Re: HYB: improving germination

Linda,

>Vallette has a lot of bits of things folks have tried with varying
>degrees of success to improve the percent of seeds that germinate and to
>get them to germinate faster.  Some of these are pretty wild!

I'll bet!  One of the wilder things I've considered is putting a pinto bean
into soak along with dried iris seeds I'm soaking.  The reasoning has to do
with how readily a bean soaks and sprouts, so I wonder if the chemicals
leeching out of the bean would cause the inhibitors in the iris seed coat to
act along with the soaking bean.  Probably will try it one of these days.

>The bottom line for non-purissima & non-pink pedigrees is to dry for at
>least two weeks, soak with lots of changes of water (she reports short
>and long soaks, soaks with hot or cold water, this n that), chill for 30
>to 90 days (various versions of this as well, including wet and dry),
>then plant and NEVER EVER let them dry out (until you've given up for
>the year, then it doesn't seem to much matter - they will have to go
>thru the same complete cycle again the following year - dry, soak,
>chill, then grow).

I do seem to be finding that planted seeds can be kept pretty wet without
rotting once they are planted.  That applied to fresh green seeds as well as
dried ones.  I think, though, that not every seed requires a second chilling
period after the first one.  Else I wouldn't have the fall sprouting after a
thorough cooking and drying out period in the summer ahead of the fall.  Not
too many chilling hours in our very short fall seasons here.  Currently this
fall there have been twelve seedlings appear from eight different pods.  Not
many yet, but they sure didn't get that second chilling.  They did
thoroughly dry out and cook in the pots this summer.

Donald Eaves
donald@eastland.net
Texas Zone 7b, USA




 

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