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Entry Date
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Thursday, April 05, 2012
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EP
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Ashland, KY
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Entry 9 of 154 |
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I posted this on the message board under seed starting, but without a picture to refer to, it didn't make much sense so I am adding the picture here.
Regarding soaking seeds. I did an experiment using blue food coloring in water to mark the part of the seed that “takes up” the liquid. The seed was filed all around. After soaking just the tip in the blue water, the fluid had soaked all around the entire seed, saturating the filed area. The shell was then pried off, and it was clear that the radicle/emryo/endosperm had soaked up the water, but the endosperm/cotyledon was not wet (in fact, it is waxy and hydrophobic, suggesting that it will never get moistened even if submerged). In nature, seeds have a natural opening at the tip (where the embryo radicle is), suggesting that this is the only part of the seed that needs moisture. What does this all mean? Well, not sure! It seems that too much water will promote mold growth, and to stimulate germination, one only needs to moisten the tip to kick-start the embryo. Soaking the entire seed may not be necessary, and may add to mold problems. It does seem like a good idea to file the rest of the seed to help the seedling/cotyledon break out (more experiments to do!!).
Just some musings fom the garage!
EP
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