How To Prepare Seeds For Sowing

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Spring has come - prepare the seeds

• Sorting seeds
• Seed calibration
• Seed disinfection
• Seed hardening
• Seed pelleting

It has long been known that the size and quality of the crop obtained in autumn largely depend on the initial stages of plant cultivation and, first of all, on seeds.

Therefore, along with the correct choice of varieties and types of plants grown, it is necessary to pay maximum attention to the preparation of seeds for sowing. Consider the most important points that must be considered when planning and carrying out spring sowing on the site.

Seeds of crops cultivated in orchard and garden plots have different germination rates and retain their sowing qualities for different periods. In this regard, it is necessary to know the storage periods of seeds (see table). In order to shorten the period from sowing to the emergence of friendly shoots and to grow healthy plants, the seeds are subjected to special treatment, which consists in sorting, disinfection, soaking, germination, etc.

Culture	Weight of 1000 seeds, g	Shelf life, years	Minimum germination temperature, ° С	Time of emergence when sowing dry seeds, days
Swede	2.8-4.5	4-5	2-3	4-8
Zucchini	140-200	6-8	10-12	4-8
Cabbage (white cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower)	2.5-3.8	4-5	2-3	3-6
Onion (batun, leek)	2.4-2.6	3-4	2-3	8-18
Cucumbers	16–35	6-8	13-15	4-8
Pepper	4.5-8	3	8-13	8-16
Celery	0.4-0.8	1-2	3-4	12-22
Tomatoes	2.8-5	4-5	10-11	4-8

Sorting seeds

It is necessary to sow not all available seeds, but only the most viable - large, full-bodied. Weak and dead seeds can be removed just before sowing. Large seeds - peas, zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkin, etc. - for visual assessment, specimens are removed injured, small, frail, with traces of diseases, with a color atypical for the bulk. Small seeds can be sorted in 3-5% sodium chloride solution (50 g per 1 liter of water). They are placed for 5-7 minutes in a glass dish with a wide neck, mixed so that there are no air bubbles on the surface. The floating seeds are removed, and the remaining ones that have settled to the bottom are filtered, washed twice with tap water, dried and used for sowing.

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Seed calibration

This is the process of separating seeds by size and weight, which ensures their simultaneous germination during sowing. Small seeds are calibrated through a sieve with small mesh sizes, and in its absence, like large ones, manually.

Seed disinfection

To protect against fungal and bacterial diseases, seed dressing is carried out. It is carried out dry and wet. Dry method: for seeds of such heat-loving crops as cucumber, pumpkin, beets, especially if they were stored in the cold, solar heating in the open air is used for 3 to 4 days, while the seeds are periodically stirred. The sun's rays not only disinfect the seeds, but also accelerate their germination.

Wet pickling can be done with a 0.2% solution of potassium permanganate for 20 minutes, as well as using plant materials. For example, it is recommended to soak the seeds for 6 hours in aloe juice diluted with water (1: 1). After that, they are washed with clean water and dried to restore flowability. In some cases, dry cabbage seeds are heated for 20 minutes in water at a temperature of 48-50 ° C, followed by immersing the seeds in cold water.

You can disinfect seeds with hot water. In a gauze or canvas bag, they must be immersed in water with a temperature of 50-52 ° C for 25-30 minutes. If the seeds are large, then the water temperature should be 2 ° C higher, i.e. 52-54 ° C. Then the seeds are cooled in cold water, dried and stored in paper bags until sowing. Seeds that float to the surface of the water should be thrown away, although losses can be 30-40%. Seeds of plants from the pumpkin family (cucumbers, pumpkins, squash) are heated at a temperature of 55-60 ° C for 3-4 hours. Soaking and germinating seeds allows for faster germination and serves as a kind of indicator of their viability. Usually, for soaking, the seeds are sprinkled in a thin layer between layers of gauze and make sure that it is always moist. Seeds of carrots, parsley, celery, onions are kept like this for about a day, and beans, radishes,peas -12-18 hours. The higher the air temperature, the less exposure of seeds to a humid environment.

When 1-5% of the seeds "hatch", i.e. the outer covers of the seed will disperse, and a white seedling will appear in the hole, they are dried to "flowability" and immediately sown in a moderately moist soil suitable for germination. Please note that in dry soil, the shoots will die from drying out, and in waterlogged soil - from lack of oxygen.

The most common and affordable way to bring germination closer to germination is to germinate soaked seeds. To do this, they are placed in a thin layer in a vessel and covered with a damp cloth. Maintain for 2-5 days at a temperature of 20-25 ° C, stirring occasionally, providing oxygen. When sprouts appear in most seeds, they are planted in moist and warm enough soil.

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Seed hardening

To increase the cold resistance of heat-loving plants, their seeds are hardened. So, the seeds of tomatoes, cucumbers are soaked until they swell completely, kept for 6-8 hours in warmth at 18-20 ° C and then 16-18 hours in the cold (in the refrigerator) at + 2-3 ° C. Such seeds are sown after mass germination. Plants from hardened seeds tolerate cold snaps well, ripen earlier.

Seed pelleting

This is a method of enveloping seeds with a mixture that creates a protective and nutritious shell that increases the size of small seeds to a round or oval shape. Small seeds (carrots, parsley, beets, onions, amaranth and other crops) sown in spring or before winter are pelleted. To do this, prepare a mixture of 1 part of mullein and 10 parts of water, filter through a sieve, moisten and then dry the seeds.

For this purpose, you can prepare a mixture of 600 g of aerated lowland sifted peat with neutral acidity (pH 6-6.5), 300 g of humus, 100 g of crushed dry mullein. For 1 kg of such a mixture, add no more than 15 g (teaspoon) of powdered (crushed) superphosphate. The seeds are moistened in the prepared mullein solution, then placed in a glass jar and the mixture for panning is added in small portions. The jar is shaken all the time. As a result, the mixture adheres to the seeds, and they take the form of dragees. The size of parsley and carrot seeds is adjusted to 3 mm in diameter, beets and onions - up to 5 mm.

If pelleting is done in winter, then the finished seeds are dried at a temperature of 30-35 ° C for 2-3 hours so that they do not germinate during storage, and before sowing, they are lightly sprinkled with water and kept under sacking. Pelleting allows you to reduce the consumption of seeds, since they have a higher percentage of germination, sparse sowing avoids thinning, and plants acquire additional nutrients at the initial stage of development.

We wish all gardeners-gardeners success in choosing and preparing seeds for a new rich harvest!

Also read:

How to choose the right seeds