Re: Seed Germination

In a message dated 4/21/99 7:28:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
harrow.fur@pei.sympatico.ca writes:

<<  sprout. My two biggest have yet to show their snout. I don't
 want to lose these & a little afraid to try any more good seed. Broken seed
 sprouted in 40 hrs and other two now have 72 hrs in zip bag without results.
         Please comment.
                                                         Bill Van
  >>
Bill,
   You don't say what seeds you are trying to sprout. How old are they? In 
the past, I have had bad luck sprouting the Mombert 567 and the 697 
ciliberto. I don't usually start mine in bags, although I have. If you are 
sure that the temperature around the seeds is 85 degrees and they are not 
totally soaked in water, there should be some sign of a tiny radicle popping 
out. On strong, viable seeds, I get them to pop out of the mix in the pots in 
3 or 4 days. I have seen some seeds take a week or more, but I am not too 
thrilled with the lack of vigor they display. I always favor the seeds that 
break out of the ground, strong and early. I wouldn't panic just yet, but it 
might be a good idea to start some backup plants from a supply of seed you 
have alot of. I start seeds for 3 or 4 people. If there are a total of 10 
spots, I might start a dozen good seeds.....figuring one or two may not come 
up. I hate to see people waste 6 good seeds and only end up leaving 2 plants. 
There is still plenty of time. I haven't even started a seed yet. I may start 
two tonight and the rest within the next week. It is too early to start 
plants in Connecticut, unless you protect them. Still going into the 30's at 
night. My backup plants this year will be from a 647 pounder I had last year 
from the Shimansky 825. I have alot of those , so if one of my scarce seeds 
doesn't pop up....I'll put in a backup. Many times you get a pleasant 
surprise and the backup turns out to be the best one. The 647 has great 
potential as a backup....it came from good parents, had 2 the same size on 
the plant, no signs of splitting and had no special care until August. It was 
off to the side of the patch . I would start a few backups, make sure your 
seed sprouting conditions are what you think they are. Make sure they are not 
too wet and that you do in fact have 85 degrees in the bag. Start maybe one 
more good one and a few backups that you have alot of. You'll be O.K....... 
My guess is tomorrow you will wake up and have a pleasant surprise in the 
bag. Not all seeds blast out of the shell in two days.
                                  pumkinguy

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