10% hydrogen peroxide 90% water

<~> said:

medium/ media never works much good for starting larger batches of seeds.

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<~> said:

less then 100% germination rates. you want a full room. not one full of empty slots.

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brown_thumb said:

I never have a problem germinating with plain tap water and paper towels. I keep the towels moist but not wet. Seeds are sandwiched between towels and covered to block light. I estimate 95 percent germination and the very few that didn't pop were due to a bad batch of seeds from one vendor.

CAVEAT: I'm still a newb and kill plenty of plants 'after' they germinate.

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thesloppy said:

For whatever it's worth to you, if 'damping off' (e.g. your seedling stems wither and die) is killing much of your seedlings than soaking them & watering with hydrogen peroxide will indeed improve your survival rates (click uderlined text for further links), as peroxide kills the fungus & bacteria that contribute to damping off & seedling stem rot.

I can germ in tap with no problem, but without H2O2 or Hyrdoguard my seedlings have pretty dismal survival rates, and I won't pop seeds without one or the other anymore. I dunno about the 10% to 90% ratio, as I typically use 1/2 to 1 cup of 3% peroxide per gallon (which appears to be closer to 2-5% of volume), but common opinion seems to be that peroxide is relatively harmless to your plants at similar strengths.

As noted, I also use Hydroguard in my regular feeding schedule, but it also prevents root rot & damping off fungus/bacteria, and I will occasionally pop seeds with that, but I prefer peroxide for seed germination since it's cheaper. Contrary to my earlier held beliefs, both peroxide & Hydroguard have about 6 months of useful activity after opening, and after that may be inactive/useless, so keep that in mind when thinking of bulk & container size. In general (AKA entirely inaccurate) terms, peroxide is the chemical solution to the problem of root rot & damping off, and Hydroguard (or the specific micro-organisms that make it up) is the organic solution to the same problem, and you can use the one that best corresponds to your existing growing method, but it's not entirely necessary. What you definitely shouldn't do is use both at the same time, as a proper dose of H202 will kill the beneficial bacteria in Hydroguard rendering it immediately useless. I'll admit that I HAVE tried used both on exceptionally important/expensive seeds, figuring a waste of a few cents of Hydroguard was worth the extra imaginary piece of mind....but it truly is a waste.

Also, just in case you're really new to the idea of peroxide, it's always worth mentioning that there are different grades of Hydrogen Peroxide available, so it helps to pay attention to what ratio you're buying as well as what grade the particular application you're using it for requires. In this case (and in most cases) we're talking about the 3% solution that can usually be found just about anywhere, but there are also concentrations of 5, 10 and 20 percent that are available for other purposes, and you don't want to douse your plants in something 3-5 times stronger/weaker than expected, so always double check.

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