Soak seeds before planting
As spring approaches and seed sowing is in full swing, you will get many tips on how to get it right. This advice will help beginner gardeners or those who can not get anything to germinate no matter how hard they try. But, it can also be paradoxical. Soaking is one of the most commonly recommended steps in sowing seeds. It should be soaked at least a few hours before planting, and overnight, impatient gardeners may wonder if this action is really necessary, or if it is a good thing. For a long time.
Well, we are here to give you why it is so important in the process of seed soaking and germination. Also, once you are convinced that any seeds should be soaked before planting, no seeds should be soaked.
5 Reasons to Soak Your Seeds Before Sowing
1. Stimulation of germination
As we already know, seeds need moisture to germinate.
Different seeds are stimulated by different amounts of moisture, depending on the rainfall in their own areas. Once the rainfall has sufficiently increased the moisture around the seed, the plant knows that it is safe to start germination.
By soaking the seeds before you start, you can stimulate this moisture level in any seed and encourage them to start germinating. You do not have to wait for your seed start mixture to reach that level, this may take longer.
Instead, they will be ready to go as soon as you plant them.
2. Accelerate germination
By stimulating germination before you place the seeds in the ground (or in trays), you can greatly reduce the time it takes to prepare your seeds from sowing to planting. Moisture is not restricted, which means your seeds will germinate in a short time.
The use of warm water helps to speed up this process.
Seeds also have temperature sensors when they have the level of moisture before they germinate. These prevent seeds from germinating when they are still cold, damaging new and vulnerable growth.
Warm water matches the temperature needed to start germination and provides the right environment for rapid germination. This, combined with a heating mound to keep the soil warm (especially when starting the seeds early) will give you seedlings much faster than you expected.
It is also best to plant in the late season because it gives the final boost when time is against you, allowing your seedlings to get into the ground before it is too late.
3. Remove germination inhibitors
While this may seem counterintuitive, some seeds are actually surrounded by germination inhibitors. It is designed to prevent germination within the fruit and at the wrong time.
These inhibitors are usually removed naturally by wind or rain, but the natural process may take some time. Soaking your seeds, washing away any material that may be preventing them from germinating will increase your chances of success.
4. Break the natural defenses
The seeds are usually beaten and wounded before settling in their final resting place. Whether they are carried by the wind, blown by the rain, or the stomach acid of the various animals that consume them survive, they are used for some abuse before germination.
Many seeds have hard outer shells that allow them to withstand these elements. By soaking your seeds, Mother Nature can break these defenses in a matter of hours, instead of days or weeks to do this.
After soaking, nothing will be ready for planting without interruption.
5. Increasing your odds
Plants produce trillions of seeds each year. But, not all of them germinate due to the many obstacles we mentioned earlier. They release many seeds in the hope that only a few will take them, which means they do not all need to germinate to reproduce successfully. If you have spent money on rare or expensive seeds or regular seeds, it may not be enough to trust luck to germinate them.
Although seeds can germinate without soaking, it greatly increases the germination rate (depending on the plant). If you want more reliable results, this extra step is worth the effort
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