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Oxygenated Water Seed Germination

RESINvention

Active member
I thought about this today, it's probably already thought of, but I couldn't find it anywhere?


It's pretty extreme, but Germinate your seeds in an aerated water solution to help supplement oxygen to the embryo.



To make my aerator, I took an air tube and plugged one end, and punched a bunch of holes with a thick needle through the vinyl tube to act as aerators. I don't know why people don't do this more often, it's the cheapest air stone solution I could think of, and it works great.



The bubbles cycle the water around just like a dryer, which helps submerge all the seeds and prevents unevenly exposed floaters.
 

PetFlora

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Could work, but why go to ll that trouble? I soak my seeds in RO water with a few grains of sea salt + a few drops of food-grade H2O2. Pretty much 100% in ~ 24 hours
 
S

SeaMaiden

My first question is, Why?
My second is along the same lines, To what end?
What do you hope to achieve by going to all this extra trouble? A drop of liquid soap will help the floaters get past the water's surface tension.

Difficult to germinate seeds can be given a push in a few different ways. Scuffing the exterior, a few drops of bleach in a gallon of water, then use that water to germinate, H2O2 (not with the bleach, one or the other), seaweed extract, Superthrive (not my bag, but I hear it can work well), and so on and so on and so on.

Is this for difficult to germinate seeds, or just germination in general?
 

RESINvention

Active member
My primary thought for this was for germinating old seeds, to give them the best chance at survival. I'm also a fan of doing less and accomplishing more. The seeds will soak water much faster than traditional dunking, with no additives needed. I also believe the dissolved oxygen content would be much higher and constant than adding liquid h202.

For my records, after 24 hours of soak, 5 / 10 seeds showed tails in 12 hours, 10/10 in 24 hours (2 days total). These are autoflower beans so not sure if that's why, but I've never gotten seeds to germinate this quickly before, even autos.. I will have to experiment further, it's completely preliminary, but it's always good to question, or we would never grow, right? ;)
 
S

SeaMaiden

Always! Will you continue experimenting with seeds of different ages, and keep this thread updated? I'll stay subscribed, I'd like to see the results, if there's a difference, etc.
 
C

cvk

Yes sir, that the only way I get my 20+ year old lumbo, pelo rojo, SSSC and Seed Bank seeds to germ.
 

NOM.ZEB

New member
I am currently growing fresh aloe.This seems interesting but i am fearful that the gibberllins(?) in aloe might masculinise the seeds.
 

highonmt

Active member
Veteran
I am having a difficult time finding the auxin and gib concentrations in there
Dawn dish soap small drop maybe even dilute a drop and a a drop of the solution to you jar or bronners if your are picky no need to worry.
Or You can use a wet paper towel and have oxygen saturation, near perfect moisture content and much less fuss and muss. The bubbler is a good idea but my primary concern comes from mechanical damage from the agitation of the water. Plus soaking seeds is unnecessary and a great way to encourage fungal pathogens. Thats why near everyone who soaks uses peroxide, bleach, or some other sterilant.

I have sprouted too many seeds to count using just a new clean wet paper towel soaked in tap water. Fold the seeds up in the towel put somewhere warm and dark. I now, thanks to user dutchgrown, put the little parcel in a black cd case and put under a desk lamp, heat to 77f for more females . I just popped 8 beans this way and 6 are fully spouted in 24 hrs the other two have cracked no tap root yet. I have six of eight transferred to rw starters in 24hrs no stress to the plants . I can not recall ever losing a plant to fusarium etc using this method.
HM
 
K

komodod

I thought about this today, it's probably already thought of, but I couldn't find it anywhere?


It's pretty extreme, but Germinate your seeds in an aerated water solution to help supplement oxygen to the embryo.

for old seeds you would most likely increase the amount of pathogens in the water so mite help, might not.
 

guineapig

Active member
Veteran
The seed should respond to warm temps, moisture, and slight vibrations.

I don't see how this method would hurt, as long as you only did it for a day or two.
Beyond that, the jostling by the aerator might not be good for the emerging rootlet.
The rootlet is quite fragile.

The amount of oxygen the emerging plant needs is so small, so I am not sure about
the effects of increased oxygen. But it would be interesting to see hard data.

Increasing Oxygen in water "kicks out" the CO2 in the water through a very complex
process that I found in a pond ecology journal. You can test it for yourself by
measuring the pH before and after oxygenation. Your pH will suddenly spike to a basic
reading after oxygenation, and this might not be the best for the germinating seed.
I think germinating seeds prefer a slightly basic pH, just like the mature plants prefer
a pH of 6.0 - 6.3 or somewhere around there.

The extreme pH spike was observed using pure oxygen gas, not an aquarium bubbler,
so an aquarium bubbler should be much safer and the pH shift should not be as drastic.
The air you are injecting is only 20% oxygen and has lots of CO2 in it, so it should be fine.

Maybe the vibrations would be helpful, but I would monitor the temperature to make sure
your water does not get too cold, because increased temperature is very helpful for
germination (but not too hot).

:ying: kind regards from guineapig :ying:
 
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