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seeds Treated seeds

S

smokemaster

I was wondering if anyone has a secret to getting these pink,purple coated seeds to sprout.
For whatever reason almost ALL the treated seeds I've ever gotten over the last gazillion years refuse to sprout or when they do sprout the plant usually sucks - weak start that gets helmet headed and dies or is just a weak plant from the start.
It also seems that the only ones I've gotten to sprout were new/fresh seeds.
I think keeping them a season makes the coating kill the seed or something.
I don't get it.
Isn't the coating supposed to make the seeds grow better than non treated seeds?
I think maybe the fungus coating might not be for germination enhancement but because the seeds aren't properly dried when packaged and the coating prevents you from getting moldy seeds.
 
I do know , there are different coatings.
 
Some are for fungus prevention,others are stuff that won't let the seed sprout until conditions are right(heat,water etc,)several are also ferts. and possibly hormones to get the starts happy etc.
 
Color means different things according to the supplier.
They can use a color for just ferts. or a variety or?
They choose.There isn't a color code that says all Blue ones are treated with whatever.
Some are just so the supplier can tell what seeds they are and the coating by color.
It changes from supplier to supplier.
 
Opinions on my observations are welcome.
 
Speaking purely from personal preference, I've stopped using coated/treated seeds of any kind SM.  I never did use much treated seed to begin with - usually sweet corn and some beans - and I didn't have good luck/yields with them.  The more I found out about them the less I felt comfortable growing them.  I've been using my own saved seed for the last couple years with (mostly) good results.    
 
The only seeds I get in general that are treated are mostly from other countries.
 
A lot of it is seeds I can't get here that are isolated.
 
I do not like the idea of whatever chemicals or whatever being on my seeds but sometimes pure seeds are hard to come by from wherever that aren't untreated.
 
I only grow peppers,I'd guess a lot less than 1% of the seeds I get are treated at any given time over the last 20+ years.
 
If X variety is treated seeds and that is the only source,I have no choice.
 
I don't like Mercury in any amount on my seeds or anything else for that matter.
A form of Mercury is used on a lot of seed coatings.
I've researched seed coatings and basically all are to the vendors advantage,not the grower/purchasers.
 
I do avoid seeds that are coated if I can.
 
I agree with you.
 
BUT I do have seeds I'd like to grow out for seeds only.
 
I don't want to eat stuff from coated seeds-just in case.
 
I already might have beaten Lympatic Cancer.
I don't need any help making it come back...
 
Hmm, I would needle Queequeg, he's been growing tobacco and all the seeds have similar coatings. He's quite adept, and should know how to wiggle something out of them.
 
coated seeds are the shit.
 
ive had 100% germination sucess with my super expensive treated dr7749 seeds, same with my treated annums. granted ive only germinated like 10-15 of each.
 
NEVER had one damp off.
 
the only treated seeds ive had die off were... some tobacco plants that i probably missed during watering.
 
best part about coated seeds is that they take the time to classify each seed, and can weed out the weird fugly seeds that are all gnarled and bent, and hence unlikely to germinate well.
 
all this being said, treated seeds are more, sometimes much more expensive. they are not necessary if you are growing in sterile mediums imo... they are more geared towards field crops.
 
the biggest downsize of treated seeds is... in some plants ( lettuce tobacco and some others)  the seed coatings are built up hugly such that they can be handled by machines easily. this huge built up coating can damage the root tips when they emerge leading to spiral roots and ultimately the death of plants. 

smokemaster said:
I don't like Mercury in any amount on my seeds or anything else for that matter.
A form of Mercury is used on a lot of seed coatings.
I've researched seed coatings and basically all are to the vendors advantage,not the grower/purchasers.
 
I do avoid seeds that are coated if I can.
 
Click to expand...
 
lol who is coating seeds in mercury?
 
It's is or wasn't actually Mercury .as in Quicksilver but a mercury compound that used to be commonly used as an anti fungal.
I can't remember the name,tip of my tongue,can't spit it out.
I can't find a reference to it when googling seed coatings-most use broad terms like anti fungal,insectide etc.
 
At the same time,it may not be used anymore in the U.S. with all the E.P.A. stuff we have...
But I mostly get seeds from overseas that are coated.
I never know with what...
 
Seems that I read it on the internet,Organic sites at one time...SO IT MUST BE TRUE. it was on the net...  LOL
 
Either way,I stilll read bad stuff that is suposed to be caused by some seed coatings.
But that wasn't the point of my post.
I didn't mean to hyjack my own ppost or open the door to a hyjack.
 
I've never been able to get coated seeds to sprout for some reason.
At the same time I don't know the seeds age most times they were trades with no commercial packaging.
 
Ethyl- and methylmercury is no longer used (it caused some serious global poisonings in the 50s, 60s and 70s). Most common used coating these days is TMTD/Thiram which is a fungicide (dimethylcarbamothioylsulfanyl N,N-dimethylcarbamodithioate). It's available under a wide range of commercials brands/trademarks and is usually mixed with some sort of a polymer giving it the appearance of a metallic coating. Usually it's green, blue, pink or orange (but can be coloured in any choice).
 
smokemaster said:
It's is or wasn't actually Mercury .as in Quicksilver but a mercury compound that used to be commonly used as an anti fungal.
I can't remember the name,tip of my tongue,can't spit it out.
Click to expand...
..."captan"....?

In the '70s, i recall this chemical's treatment imparting a hot-pink colored 'frosting' on seed corn, and some other vegetable seeds -- presumably, this was a bright-colored dye used to warn of the fungicide's presence... i think i recall reading of concerns that captan-treated seed grain (sent as a foreign-aid package) might be mistaken for a foodstuff.
 
In general, I find that coated seeds have a significantly shorter shelf life than seeds which have not been coated.  This is backed up by catalogs from both the United Kingdom and Russia for pepper seeds.  I have not seen similar warnings in US catalogs about coating impacts on peppers, but there are warnings about pelleting and anti-fungal coatings on corn, lettuce, and a number of herbs that are treated.  The general rule of thumb I see in this printed material is that such seeds should be used within one year of purchase.  Ball Seed used to (and may still) have a seed viability rating for their products.  You could see the impact of various treatments on the longevity of the seeds.  I've read that the impact of the coatings is related to a change in seed respiration activity; I'm not sure if this is so.  Johnny's catalog notes the reduced lifetimes for rosemary, lettuce, and some other pelleted vegetables. 
Renais
 
Exactly what I was trying to say.
I think coatings cause older seeds to die.
 
I read up on coating colors,each company uses a color to mean a specific thing that it does.
 
One color might be a growth inhibitor so the seed doesn't sprout until moisture and temps. are right,another can be a fert. and something that gets the seed to grow faster,Another is for fungus or whatever protection.
Each Co. has their own color code...
 
I found places where I can buy seed coatings that do a Ton of different things-all differemt colors.
They all  offer any color you want to coat your seeds with.
 
Try Googling seed coatings.
 
I see coated seeds as having a very short shelf life-for home growers.
Commercial farmers plant all their seeds each year.
My grow is limited...
 
Next year is probably too late.
 
Smoke
 
yea coated seeds dont germ well after a while. or atleast this is what i read regarding tobacco seeds.

supposedly the pellet treatment causes the root to spiral or just fail to escape into the soil? also the coating effects oxygen escaping the seed when you use oxygen scavangers and low temps for long term storage?


my tobacco seeds didnt germ well even at year 2. they are just "pelleted" meaning they are just made into little bb's with some bentonite and water and some flowing agent etc, no fungicide or systemic. still got like 50% after 7 days.
the emergance was very uneven though... not good for commercial transplant cultivation, of which tobacco is a big one.
 
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