How To Prepare Seeds For Sowing And Sowing Correctly

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

When, how and what to sow? Part 2

Read the first part of the article: Germination and preparation of seeds for spring sowing

• Controlled sowing of seeds
• Liquid seeding
• Basic sowing rules

Controlled sowing of seeds

In the overwhelming majority of cases, with the exception of early spring sowing of green crops, the seeds should not be sown "as God will put on their souls", but more or less evenly and at some distance from each other. That is why there are no special problems with large seeds during sowing: they are easy to spread out at the same distance from each other.

With the smaller ones, everything is much more complicated. To prevent the seeds from sprouting after sowing according to the principle "where it is dense, where it is empty", you can use some auxiliary technique. The latter include the following techniques.

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1. Pelleting of seeds, i.e. covering them with a sufficiently large shell, which, as a rule, is a mixture of macro- and microelements useful for plants. Previously, pelleting had to be done manually, now many small seeds - carrots, lettuce and others - are already sold in pelleted form, which is quite convenient for sowing. By sowing granular seeds, for example, carrots, you can save yourself from the subsequent "pleasant" procedure for its thinning. However, it should be remembered that such seeds lose germination very quickly (faster than ordinary seeds).

And this is quite important for a number of seeds, for example, the same carrot seeds. In addition, they require high humidity for normal seedling. Considering the above, you should, firstly, buy granulated seeds as late as possible (so as not to buy old seeds). And secondly, to provide them with an even greater, in comparison with the usual, degree of soil moisture. One should not discount the fact that only dry granulated seeds can be sown, and therefore such seeds will sprout much later than wet or germinated ones.

2. Coating of seeds with a thin colored shell, sharply contrasting in color with the soil. This is the case for the vast majority of Dutch vegetable seeds. If the seeds are not covered with a shell, then, if desired, it is easy to do it yourself. To do this, just pour a pinch of ordinary (unflavored) talcum powder into a bag with seeds and shake well. The white talcum powder will stick to the seed and sowing will become much easier as white seeds will already be clearly visible against the background of the soil.

3. Sowing seeds previously glued to paper strips. This is quite convenient, especially for carrots, which, with this planting option, will not need to be thinned out later. True, now there is no longer a need to deal with the long and extremely annoying procedure of gluing seeds on winter evenings, because now ready-made rolls of seeds are sold in any specialized store.

However, it should be remembered that sowing such seeds can only be dry, and this guarantees you a serious delay in the development of slowly germinating plants. And the chances of dying due to the long period from sowing to germination of seeds will be more than enough. In addition, it should be borne in mind that carrot seeds are planted on paper ribbons a little deeper than with conventional sowing (the grooves are made about 3 cm deep).

Then the grooves themselves are carefully watered, and then paper strips with seeds are laid out on the bottom of each of them and sprinkled with moist soil. It is good to mulch the beds with sown seeds with humus or stale sawdust to retain moisture in the soil.

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Liquid seeding

This method was once invented in England, received the approval of specialists from different countries, and is now very widely used. Sprouted seeds are sown in a liquid gel carrier.

Specially prepared preparations are used for this purpose abroad. On a personal plot, you can successfully use a paste made from potato starch, which is affordable and completely harmless. The paste is prepared in advance so that it has time to cool, but not earlier than a day before. The main requirement for starch paste is that it must be uniform, without clots, viscous enough to keep the germinated seeds in suspension.

To prepare 1 liter of paste, stir 30 g of potato starch in 100 ml of cold water. 900 ml of boiling water is poured into a liter jar, and diluted starch is added in a thin stream with constant stirring. Then a liter jar is placed in a saucepan with boiling water and, stirring, the resulting starch paste is heated to a temperature of 92 ° C. After that, it is cooled, stirring occasionally, to prevent the formation of a film on the surface. If it is still formed, after cooling the preparation to room temperature, it is removed. The liquid carrier-gel for sowing germinated seeds is ready.

It is very important to calculate in advance the required amount of seeds and starch paste in order to obtain the optimal plant density and avoid thinned or thickened seedlings. To do this, you need to know the germination of seeds. It is determined approximately at home by germinating 100 seeds at a temperature of 20-25 ° C for 10-15 days and counting the number of germinated. The optimal number of shoots per 1 m of a row with a row spacing of 45 cm is 50-60 pcs. To obtain a normal standing of plants for every 10 m of row length, from 2 g (at germination rate of 70% and above) to 3 g (at germination rate of 50%) of dry seeds are placed for germination and 200 ml of starch paste is prepared.

Sprouted seeds are mixed with paste cooled to room temperature just before sowing. The mixture is prepared immediately for the entire sown area. The seeds are mixed with the paste very carefully, without damaging the roots, until they are evenly distributed in the liquid. Sprouted seeds can be in starch for no more than 6 hours, otherwise their germination capacity will significantly decrease, so sowing must be done immediately.

With a little skill, it is easy to achieve an even distribution of liquid with seeds in a row. In addition, this is a very fast method of sowing (with certain skills, you can plant seeds in this way no slower than on paper strips), you just need to adapt so that it turns out not "thick" or "empty", but just right. The main advantage of this method is the only opportunity to sow small seeds wet or even germinated (all other options are suitable only for dry seeds).

And now a few words about the technology of such a landing. Pre-make holes throughout the territory where you plan to land. Then carefully put all the seeds in a bucket of jelly, take a stick for stirring the contents of the bucket and a regular glass as a tool and go to the garden (you can use a glass with a spout, this is more convenient). Stir your jelly thoroughly, quickly fill the glass with it and pour the contents of the glass into the hole, very quickly moving your hand with the glass along it. It all depends on the skill: you should move your hand extremely quickly during pouring, otherwise the seeds will be sown too thickly.

Immediately after sowing, the furrows are covered with loose soil. The seeding depth is 1.5-2 cm. Until the emergence of seedlings, the soil is kept moist, if necessary, watered.

Usually, liquid sowing with sprouted seeds is practiced for carrots, but other vegetable seeds such as dill, parsley and onions can be sown in this way.

Basic rules for sowing seeds

1. Timely sowing

Most gardeners wait until the soil is completely warmed up, then they dig and make ridges, and only after that they start sowing carrots, parsley, dill, lettuce, etc. However, in the conditions of our spring, this is completely unacceptable. On the one hand, because our summer is too short, on the other, due to the fact that the soil by that time will not be moist enough, and the seeds cannot tolerate even the slightest drying out. And then you have to either not leave the garden with a watering can, or have late and thinned shoots. Sowing of these crops should be done very early, as soon as the topsoil thaws slightly. This is the end of April - early May. Therefore, the preparation of the ridges should be carried out in the fall, so as not to linger with sowing in the spring.

As for beets and black onions, it is better to sow them in a greenhouse or greenhouse in mid-April. Beets should not be planted in cold soil. It is necessary to wait until the soil at a depth of 10-12 cm warms up by at least 7-10 ° C (and this will happen just by mid-June), moreover, beet seeds should in no case be in cold soil, otherwise in the processes of vernalization will be completed, as a result of which the plants will go into the arrow. And you can sow onions directly into the garden, but then you can only grow sets, because during the initial growth period, when the soil is still very cold, the onions will sprout slowly and grow poorly, and time will be lost.

2. Not the slightest drying out

The main reason for the appearance of "bald spots" in the garden is the death of seeds due to their drying out. This situation is observed in a significant part of gardeners. It's not a secret for anyone that carrots sprout extremely slowly, and in fact the entire period from the moment of planting to the emergence of seedlings should be in moist soil. Considering the strong winds that are raging in the Urals in spring, one literally has to stay with a watering can from the garden. Naturally, this is simply beyond the power of even the most stubborn. As a result, the soil, along with the seeds, periodically dries up. Most of the seeds can not stand such "mockery" and perish. For some reason, gardeners blame the company that sold non-viable seeds. And it's all about agricultural technology.

3. Protection against frost

Alas, early sowing (and not only early, given that frosts until mid-June are the norm in our country) also has a negative side - sprouted seeds and even seedlings can die during frosts. Covering the beds with foil immediately after sowing can help. True, when the first shoots appear, the film will have to be removed, because the seeds will die by simply roasting in the sun. However, it is impossible to leave the ridges without shelter - covering material must be put to replace the film. And then no frost will be terrible.

4. Depth of seeding

Deeper planting than is required for a given crop can prevent friendly seed germination. Moreover, in a number of crops, it can generally lead to the appearance of only single shoots. Remember, in nature, the seeds falling to the ground are covered only by the wind, which means that the layer of soil formed above the seeds is very small. Therefore, try to keep the seeding depth to a minimum.

For many crops, the optimum planting depth is considered to be a depth of 0.3-0.6 cm. Small seeds are generally simply scattered over the surface. True, for vegetables, the last statement can only apply to spicy crops; in the usual vegetable crops, the seeds are large enough, and they are always embedded in the soil, but there are many such plants among the flowers.

Also read:

What you need to know when buying vegetable seeds, flowers and preparing them for sowing. "Cheat sheet" for seeds