I have found no problems with soaking completely under water. But rinsed daily before planting or placing in germination material.
Seeds can drown and die if just left under water to germinate. I suspect the further steps of this method used by author, would be leaving in water until they germinate. This may work for some species. Never have tried this ie: leaving in water with tops exposed to air.
Some people have used a method of placing soaked seeds in a wrap for further germination. Or placing in a germination material that can't breath. This can slow down germination or even kill seeds. Seeds do need air for proper germination, but soaking, rinsing and planting in a breathable material (soil, sand, perlite peat moss etc, works great.
Chuck Chapman
---- Original Message ----
From: Tom Waters <irises@telp.com>
To: iris-species@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, May 18, 2011 10:15 am
Subject: [iris-species] soaking seeds
In the British Iris Society's booklet on growing irises from seeds, it says that seeds should not be submerged when soaking, just placed in a very shallow layer of water with their tops exposed to the air. It says submersion will kill the seeds.
I've not seen advice like this anywhere else, and it doesn't seem consistent with some other methods I've read about, like suspending a mesh bag of seeds in the tank of a toilet or leaving seeds in flowing water for extended periods to leach out germination inhibitors.
I soaked seeds for the first time this year, submerged in small jars for five days with daily water changes.
Any thoughts on this? If you soak seeds, what is your procedure?
Thanks, Tom
