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The seed is soaked before planting in order to accelerate the emergence of seedlings, increase the percentage of germination, disinfect and stimulate growth processes. How to soak the seeds before planting depends on the task at hand. Often, folk remedies are used for this, their use gives an excellent result, tested in practice by more than one generation of gardeners.
Soaking is a necessary procedure for seeds harvested or bought on the market. Even inexperienced gardeners know that spores of fungi, harmful bacteria, viruses can hide on untreated seeds. It is for this reason that disinfection is needed. In the future, healthy and full-fledged plants will grow from the disinfected seeds.
The seeds are also soaked for quick germination. In this case, seedlings appear together, which allows you to get plants of the same size and age. Soaked seeds germinate several days earlier than untreated seeds. In addition, there are very similar cultures:
Their seeds are covered with a film of essential oils. If you put such seeds directly into the ground, they may sit too long or not at all. Soaking also requires thick-shelled seed. The following crops have such seeds:
It is problematic to get the seedlings of these plants without soaking. Pay attention to the quality of the water used. It is better to take spring, thawed or filtered. When using ordinary tap water, let it stand for at least a day. Soaking is carried out in a wide, shallow container. You will also need cotton cloth, gauze, or a piece of paper towel.
There are constant disputes between summer residents about whether it is necessary to soak the seeds before sowing for seedlings and how to do it correctly. Everyone defends their point of view, referring to successful experience. Soaking is not necessary if bulk seeding is carried out in a common container. Usually gardeners acquire planting material with a margin, and in the future they select the strongest seedlings for planting.
The soaking procedure is justified when sowing in rows or when using peat tablets. To avoid gaps in planting, it is better to germinate the seeds in advance, at the same time rejecting low-quality material. Soaked seeds must be kept in a warm place. This point is especially important for pumpkin and nightshade crops (they need a temperature of + 28-30 ° C for germination). Light is not needed at the stage of seed germination.
In production, planting material is subjected to various types of processing. Seeds are pickled, covered with fungicides and pesticides. An unusual color of the seeds - red, orange, green - speaks of the treatment done. During soaking, the seed will lose its protective film, and in the future, the plants can get sick.Colored, inlaid, pelleted seeds are sown only dry.
To begin with, the seed is soaked in salt water (1 tsp salt in a glass of water). This procedure is called calibration. After soaking in saline, empty and dried seeds will float to the surface, and quality seeds will settle to the bottom. Then the planting material is washed under running water (in a gauze bag or strainer) and goes through the following processing steps. To begin with, the seeds are immersed in a disinfecting solution, and then in compounds that stimulate growth processes.
You cannot immediately soak the seeds in potassium permanganate. Pre-planting material is kept in water for 20-24 hours. After that, the seeds are immersed in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 15–20 minutes. For different crops, the concentration is selected individually:
A solution of 1% concentration is prepared from 1 tsp. potassium permanganate without a slide (6 g) per 600 ml of water, for a 2% solution, the amount of water is reduced to 300 ml. In this case, the embryo of the seed will definitely remain intact, and the pathogenic microorganisms on the surface will die.
After the seed has passed the necessary processing, you need to rinse it in clean water. Further actions depend on what kind of result you want to get. You can dry the seeds and sow them on seedlings, you can soak them again for germination, or use growth stimulants.
Treatment with hydrogen peroxide is used instead of soaking in potassium permanganate. You can choose one or another method at will. In addition to disinfection, peroxide gives other advantages:
You can use this method for any crop. It will be especially useful for dubious planting material and tough-like seeds.
In hydrogen peroxide, seeds of not only vegetable but also flower crops are soaked. The solution is prepared from 2 tsp. peroxide in a glass of water. How long to carry out the treatment depends on the type of plant. Seeds of flowers and fruits are soaked for 12 hours, vegetables - for 24 hours. Previously, the seeds are kept in clean water for swelling for an hour. It is recommended to change the disinfectant solution every 5–6 hours.
It is not necessary to carry out seed treatment with folk remedies. Today there are effective preparations that give plants reliable protection, for example, the well-known fungicide "Fitosporin". The drug has a biological origin, which ensures its harmlessness.
To soak seeds in Fitosporin, it is better to purchase a universal preparation or one that is suitable for a specific crop to be planted. In which solution is soaking more effective? "Fitosporin", intended for individual plants, contains an additional set of suitable trace elements.
To prepare a working solution, take 1.5 g (approximately 1/3 teaspoon) of powder per 1 liter of water. The composition is not applied immediately, but after a couple of hours, when the beneficial bacteria that make up "Fitosporin" are activated. In terms of time, processing takes 1–2 hours.
Before planting seedlings, you can soak the seeds in aloe juice. This is one of the known non-traditional plant growth stimulants. Additionally, juice provides the following benefits:
One or two of the lowest leaves cut from the agave are used as raw materials.Raw materials are wrapped in several layers of fabric and placed on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator to ripen the necessary substances. After 10-15 days, the leaves are taken out, crushed in any way and squeezed through cheesecloth juice. A solution for soaking seeds is prepared from equal parts of aloe juice and water. In the event that the quality of the seeds is in doubt, you can use undiluted juice.
This method cannot be applied to crops such as peppers, pumpkin, celery, onions. All other plants will benefit from soaking in aloe juice solution. Before placing small seeds in a bowl, they are wrapped in gauze. It is necessary to keep the seeds in the solution for 18-24 hours. For longer than a day, the seed should not be in solution.
Summer residents often carry out additional seed treatment with the help of folk remedies - succinic acid, soda, milk.
Soaking technology:
As an experiment, you can try to soak the seeds in different ways and compare the result. The most proven method can then be applied on an ongoing basis.
For many years, summer residents have been using Epin for various purposes, in particular for soaking seeds. This drug is an immunostimulant, it increases the resistance of plants to pathogenic microflora and harmful fungi. To maximize the effect, the planting material is soaked in Epin just before sowing. This processing should be final.
The prepared solution retains its properties for 2 days. Vegetables are soaked in a composition prepared from 2-3 drops per glass of water. In the case of flower crops, the concentration can be doubled. Vegetable seeds are immersed in the solution for 4-6 hours. Presowing preparation of flower crops takes 8-10 hours. For seeds with a hard shell, the processing time can be increased by 1.5 times. It is not necessary to rinse the seeds after processing.
Sowing of soaked seeds can be carried out immediately or the next day after treatment. If the seeds are old or of unknown origin, it is best to germinate them to ensure proper quality. How long the soaked seeds will germinate depends on the room temperature. The higher the temperature, the faster the sprouts will hatch.
After the planting material has been processed in disinfectants, germination is started. The seeds are placed between two layers of a damp cloth placed on a saucer. The water level must be such that the seeds are half submerged in moisture and have access to oxygen, otherwise they will suffocate.
To prevent rapid evaporation of water, cover the saucer with plastic wrap on top. The water is changed several times a day. As soon as roots appear several millimeters long, you can start planting. The germination process takes 3 or more days.
Running out of time, you can sow seeds without soaking. Most of the seeds will germinate in this case, but the process will take longer, and germination will be worse. In addition, the preliminary preparation of planting material has a positive effect on the quality of seedlings in the future. Soaking before sowing is not necessary only for seeds purchased from the store, coated, encrusted or treated with fungicides.
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