Germinating seeds in warmed water?

This is probably one of those things that everybody knew already, but me being still new to seed starting various seeds, did not know. So I'll risk my pride and spill it. I had a packet of Gomphrena globosa seeds that I wanted to start for DH (he really digs 'em) and the directions mentioned to soak the seeds in warm water for 24 hrs and then sow them. So I fill my amber glass with warm water, dump my seeds in and then I start to think how is the water going to stay warm for 24 hrs? I think I was over-analyzing at the moment or something because I later learned from someone that you don't have to keep them warm like a hen sitting on her eggs...sheesh. Anyway, like a hen, I did keep them warm. I put the glass directly on the heat mat where I had a some coleus seedlings starting and left it there, grow lights on and all. Next day, about 18 hrs later when I happened to glance at the glass, it was full of seeds with tails....cool! So I potted up all those little babies and they're growing like mad now. A few seeds didn't have tails, so I chucked them as I had way more than I needed.

On the 11th of March, I headed out on vacation for a week but before I left, I stuck some lupin seeds in my amber glass and told my plant nanny to keep an eyeball out for seeds with tails in that glass. Well she phones me all excited at 7:30 am her time, 4:30 am my time to tell me there's little roots sticking out on a few lupin seeds. This took just under 4 days. That seemed pretty good to me.
I got home last night and a few lupins were really growing and need to get out of there but I was too tired to fuss with them so I threw 4 leftover Tithonia seeds in the glass with the lupins and said goodnight. Today, one of the Tithonia has a little tail.

I'm going to try playing around with any leftover seed from different types and see what I get and compare germ times and overall plant health afterward. Has anyone else ever done anything like this?

Here's a pic of my lupin seedlings and the one lonely Tithonia that germinated taken a little while ago, looking down into my amber glass.

This message was edited Mar 19, 2007 10:07 PM

I just might try that with my Lantana seeds, leaving them soak till they sprout. I did soak some for 24 hours, like you did on the heat mat but sowed them in seed starting mix at the 24 hr. point, none have sprouted yet, that was a few weeks ago.

Thanks!

That is so cool! I want a magic amber glass!

Think an amber pill bottle would work? LOL! I want to get as close to what you're using as possible...why mess with success like that?

Suzy

Suzy, I don't know if the amber glass is magic,lol, but let's just say it is! I found a few of these old amber glasses that were left behind in a beat up trailer at my newly-purchased parcel of land. I figured I'd take them home and maybe use them for something other than drinking out of them (goodness knows where they'd been). Maybe clear glasses would work just fine too??? I'll have to give it a whirl. Over the next few days, I'll try different seeds as I have enough that I can waste here & there for when I have failures.

ladygardener, if you have spare lantana seeds to play with, it would be interesting to see if it works. I'm crossing my fingers and please write back if anything happens and how long it takes.
I used long, clean, tweezers to pluck out the seedlings and those that got stuck to the bottom when the water was drained, were "spanked" out by hitting the bottom of the glass onto a fresh paper towel. Some of them were stubborn and just wanted to stay stuck,grrrr. I can't imagine this working with seeds that are eeny weenie things.

I'm gonna get brave now and dunk a few hosta seeds.

I started an experiment similar to this last night with Moonflower seeds after doing a google search on the subject and reading some entries in the forums, here's what I did and put the details of 1 thru 4 in my journal also:
5 different scenario's:
1: In plastic tupperware bowl with top - nicked seeds, wrapped in coffee filter and put in warm water under halogen flood light (about 8 - 10" above) for heat overnight.
2: In plastic tupperware bowl with top - nicked seeds, wrapped in coffee filter and put in 50/50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and warm water under same halogen flood light for heat overnight
3: nicked seeds, wrapped in moist coffee filter inside a ziploc baggie and put in drawer (still in drawer this morning - leaving 24 hours)
4: wrapped seeds in moist coffee filter (did not nick) put inside ziploc baggie and put in same drawer.
5: nicked seeds and planted outdoors in beds 1/4" to 1/2" deep and watered.

This morning:
I emptied #1 of water and left seeds in moist coffee filter on screen porch in tupperware bowl with lid still on - not in direct sun.
I emptied #2 of hydrogen peroxide and water then also left seeds on screen porch in tupperware bowl with lid - not in direct sun.

Time will tell which works best!
Note: Seeds are from Burpee seed pack

-Greg
Southern Garderner on the Skids

Greg, that's awesome that you're carrying out such comparisons......far more precise than I could ever be. My main reason for trying this out now, is to see what works for next year's indoor sowing. I'm often pressed for time in life and know I won't get things sown "x" number of weeks before last frost....so if I can speed germination up a little, with no ill effects of course, than I figure I can be somewhat more on time in getting things outdoors hopefully on cue.

Putting the results in your journal is a great idea! I'm just using Excel right now but can copy/paste probably into my journal.

The hosta seeds that I have in warm water from just before midnight March 19th aren't doing anything yet. I also tried out some Datura seeds at the same time......now they are definitely swelling.

The lupin seedlings are still doing well. The lupin seedling in the upper left corner of my pic looked yellowish at the time. Right now, it is greening up. The other lupin seeds that just had a little root sticking out are now starting to rise out of the soil. I'll get more pics tonight.

I was glad to see this post. I have been experiencing a terrible germination rate with bell peppers. My other seeds germinate with no problem. I read that bell peppers require a warmer soil to germinate, so I thought about how I water the seeds with cold water from the tap. I then started using lukewarm water, & had 100% germination rate. After reading this post, I'm pretty confident that it's not the seeds, but the warm water that got them going. This post helped convince me that the warm water made the difference.

A lot of good info. in this thread!

There *is* a lot of good information in this thread!

I started some Lantana seeds in warm water on a heat mat, and they were doing really well, but now I've lost them! I kept having to change the water beause it would turn very dark and I couldn't see what was going on. I remember rinsing them off and changing the water, but then I mus have carried them around with me and I can not find them anywhere. LOL!

Suzy

Suzy, you "lost" them somewhere? uh oh, if they're in one your pockets somewhere, they're toast! But at least it worked with the lantana seeds! If ever I lose something, chances are it's in the pockets of my big pink fluffy house coat,lol. I wear that all the time because I'm one of those people that always feels cold.
Greenbrain, that's great! Now you'll know for next time what works for you and thanks for the info :o)

Hosta seeds have done nothing so far and I'll probably pot em up to see what happens from here. Two outta of four Datura seeds germinated yesterday morning (that's about 6 days) in the water so I'll move them to little pots tonight.

Now to see what else I can experiment with!

Erynne

I too have been experimenting a bit with water this year Erynne.

o Hippeastrum - I sowed 3 in seed starting mix and floated 3 on top of water in a clear glass jar. 2 of the 3 in water germinated just fine, while the 3 in the soil have done nothing.

o Northern Catalpa - I sowed 3 in a root trainer pack (Lee Valley) and nothing in weeks. Dug them up, poked with a pin again, and put them in water in a clear glass jar under the gro lights. 3 days later 1 was all swelled up so I put it back into the cell it was dug out of. About 5 days later I came home from work and it was up and already about 2 inches tall. That was about 4 days ago, and now another of the seeds is beginning to swell in the water and needs putting back into the soil.

Since I am having such success with this method I may give it a try on anything else I have that seems reluctant to germinate. After all, there's nothing much to lose in that case anyway, is there?

--Ginny

Ginny, no I don't think you have anything to lose if you have enough seed to spare or if everything else has failed. Thanks for your reports. Is the water you're using warm and being kept warm on a heat mat? Either way, it's good to know for future reference!
How are your Hippeastrum that germinated in water doing now?

One of my hosta seeds that I put in the water decided to make a liar out of me. The next day it put out a root while still in the water......I hadn't had the chance to pot them up yet and now I'm glad I didn't,lol. So that's 9 days in water that the hosta seed took to germinate. Pretty much on par with me starting them in seed starting mix, maybe just a bit less.

Here's the little rebel:

Here's a link to a first picture of one of the Hippeastrum Erynne:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/p.php?pid=3270465

That was about 2 1/2 weeks ago and it's about 3 times that size now. The other one was having a lot of difficulty shedding the seed covering so it is really holding back on me - we'll see if it comes to much of anything.

I had the jar with the Hippeastrum seeds on a wall shelf in my "plant room" getting very indirect light only and no extra heat. The jar with the Catalpa seeds in it is on a shelf in my indoor greenhouse under the gro lights, so it is getting heat from the lights, but that's all. I do start all of them with warm water in the jar though.

Nice to know about the hosta. Using this method would at least allow you to see which ones are viable and then you can discard the ones that don't germinate after a while - no wasted space :-)

--Ginny