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Pregermination of Heat Loving Plants

Disclaimer

This information is for academic purposes only. Do not break any laws or customs that may be in effect where you work or reside. I cannot be responsible for any liability caused by stupidity or carelessness. Do not read further if you have any moral and/or legal hang ups or do not have the sense God gave a goose.

Author

Douglas Sutton

Goal

Germinate heat loving seeds quicker than they normally would in a northern climate.

Introduction

Pregerminating seeds inside jars gently warmed from below can save weeks or months of waiting for them to germinate using conventional methods. This extra effort gives many northern gardeners a head start on the growing season. This can mean earlier fruiting and higher yields through the short growing season.

Fewer seeds are needed. More seeds germinate, and because they are transplanted individually after they sprout they do not need thinned.

Materials Used

T.P. Paper

Small Jars: can use Baby Food Jars

Pressure Canner

Flame Source

Tweezers

Heat Box

Household Bleach

Rubber Bands

Self Sticking Labels or Tape

Plastic Wrap (Polyethylene)

Preparation of Jars

Cut toilet paper sheets into disks. Make them just large enough to fit inside the tiny jars. Line the empty jars with two or three layers of "T.P." sheets. When the seeds germinate, the fine roots do not get tangled up in the fibers.

Sterilize these jars in a pressure canner and, seal them with the original lids or plastic wrap. Fresh, cleaned, jars may be substituted for sterilized jars but, the canning process is so simple. Prepared jars with original lids can be stored for later use.

Preparation of Seeds

Most heat loving seeds can be safely treated with a 10 minute soak in one part bleach (Sodium hypochlorite 5.25%) and nine parts water. This is to remove surface contamination on the seeds and soften the outer seed coats. Treated seeds can germinate sooner and very few mold.

The treated seeds are put into room temperature, clean baby food jars. The lids are sealed with a piece of plastic wrap & rubber band. Plastic wrap "breaths". It allows the seeds to receive the oxygen needed to grow. The plastic wrap also acts as a barrier keeping in moisture while keeping contaminants away from the germinating seeds.

The jars are put on a heat tray or another source of bottom heat. There are many possibilities for a bottom heat source. Some people use water bed heating pads. The top of a water heater could work if only a few jars are used. Also, a "heat box" can be made with minimal effort.

Preparation of "Heat Box"

A heat box can essentially be a box that has a light bulb inside to provide heat. The top of the box should be removable. Cookie sheets make great tops (Get spousal approval first!) The bottom of the box should be adjustable. By moving the bottom of the box to just the right height the jars can be maintained at a comfortable 80°F - 90°F. Finally, by using an electrical timer to turn off the light (heat) for eight hours at night will give the seeds a cooling down cycle. This is what they would experience growing in their natural environment. Try to get the temperature regulated by doing a few trial runs before attempting to germinate your special seeds. You may even want to try and germinate some inexpensive tomato seeds first.

Follow-up Comments:

I advocate for this technique especially with extremely small seed samples and for identifying and labeling the seeds as they germinate. As the seeds germinate, I remove them with flame sterilized tweezers.

I am also experimenting with Potassium Nitrate soaks for 8 to 24 hours (approx. 200mg. per liter). It is my belief that many of these newly cultivated plants germinate better after ingestion by wildlife and utilize them for dispersal. As I am unwilling to collect the seeds after their "natural" treatments, I resort to using chemical seed treatments.

I do not regularly use GA3 but, I am considering using it more in the future. I have purchased GA3 pre-treated seeds before and they germinated rapidly.

There are now many varieties of store bought bleaches available. I do not use the scented ones and, the "ultra" strengths are fast becoming the only available strength. You will need to decide which personal mixes and formulas to use. You can still continue use the 1:9 or 1:10 ratio for the ultra-bleach to water or try to dilute the ultra-bleach down to the standard strength. Be aware that some “bleaches” now have lye in the solution too. Read your product labels what was “standard” before might not be now!

Lighting has changed over the years too. Standard incandescent light bulbs were first replaced by compact florescent lighting followed by L.E.D. lighting. Neither of the newer lights radiate the needed heat to warm the box. 40 Watt incandescent bulbs are still sold as appliance bulbs for household ovens. A package of four bulbs can be purchased online for the cost of a single light in most hardware stores.

I offer my germination technique to those who are interested. I do not offer this as the best way to germinate seeds. I am sharing with you the way I currently germinate most of my heat loving seeds.

Again, I am reluctant to make major changes to my “Pregermination of Heat Loving Plants” page. I had to do a few updates when the store-bought bleach formulations changed and some other small changes came up over time.

I prefer to add the following without modifying the spirit of my original work...

I started out cautiously with my germination technique. I was reluctant to make multiple, rapid changes. Still, I ended up making several changes in a short period of time.

I have made more changes than I can defend or validate.

I offer my initial postings as provable and offer the following modifications as something I can only recommend.

I originally used the 2 ½ ounce baby food jars. They are easy to acquire and are free.

I have changed over to a smaller jar (1 ½ ounce). I can fit so many more jars in the same amount of space.

I substituted the T.P. for a bio-char medium (carbonized cotton t-shirts). Also, I now add a small piece of silver (Coin or Sterling) to the medium as I prepare each jar. You could substitute copper or some other metals but, I’ll stick with silver alloys.

These are now my stock jars. I pressure-can them with two layers of carbonized cotton, a flake of silver and some well water fresh from the tap.

I try to keep the seeds as sterile as one is able to working from the dinner table... I have thought of investing in a laminar hood.

Common sense prevents me from blindly dosing every jar with antibiotics but, I have tried some other treatments. I tried Gentian Blue without any noticeable harmful effects with contaminated jars.

Each batch of seeds I treat / sterilize I add a color coded / coordinated glass bead to the lot as they are being treated. This is EXTREMELY helpful to keep things from being mixed up!!! Also, I tape an identifying label of the contents on each jar.

I am a member of seed savers exchange and my code is PA SU D.