Making your own pellets for tiny vegetable seeds

From: Anne Halliday
Subject: Making your own pellets for tiny vegetable seeds

When planting carrot and lettuce seeds it is difficult to control the spacing of the seeds because they're so small. Having to thin the plants not only wastes time but wastes seeds. I've heard that some seed suppliers offer small seeds encased in pellets, but I don't have a convenient source for these, nor do I want to pay the extra cost.

Is there a way to make your own pellets? For instance, one could make a dough from flour and water, roll the dough into pea-size balls and, while the dough is still moist, insert one seed into the ball using tweezers. Or you could separate a few seeds on a flat surface then press the ball over a single seed.

However, by the time you are ready to plant the pellets they will have dried into hard balls, but I assume that once the pellets are planted and watered they would soften. Would pellets made with flour and water hinder germination? Is there another inexpensive, readily available medium I could use instead?

It would probably be easier to just mix the seeds in with sand, then you sprinkle the seed/sand mixture around. Assuming you get the seeds and sand mixed relatively uniformly, that should give you much better spacing. A lot easier than trying to make pellets, plus no potential side effects on hindering germination, etc.

I make my own seed mats from a sheet of newspaper. Using a yardstick, I mark out my spacing with a marker. Then I mix up a concoction of 1 cup of cold water to 1/3 cup cornstarch. After they have been thoroughly combined, heat in a small saucepan until the mixture thickens. It will look something like the consistency of lemon curd or the filling for lemon pie. Allow the mixture to cool and spoon it into a piping bag or plastic baggie. If using the baggie, cut a tiny bit off one corner. The object is to squeeze about a small pea-sized glop on each of the spots on the paper. After I've filled the paper with glops, I sprinkle 2-3 seeds on each spot. Set the paper away to dry completely. The seeds are now glued to the paper and are perfectly spaced.

To plant, prepare the ground and gently tamp flat. Water the area where you are going to plant and then place the papers seed side up where you want them. Water again to wet the paper completely. Cover lightly with moss or soil just enough to barely cover the papers. You may need to water the papers a few times per day to keep them moist. As the seeds germinate, they will push down through the paper.

The papers can be cut to fit, cut into strips like seed tapes, or used as is. One sheet of paper cut in half is just about the exact size for a "square" for Square Foot Gardening. I've used this for carrots, beets, radishes, onions, and other tiny seeds. The other advantage is that the sheets can be prepared ahead of time, so you can do this on a day when you can't get into the garden, raining, in front of the TV, etc. Just be sure you mark what seed and variety you have made!

Jane

Hi Jane from 12 years ago, my name is Jane, too! I realize this is a long shot that you would answer this, but I thought I'd try. Are you able to store your newspaper sheets of stuck on seeds? For instance, if I made pelletized seeds using your method today, May 24th, would I be able to plant them in the ground in August, or would I need to prepare the seed sheets a few days before planting? Thank you!

This message was edited May 24, 2020 7:28 AM

Hi FarmerJane57,

It looks like the original Jane is not going to see this thread and answer you. I suggest you give the seeds-stuck-to-paper method a try. The only thing that could go wrong with the delayed planting is that the cornstarch glue would contain enough moisture to pre-germinate the seeds so they would be dead long before August.

But you might be able to modify the method enough to stick or hold the seeds to the paper sheets. You might want to experiment with double-sided tape. A small piece of double sided tape could stick seeds to the paper and still let the seeds germinate when planted in moist soil.

The original query by Anne Halliday about pelletizing the seeds interests me. I would like to pelletize my zinnia seeds so they could be planted by a mechanical seed planter. Regular zinnia seeds are too irregularly shaped to allow mechanical planting. Some seed companies offer pelletized zinnia seed, so I know it can be done. Unfortunately not be me, so far.

ZM

Some of the oldest methods of making seed pellets involved misting dry seed with water and then rolling them in a bin of finely powdered clay, often with other additives.. Like lime or organic materials to hold moisture and provide nutrients.
After being coated this way, they are then spread out to dry again. Seed done properly this way can last as long, or sometimes even longer, than it's untreated counterpart.
Another method is similar to the newpaper method, only you use shredded egg carton or similar packing material.. Torn, brewed, and stepped overnight. This will give you a fine slurry of paper pulp which you can add whatever supplements you want to. Then, as above, you can use a piping bag or homemade version to make little pellets to incorporate your seed into. If they are fairly small, you can just dust them over the surface before or after dropping the dots.
You can also premix the whole lot and then portion them out, but this can lead to mixture irregularities. This is similar to how the "seed hearts" and stuff like that are made.. Often adding dyes and such for effect.
There are probably more ways to effectively do this than there are ways to do it wrong. The key is remember to dry them out properly again.. Or at least it has been for me. Leaving them damp can lead to a number of issues many of you are surely familiar with already. Hope this helps.