Do you ever get impatient waiting for your seeds to sprout. I know I do. In fact, there have been years that I have almost completely given up on my carrots EVER sprouting, and then, weeks later, I’ll see a little green pop through. Well, boooo! to waiting. I want to grow things, and I want to grow them now! Okay, I might have been channeling Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka just now, but you get the point.
Soaking seeds–ALL seeds, speeds up the germination process considerably. Sometimes I get too lazy to soak them all–which, is actually ridiculous, because it is pretty much effortless. What can I say, I’m hopeless.
I like to look at seeds like double-acting baking soda–only seeds are triple acting. They need three things to germinate. Usually nature provides, but when you’re growing produce by the ton, occasionally, you have to speed nature along. All seeds need oxygen, steady moisture, and the right temperature/light to grow.
Oxygen pretty much provides itself, unless you are growing in an airless bubble, in which case, weird and don’t do that. The temperature and lighting can be controlled with a grow light and/or the seasons. Moisture, in my opinion, is the tricky part. You want to keep the soil consistently moist for weeks while waiting for your little babies to germinate, but you miss one day, and boom! you’re set back. Soaking seeds for 24 hours BEFORE planting can significantly cut down on germination time–and overall effort.
To soak seeds, just place them in a cup of water for about 24 hours. Some people recommend starting with hot water and then just allowing it to cool as the seed soaks. Larger seeds with hard exteriors need to be scratched a bit before soaking, to ensure water will penetrate the outer shell. Most seeds should not be soaked for more than 24 hours.
After they have soaked, you will need a way to fish them out of the water. For the little guys, I like to line a strainer with paper towel and slowly pour them out. You could also fish them out with a spoon {but again, I would like to stress that I am impatient, and so pouring them out is usually the way I opt for}. After soaking them, plant them per the instructions on the packet and watch them pop up in days, not weeks.
Happy planting,
Mavis
mari says
We did experiments on seed sewing at my horticulture class. We did 50 dry seeds, 50 put into a folded wet paper towel and 50 seeds soaked in water for 24 hours. We did beans, lettuce, radish, spinach and peas. The dry ones were sown into moist seed trays and watered in and put in a warm place, at the same time we wet, soaked the others. The ones in the wet paper and the soaked ones were planted the next day.
The next day he had to sow the wet seeds. This was frankly, a real pain to so. Some had gotten very sticky the smaller ones – lettuce and radish, were a real pain to handle and separate. These were also sown into identical seed trays and media, covered lightly with mix, misted gently and put in the same warm area, moistened daily and checked for germination rates.
The results were interesting. The dry seeds actually germinated first, grew better and we did not have a damping off (dying once up) or mutation problem with them. Many of the moistened seeds were stunted and deformed.
After 2 weeks, we pricked out the seedlings (except radish) and did a head count. The dry seeds were about 96% strike and the wet paper ones were 83 percent and the soaked for 24 hrs ones, were 47%.
After another week we compared the quality of the seedlings. The dry planted were the healthiest and more lush robust plants. The wet paper ones were 2nd, but definitely less lush and not as robust – except the spinach, which were healthy but had a lot of die back. The soaked plants, particularly the peas were straggly and weak and quite yellow.
Once planted into the garden…. of the 50 of each seed done each way…. we had a greater percentage of the dry sown seed plants flourishing, and the soaked ones, were the worst off. We ended up losing 32 of the 50 soaked peas. 24 hrs soaking was too much for the seeds, it actually let the seed nutrient out of the seed and into the water and was poured away when drained for planting. Plus they (and the beans) got very soft to handle and we likely burnt by contact with our skin or the tweezers we had to resort to using.
In all honesty…. I never bother soaking any seeds. If you water things in well, you are doing what nature does. Yes I do seed tray plant a lot of my seeds – with the exception of parsnip and carrots, then prick them out into other trays and then transplant to the garden to grow. My success rate is excellent this way.
If you think of nature…. seeds dry, fall to the ground, get rained on and grow. It is us (man and woman) who keep trying to redesign the wheel. Mother Nature has done it this way for millennia. She knows best. Just plant the seeds as nature intended them, under a thin dusting of soil, keep them moist and dark until the sprout and then give them some light. They know what the need to do… they do it well, but they do have to rely on us for water and that is where many people fall down planting seeds.
Wynne says
Thanks for posting this — interesting. I notice the seeds you tested are all fast, easy sprouters. I wonder if your results would be the same with all seeds? For example, last spring I planted parsley, and I think it takes 30+ days to come up. I soaked the seeds and was pleased with earlier sprouts. Even if they had only 1/2 the regular germination rate–I couldn’t tell–that’s better than I would have managed nursing them along for a month.
mari says
We actually did parsley, celery, asparagus, onions, cabbage, kale, zucchini, tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, peppers, broadbeans, beets…. can’t remember the rest. We even tried peanuts but even thou some did germinate, they never grew. We did about 30 inducing sage, thyme, basil and other herbs too. The results were consistent thru about 80% of what we did. Apart from the radish, all others were planted out. We didn’t do this experiment on seeds that don’t transplant well.
All seeds need to grow are, – a growing medium, heat/sun and water. Mother nature designed them to do this and they do it pretty much on their own. It doesn’t have to be a complicated procedure. Simple is good.
Diane says
Excellent account of your project. Did similar experiment at home just over the last couple of weeks. The results are intetesting. Good Post Thanks.
Lisa says
I don’t soak my seeds. I do wet them, and toss them around in inoculant powder when I plant them though. I direct seed my peas the last week of Feb. (coming up!), and there is always plenty of rain plumbing them up!
Lisa says
That former post should say, I use inoculant on peas, not all my seeds. I don’t bother with it for beans. I soak nasturtiums and morning glories, as they have a hard shell.
Erika says
Some of the gardening books I have include instructions on soaking seeds. Frequently, it’s just for a short time (much less than over night). So, some soaking can be good, depending on the type of seed. I haven’t ever soaked my seeds, but I’ll probably try the shorter soaks this year and see how it works out for me.
Carol says
I haven’t had much luck with seed soaking, so I gave it up. Peas, especially, seem to rot instead of germinate. Maybe it’s because of the abundance of rain here in the PNW? I think they must get soaked naturally here on the Olympic Peninsula. For me, germination rates are better with unsoaked seed.
Erin Canadian says
Hi Mavis!
I have been soaking many of my seeds for years, especially peas & sweet peas, but I discovered an extra tip for peas & beans this year. Put them in the fridge for a night or two in the water — I didn’t have time to plant them the day I soaked them so I chucked ’em in the fridge & planted them a day or two later a and I got 100% germination on 2 of the varieties!!
Also, with peas, they should be planted with a dose of garden inoculant — it’s a bit pricey, but well worth it as it REALLY helps boost the harvest.