Seed germination is the process of sprouting seeds before planting. This is first step to plant from seeds is Seed germination, Germination occurs primarily in seeds and fungus. Seeds needs moisture and heat to germinate, you may have seen some ripen fruits and vegetables have tiny sprouts inside. Sometime over ripe tomatoes have sprouted seeds.
All seeds are easily available in market or can be used directly from kitchen from fresh fruits and vegetables. Many people prefer to buy seeds from market from market because they are processed well to speed up the process of germination and some seeds available in market that are coated seeds for germination. Mostly Coating on plant seeds is fungicide which helps to germination process fast and effective, but many coated in market are having cement and hard coat which will make them look like effective coated seeds, but they take more time to germinate than raw without coated seeds.
I planted coated seeds and uncoated zinnia seeds in my garden, coated seeds took more time to germinate than uncoated seeds but that does not happen for all coated seeds. I planted tomatoes from both type of seeds, coated and uncoated. Coated tomato seeds germinate faster than uncoated seeds, so it depends on the quality of seeds to germinate, and sometime some seeds don’t even germinate.
There are many ways to do seed germination.
Direct or regular seed germination:
Direct or regular seed germination is the process to plant seeds directly into soil (potting mix and compost mixture) and water it regularly and keep it on hot place. When seed germinate it will have leaves in soil itself.
Water soaking method:
Water soaking method is the process in which seeds is soak in water and the kept-on cotton ball with some water filled at the bottom to keep seeds soaked. I have success with this socking method on germinating beans. Beans germinate very fast with this method.
Peat moss pods:
Seed germination using pods is great for fast germination because these pods have nutrients which is required for seeds to germinate fast. It should be done in proper way to have great success or seed will die if not taken care.
- Soak pods in warm water for 10 minutes so they expand and contain water.
- Make hole with pen or any stick in pods for the space of seed.
- Insert seed in hole and press pods from top to cover seed. (Read Instruction on seed label for depth of seed)
- Place this pod in cup or tray filled with some water at hot place for easy germination. do not over water pods only water pods only when it becomes dry and brown color on top. I have success with these pods on germination of many seeds like zinnia, Sweet Williams, some tomatoes and lemon seeds.
Paper towel method:
Easiest and my favorite method for seed germination is paper towel method. Soak pepper towel in water and squeeze to remove excess water. Place seeds on paper towel and trap it and place it in ziplock bag or airtight container at dry place. Keep checking every other day if paper towel gets dry sprinkle some water. Heat mats can be used to produce heat for germination. This is best and easy method I mainly use for germination.
Any Method listed above can be used for germination when seeds start germinated, about 1-2 cm that need to go to soil. Soak (potting mix and compost) soil with water and insert pen or finger to make hole in it and insert germinated seed and cover with some soil.
Tips:
- Soil should have well drainage so water will not get collected because with collected water seeds and plants will have fungus and bacterial issues and plant will not survive. So better to use good soil with compost to help water to moist the soil not over water.
- Pots for plating should always have drainage holes that will drain excess water from plant.
- Learn more about seed gemination using paper towel method