May 23, 2016

Avalanche  column

May 19, 2016

Got to love, live and learn. Before moving to west Texas I would soak seeds especially bean seeds before planting. Most places this hastens their germination. With legumes (peas, beans, fava beans….) this is not a good thing to do in far west Texas. Usually soaked seeds will just rot in the soil. Whereas if you soak, germinate and then plant: this will give you a dramatic jump start to the growing season. My thoughts as to why the soaked legumes don’t work for me: the seed walls are fairly ridged which protects the seed, this seed wall prevents bacteria from entering the seed and rotting it. When these seeds are soaked all of these protections are rinsed off in the soaking water. Whereas sown seed keep theses protections around them in the ground and do not appear to be washed away. Now take these soaked seeds and germinate them, they will grow!!

Another seed that does quite well when soaked in water is Okra. It also performs quite well when germinated. Okra can be slow to germinate and these processes hastens okra’s soil emergence.

Noted when dealing with tender roots, SPECIAL care must be made not to break off any of the roots. This is probably the biggest draw back with germinated seed.

I like to germinate seed because it gives me a huge jump start on the growing season.

Summer squash does not germinate well if the soil temperature is below 60 degrees. This spring when the soil in my squash bed was 55 degrees, I planted germinated squash seeds in the cool soil. I cover all my beds with 2 layers of agribon 19. This helps to warm the soil. The squash emerged within the week. Germinated seed will grow in cooler soils than what they can germinate in. Once the seed is germinated the temperature lock is broken and the plant has a genetic disposition to survive and reproduce.

Another advantage of germinating seed is you do not have to sow so much. Since there are roots there soon will be a plant. So there is one seed where each intended plant will grow. I hate thinning seedlings and this eliminates the need to thin.

With small seed it is much more difficult to germinate and plant. I do know of a lady who spaces carrot seed on paper towels. She places one paper towel layer under the seed and one layer over the seed. She then keeps the seed moist to germinate. Once the seed germinates she just places seed and towels in the garden. The seed is perfectly spaced and the towels disintegrate in the garden. A very good reason to germinate carrot seed is that this seed needs to stay consistently moist for up to two weeks to germinate. In our climate it is easier to keep things more evenly moist in a controlled environment.