Germination Theory

Just My theory:

I germinated 2 Red Moonvine seeds in 24 hours & a host of other seeds too; on the 26th. Potted them up on the 27th; & there are 2 giant leaves on both Moonvines today standimg straight up tall today!

I'm going to try my theory on some other hard to germinate seeds... like columbine & the Hidcote Lavender seeds too.

Editing this post::

I poured 1 cup of spring water in a cleaned out spagetti sauce jar:
**I heated both jar & water together in microwave for 60 seconds**
**It needs the lid for later on.**

Added in: 1 Tablespoonful of ordinary household peroxide (after heating the water.)

Dropped seeds in promptly. Then Covered the jar with lid on tightly.

Kept in a warm place (on top of fridge.)

I saw them germinating within 6 hours (tails sprouting out, looking like over-weight, fat little sperms.. LOL!.)

I went to bed and checked them when I awoke. Holy cat fish Batman! The leaves were formed and ready to launch!

I walked around not knowing what to do; I was so excited!

I went looking for some clean pots; I used some 16 ounce plastic cups from the dollar store & poked 3 holes in the bottom. Next off to find some fresh potting soil; luckily there was enough in the bottom of the (new?) bag. Whew!

I let the soil in the cups draw water from the bottom.
I made holes for the seeds in the soiil.
I put a small amount of rooting powder in the holes & placed the budding seeds in.
Covered them with twice the amount of soil that they were; (huge) at least a whole inch deep.

That was on the 27th.

When I went out on the porch this morning, to check on them; they had their 2 first leaves up & waving hello to me!

I am really astonished at this!

~* Robin☺


**
Today's Notes: 6/30/2005

These are the seeds that I had put in the jar; at the same time:
2 - Red Moonvine
2 - White Moonvine
2 - Canary Bird Vine
2 - Climbing Spinach
2 - Red Hardy Hibiscus
2 - Nasturtium
2 - I forgot to mark down

Today I went out to check them at 9:25 AM

2 - White Moonvine are popping up from the soil half out.
1 - Canary Bird Vine is standing upright with seed cover still partially on.

** Special Notation **
All have unusually thick stems for seedlings just emerged.

This message was edited Jun 29, 2005 10:19 PM

This message was edited Jun 30, 2005 11:12 AM

WHAT IS IT, WHAT IS IT, WHAT IS IT! I soak mine in weak tea water before planting but I don't get near the results like this! So once you prove your theory can we sweet talk you out of it?

-Garity

Everyday I will Re-edit the above post with more results.

If you have questions post them here on this thread, please don't Dmail me.

~* Robin☺

This message was edited Jun 30, 2005 11:08 AM

i'm attempting this.

Robin, I am going to try this with some passion flower vine seeds that are giving me a headache (I just hope I didn't get traded some really old seeds). Thanks for sharing your method!

-Garity

Garity, I think I've heard that passionflower seeds need a soak in something acidic break down the seed coat.... I seem to remember something about allowing them to ferment in passionflower fruit juice? So you might try adding a little something along those lines to your peroxide water... Good luck!

critter,

The acidic nature of the peroxide water does the same thing. If she uses both together; she may harm the seeds' embryo.

~* Robin☺

Could this theory work for tomato and pepper seeds--or for other flower seeds,too?

had a canna indica sprout in 3 days, has little roots now. The teaspoon of poppy seeds i put in havent responded at all. any thoughts?

Mine is a stupid question naien, sorry if this is a complete insult to you even asking this but is the tsp. of seeds from a poppy seed spice jar? I know that the industry heat treats some of the seeds used for spice so they won't germinate. If they are from a package of seed then I have no idea what would be their hold up in this method of germination. I've got some Icelandic Poppy I could try and see if they germinate with the peroxide water if you want to compare notes. I'll do them today. Otherwise, I've sent you d-mail on another topic...well sort of.

-Garity

hahaha. no, i pinched them from a botanical garden because they are beautiful ice blue poppies - ones i've been looking for. I got a whole lot of seeds and have tried 3 times to germinate them using different methods and none have worked.

Robin, So you're putting the seeds in extremely hot water (with peroxide)? I would have thought this would "cook" the seeds but I guess not. I am gonna watch this thread, I love experiments - especially ones that work! :)

Eileen

i'm trying this again with cleome seeds and cinnmon basil... any successes?

naien, are you trying this with cleome seeds because you find them hard to germinate, or are you just experimenting?

Naien

Poppy seeds need cool to germinate. The are usually set onto snow and left to melt onto soil as it warms. I know you probably do not get snow in Ca. But they will need to germinate other than a hot bath. Lunaria is another that is fall sown for cooler germinating temps.
Maybe you could germinate some in the refrigerator this time of year.

hm... really? filter paper and the like?

I think I would just set the seeds in a shallow potting soil and mark it, NOT BROWNIES. put it into the fridge covered with plastic wrap. Poppy seeds need light to germinate, so do not cover and keep opening the refrigerator to make sure the light is on. LOL The last part was just a joke. I don't know how you will get light in there. Your family might think you are nuts if you set a flash light in there.
You probably could germinate them in an air-conditioned room after they are in the fridge for a week or two.

ok, thanks so much.

Canna seeds will germinate for me in 3 days if you just soak them for 24 hours in regular old room temp water.

Do you nick the canna seeds first? They never seem to do anything unless I chip a little piece out of the hard covering before I soak them.

I followed instructions exactly for these dogone passion flower seeds in this method. This is my last attempt for this batch (I really think I got traded old seeds! Shame on you! At least it was a trade from "Another" Garden Web-site and not here...I haven't had anything but perfect seeds from anyone here of course!) I have never had problems germinating passion flower seeds before which leads me to believe they are crap but I will try this method first before tossing the rest of them out.

Naien-you mentioned the poppy seeds you are trying are blue? Are they those Himalayan blue ones? Those are going to be in my garden someday I swear! They would never make it here in the humidity but once we get up to Idaho I am going to try them. I hear they do fantastic in areas like Washington state so I'm hoping I'll be close enough.

They definately need to be cold stored for a bit so Windy has it right on. I've got one of the shelves in the door of my fridge just for this. If you are short on fridge space instead of a tray of soil you can wrap the seeds in damp paper towels and put them in a ziplock bag, just don't forget about them. The light needed for germination shouldn't be an issue until they are back out of the fridge and in the soil (or in the jar with the water and peroxide mix) which is when the light will be most important. I usually leave my seeds in for 90 days or so but I've had fine results with just 60 days if I'm impatient. (I know some who only leave seeds in for 2-4 weeks so it's not an exact science of course)

I've got several types of columbines, Calycanthus and a few magnolia seeds (I want to try just for the thrill of growing one of these giant beauties from seed) in the fridge right now but we are going to be hitting winter here soon so the poor things are going to have a very messed up internal clock. I can't wait to try the water and peroxide on the columbines that are in the fridge. I'll do a jar with cold treated seeds and one without and see if there is any difference.

I threw the packet in the fridge and i'm going to put them in a little pot and put them back in the fridge soon. As i understand light doesn't matter until they germinate unless you're using it to warm the soil, as once they break the seed coat and start to form roots they no longer need to be cold because we'd have already achieved germination... right?

No, some seeds will not germinate if they are covered with soil. Some have to just be pressed into the soil and kept moist. I don't know why this is, but seeds like balsamina impatiens and poppy seed and perilla etc, do not germinate if they are not given light while still a seed.
I have a Burpee book called Seed Starter and the author is Maureen Heffernan. In the back of the book it lists seeds that need light to germinate.
After reading this I found that it is one of the reasons that some of the seeds I tried to grow in the past did not germinate. Now I have the book handy when I sow my seeds just to make sure I don't bury the light seeking ones.
I believe the cold treatment is to break dormancy. In order for seeds in nature to germinate in spring and survive they have to have some sort of deterrent to keep them from germinating right after they fall from the parent plant. In nature winter does this for us.Wintersowing is another way to go in the cooler climates.

wow... thanks for the info! nownder 've never coaxed poppy seeds into germination.