Content
- Do you need to water seeds before sowing?
- Soak seeds or not?
- advantages
- disadvantage
- Tips for sowing - How to get the seeds to germinate
- Tips
It may be useful to soak seeds before sowing
Do you need to water seeds before sowing?
There is hardly anything more pleasing to the accomplished plant lover than to grow young plants from self-collected (or purchased) seeds. Depending on the plant species, sowing and rearing are more or less risky, since seeds and seedlings are extremely sensitive. This is especially true for the supply of water.
Soak seeds or not?
In many gardener forums it can be read that plant seeds watered before sowing, d. H. For a few hours to days in lukewarm water or chamomile tea should be soaked. This should accelerate the germination or even make sure that the germ breaks through the shell. The water bath virtually takes on the task of the naturally decaying pericarp, which eventually also provides moisture. In fact, seeds need water to germinate, since they contain very little water. In order for the germination to begin, they must first absorb a lot of water. However, you do not necessarily soak the seeds, the thorough moistening of the substrate before sowing and the subsequent high humidity fulfill the same purpose.
advantages
Only with some large seeds with a hard shell, soaking may make sense. Many exotic plants such as mango or apricot, but also some vegetables such as beans and pumpkin benefit from a previous watering. Extra hard-shelled seeds should also be roasted with a bit of sandpaper before soaking, so that the seedling can break through the shell more easily.
disadvantage
The soaking has no advantages except for hard-shelled seeds and can therefore be safely omitted. This is especially true for plants with very small seeds, which includes about the most light germs. There is also a risk here that the seeds start to mold and are therefore no longer germinable.
Tips for sowing - How to get the seeds to germinate
The following rules help you to grow healthy plants from dry seeds:
Tips
Soak hard-shelled seeds in warm chamomile tea, reducing the risk of mold growth.