by Have you ever had a situation where only a couple of plants or nothing at all sprouted from a whole packet of seeds, and then you had to quickly resume sowing or buy seedlings? But this can be avoided if you check the seeds for germination at home in advance!
With regular sowing, even after preliminary preparation, you may not see any shoots. The main reasons for the lack of germination, in addition to violation of agricultural technology:
- low seed quality;
- expired;
- improper storage (high humidity and temperature, constant access to air).
It is quite easy to understand whether seeds have been stored correctly in some cases. Thus, the presence of damage, mold, musty smell, seeds sticking together – clearly indicate that errors were made during storage.
But more often than not, it is not possible to simply visually determine whether the seeds are healthy, whether they are ready to germinate and produce strong offspring. Therefore, germination tests have long been invented and are actively used, which will show whether it is worth using this portion of seed material at all or whether it is better to buy a new one.
Before checking for germination, sort through the seeds, discarding any that are damaged, empty, too small or crooked.
Method 1. Germinating seeds on gauze or napkin
In favorable conditions, productive seeds tend to germinate faster. Using this feature, you need to create such conditions for them.
Wet a piece of cloth, gauze or paper napkin with clean water, spread the seeds and cover with the same material. Then place in a plastic bag or container with a lid and put in a warm place.
This type of germination test is especially effective for seeds of peppers, cabbage, carrots, dill, parsley, and flower crops.
Regularly moisten the seeds with water, preferably from a spray bottle. Do not allow them to become very wet. Wait until the seed material begins to germinate.
You can calculate the germination time of seeds here.
Germination is best carried out at a temperature of at least 20°C.
Now all that remains is to analyze how many seeds have sprouted. If almost all of them have sprouted, great – this batch is suitable for sowing. Half or less – you shouldn’t expect much success from sowing this year. It’s better to buy new seeds or urgently work on increasing the germination of the existing ones.
Method 2. Germination of seeds in bulk material
To do this, you will need sawdust, peat, sand or a peat-sand mixture. If you use sawdust, first pour boiling water over it in 2-3 stages every 20 minutes, and then put it in a container in a layer about 5 cm thick. It is also possible to sow it in the soil.
Moisten the substrate and evenly spread some of the seeds from the selected batch over its surface. Sprinkle the same substrate on top, cover with film or a lid and put in a warm place. Moisten regularly. Afterwards, all that remains is to see how many seeds have hatched after a certain period of time for each specific crop.
This method is good for checking the germination of cucumber, beetroot, bean, pea, and zucchini seeds.
Method 3. Checking seeds for germination in water
It is believed that viable seeds sink to the bottom, and empty ones float. However, this is not always the case and strongly depends on the mass, shape, coating of the seed, the content of hormones and enzymes in it. It would be a shame to lose part of a completely healthy seed due to an unsuccessful check.
If you still want to try this method, do everything correctly: place the seeds in a container with water, stir and leave for 5-7 minutes. Then remove the floating seeds, and take out the sunken ones, rinse if necessary and dry at a temperature of 20-25 ° C. Or sow immediately.
This method is most effective for checking cucumber, melon, and watermelon seeds. It also shows a more or less reliable result for pepper, tomato, and pumpkin. But only if the seeds are fresh and not overdried, since this prevents them from sinking to the bottom of a container with water quickly. And stores often sell exactly these very dehydrated seeds.
A few important points:
- stirring the seeds in the liquid helps to get rid of air bubbles on the hairs that prevent the seed from sinking to the bottom;
- cabbage, tomato and radish seeds should be placed in a salt solution (1 teaspoon per 200 ml of water) for 15 minutes;
- for the test, you can use a solution of potassium permanganate (1 g per 1 l, testing time – 15 minutes), which will also disinfect the seeds;
- Granulated seeds cannot be soaked, otherwise their protective shell will dissolve.
What to do if the seeds floated? If there are many of them, it is better to try germination. Some gardeners sometimes sow the seeds rejected by water, and they show good germination, but their germination rate is lower than that of other seeds. Of course, this does not mean that they will necessarily grow into completely healthy plants, but such a probability is very high. And considering how valuable each seed is for gardeners, you should definitely not miss such an opportunity.
If only a few seeds float to the surface, most likely they really are not the most productive and there is no point in germinating and growing them.
Corn, dill and coriander seeds are very dry, so they are unlikely to pass the water test. And seeds with “tails”, such as some crops of the Asteraceae family, will not be able to “sink” at all.
Checking germination will allow you to more accurately predict how many seeds to sow, saving you time and money on re-sowing or buying seedlings.
By the way, germination can be increased, bringing it to almost 100%. Read about this and much more in our articles:
