Originally Posted by NOM.ZEB

Seamaiden, does the surfacant help all the seeds sink immediately?!!

It should help some, but if they're lighter than water then there's not much soap or a surfactant can do.

[purple_man]

yepp sounds like a good idea for old seeds... k+

blessss

[NOM.ZEB]

I wonder how well yucca or aloe would work for this?

As a surfactant? Very well, there are some products that feature them (yucca in particular, I'm thinking of ThermX or something like that... hold on, lemme look something up...)...

Hold on, brb.

Ayup, Therm X70 Yucca Extract.
https://www.groworganic.com/therm-x70...ct-1-pint.html

[NOM.ZEB]

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

[NOM.ZEB]

I am having a difficult time finding the auxin and gib concentrations in there

[highonmt]

Originally Posted by NOM.ZEB

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

Originally Posted by RESINvention

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]

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).

kind regards from guineapig

[DemonPigeon]

I like the ideas on here :-) But I don't entirely get the oxygen one... Why do they need air?