for now, I’ll stay away from higher concentrations of H2O2 for pre-soaking seeds. I’ve used 30% for 1-12 hours in the past, but did it do more harm than good? I dunno. 0.7 to 10% had no mold/fungal growth in these trials, so a lower concentration may be the safer route to go.
A second trial is currently ongoing – similar, but different. I hope to post that experiment sometime next week.
Really cool stuff, fishhead. You can bet I'll be watching to see your results from future rounds.
