Spring is the beginning of the season when gardeners and gardeners think about the future harvest. Planting plans are created, seeds and fertilizers are purchased in stores. Some crops, such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, begin to be cultivated with growing seedlings. For other plants, a similar preparatory period is not required. They are planted immediately in the ground when the ground warms up enough. But in both cases, gardeners may be interested in the question of whether it is necessary to soak the seeds and, if so, how.
Expert Advice
To prepare the material for germination, it must be placed in a warm place. For example, put next to the battery. First you will need crops such as pumpkin, cucumbers, squash, squash. The room should have a temperature of plus twenty degrees. If the seeds are warmed up within a month or a half, then later they will sprout earlier and provide an earlier crop.
Calibration
Not all
planting material is suitable for growing strong and healthy plants. It is possible that seeds purchased long ago are already expired if their shelf life has expired. Therefore, before processing it is necessary to sort through them all, remove damaged, small ones.
In order for the process to take less time, it is enough to resort to the popular method of selection. You will need to dilute in a liter of water from thirty to fifty grams of sodium chloride. Drain the water so that the sediment leaves, and pour the material clean. Thus, you learned how to properly soak the seeds to identify defective specimens. As a result, within an hour you will receive the following picture. Those seeds that are suitable for sowing will sink to the bottom of the can, and empty ones will rise to the surface. They will need to be thrown away. The remaining ones are washed in running water. So you can sort out the seeds of almost all crops.
Soak
We will directly consider the process that describes how to soak the seeds before planting, what needs to be done for this. Planting stock is placed in water at room temperature. Such treatment helps to awaken dormant forces in a small seed. Shoots will turn out early. Gardeners are worried about the following problem: how many days to soak the seeds so that they are ready for planting. Parsley, beets, peppers, celery, carrots, eggplant, parsnips, onions, it is enough to soak in water for forty-eight hours. For cucumbers, radishes, cabbage, melons, radishes, lettuce, zucchini, squash, squash, eight to twelve hours is enough.
Disinfection
Seeds during culling are removed not only empty, damaged, but also diseased. After all, they can be carriers of dangerous diseases, which then go on to adult plants. As a preventive measure, disinfection is carried out. Before soaking the seeds before planting, they are subjected to special treatment.
The most effective way to disinfect them is to warm them in water with a temperature of up to 50 °. Planting material is placed in a fabric bag and immersed in boiling water for twenty minutes. In this case, you must ensure that the temperature does not drop. Then the seeds are soaked in cold water for three minutes. Similar tests are suitable for carrots, cabbage and beets. Do the same with zucchini, eggplant, watermelon and melon. True, they require a longer "hot bath" - for two hours.
Stratification
The options for soaking the seeds before planting are very similar, but at the same time they are not the most basic. Before soaking, planting material can be frozen in the refrigerator. Seeds are wrapped in a damp cloth and placed in the freezer. They are stored at low temperatures - from -1 to -3 °. So for three days they harden pumpkin, tomatoes, eggplant, pepper. Withstanding such conditions, they will be ready for landing in the open ground much earlier than those that have not been quenched.
Mixture Processing
In the preparation of planting material, you can safely experiment. For example, here's how to soak seeds before planting with nutrient formulations. A solution of potassium permanganate will be required. It is prepared as follows. One gram of potassium permanganate dissolves in five liters of water. But it should be borne in mind that such treatment inhibits the development of plants. Therefore, experts recommend resorting to specially produced mixtures.
For example, you can use the growth regulators "Zircon", "Albit", "Energy". Prepare solutions with these drugs according to the instructions that accompany them. As a substitute for potassium permanganate solution, you can use five grams of baking soda per liter of water. Treated seeds will also undergo disinfection. Any of these solutions is suitable for the preparation of pumpkin seeds, cucumbers, zucchini. They must be kept for twelve hours.
There is another option. Prepare the following composition. One matchbox of wood ash is dissolved in five liters of water. Insist for two days. In this solution, the seeds must be kept for four to six hours. They wake up after soaking, swell. If this does not happen, then the whole procedure should be repeated again. It is necessary to hold them in warm water for one to two hours. Also suitable for processing planting material is aloe juice, infusions of valerian, chamomile, oak bark.
Having considered the above methods of processing planting material, we can conclude that the question of whether to soak the seeds is a rhetorical one. If you correctly go through all the stages of preparation, then as a result you can get good seedlings, strong healthy plants and a rich harvest.