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seeds Soaking Seeds

ring sting

ring sting

Hi all, just a quickie:

I soaked some seeds in a dilute liquid fertiliser solution, for er maybe 10 hrs ( I got buuzeeee and forgot about them). They have been in some seed raising mix for about 9 days and not one out of about 120 has come up. Have I ruined them? I wont give up, but i would kinda like my seed trays back for another batch of seeds....

Varieties were bulgarian carrot and charleston's

Cheers,

RS
 
nitrogen tends to inhibit germination and fertilizer too early can burn the seedlings so i'm guessing its not great for the embryo in the seed either. although i've heard people swear by saltpeter and isn't that just potasium nitrate? anyways, the whole point of soaking is to weaken the hull so warmth and moisture can break dormancy easier (plus as a side benefit i find you get fewer hullbound seedlings...)
 
Well, when I do a seed soaking I do it for 24 hours and the seeds are very happy. The key is what you soak them in (like GrumpyBear was saying...). Depending on what you soaked them in, they may be fine. Keep in mind some C. Chinense seeds can take up to 4 weeks to germinate (and that's mnot just limited to Chinense)
 
ring sting said:
Hi all, just a quickie:

I soaked some seeds in a dilute liquid fertiliser solution, for er maybe 10 hrs ( I got buuzeeee and forgot about them). They have been in some seed raising mix for about 9 days and not one out of about 120 has come up. Have I ruined them? I wont give up, but i would kinda like my seed trays back for another batch of seeds....

Varieties were bulgarian carrot and charleston's

Cheers,

RS
Click to expand...

Do not need to soak them at all. Although i do not know if what you soaked them in has ruined your seeds i do know that the experiment i did with soaking seeds had no effect on the germination times nor percentages and if you do some searches on this forum and others you will come up with more people who think it is a waste of time than people that do not.

Dale
 
Thanks for the replies GB and IGG!!

So, 10 hours or so is not too long. That's good. It is warm here through the day and night, but just to be sure i might move the trays inside and put em on the fridge. I did sprout some of the bulgarians there, so i'll try again

Thanks again, RS
 
thepodpiper said:
Do not need to soak them at all. Although i do not know if what you soaked them in has ruined your seeds i do know that the experiment i did with soaking seeds had no effect on the germination times nor percentages and if you do some searches on this forum and others you will come up with more people who think it is a waste of time than people that do not.

Dale
Click to expand...

I actually did an experiment with pepper and onion seeds in regards to soaking them in different solutions (compost, regurlar...LA....tap water, and Superthrive). I cam up with some very interesting results. I'll have to find them to post here.......now where did I pack that disk away at?
 
Dale,

That's the conclusion that I am coming to as well. However, I have been told privately that the seeds that I am using may be a "little" old as well, which I know will reduce the germination rates.

I live in hope..
 
9 days is not too bad. If you planted them too deep they can take extra time to pop out.I soak for 24-48 hours.

What I like to do is germinate them in zip lock baggies with a damp paper towel. That way you don't waste seed tray space.

TIP: sterilize the paper towel in boiling water to prevent fungus and other nasties to attack the seeds.
 
The biggest difference that I've seen is in old seed vs fresher seed. My experiment in soaking produced no advantage. As has been pointed out, some varieties just take longer than others. I had some chacoense last year that took 8 weeks to germinate.
 
I don't know about the bulgarian carrot but I did not have any of my Charleston Hot germinate either and I was thinking it's a hybrid variety and not true so germination might not happen.
 
i've always said i don't know if it helps them, but clearly it doesn't hurt them so it's just what i do. common things to soak in is a mild bleach solution, weak chamomile tea, tap water, saltpeter, diluted bird poo (ew..never done that one...) i'm sure there's more.
i really don't know what fertilizer will do to them, but i do know they don't need any food at that stage (they still have the lunch mommy plant packed for them, the endosperm) but we're all interested in how it turns out. diluting the mix actually might have helped you, and if you're worried about the seed being bad to begin with just do the paper towel trick while you're waiting on the others and see if anything pops.
 
GrumpyBear said:
if you're worried about the seed being bad to begin with just do the paper towel trick while you're waiting on the others and see if anything pops.
Click to expand...

I'm always going to use the paper towel method now for germinating seeds, it's so reliable compared to how I was doing it before.
 
I have done it both ways. I like the towel thingy for sure that way I can see whats happening. But then I planted my first batch to deep and took forever the next batch came up really nice about 10 to 14 days and bingo they were there. So good luck either way but if they were old the germination may be a little tougher
 
thepodpiper said:
ring sting, do you have any heat under them?

Dale
Click to expand...

Hi Dale,

I live in Queensland Australia, so no. Temps here are between 20 and 35 Degrees Celsius day and night. Humidity the last 3 weeks has been at about 75-85%. Today I have moved the trays out of my nice dark garage and onto the fridge in the kitchen so as to get them hotter!

I have some of the bulgarians coming up today (6/50 so far), so like someone else here (was it grumpy??) maybe I have been premature in my asking for information. But still no action on the charleston hot's.

Again, thanks to all for your generous knowledge and tips on seed raising -- more lessons for the future.

RS :)
 
ring sting said:
Hi Dale,
I have some of the bulgarians coming up today (6/50 so far), so like someone else here (was it grumpy??)
Click to expand...

I think it was the general sentiment of the crowd, but i'm happy to take credit for it if credit is being bestowed ;)
 
imaguitargod said:
I actually did an experiment with pepper and onion seeds in regards to soaking them in different solutions (compost, regurlar...LA....tap water, and Superthrive). I cam up with some very interesting results. I'll have to find them to post here.......now where did I pack that disk away at?
Click to expand...

Have you had a chance to find your results for the seeds that were soaking in different solutions IGG?
 
So far, I'm getting about 60% on the bulgarian carrots.
Still not one of about 50 seeds of the charleston's has come up. They are on my fridge, so are constantly warm, in a mini-greenhouse and damp (no mould so far).

RS
 
AlabamaJack said:
Have you had a chance to find your results for the seeds that were soaking in different solutions IGG?
Click to expand...
Nope, but then again, I havn't started looking yet. I'll take a peak around my moving boxes for them today.
 
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