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PREPARATION OF SEEDS FOR SOWING

Quality seeds usually sprout together without any pre-sowing preparation. However, in some cases, special measures (calibration, disinfection, removing seeds from dormancy, increasing immunity) are indispensable. Only justified ones should be used. Often, only one procedure gives the effect. But you need to have an idea about all existing ones.

SELECTING THE BEST SEEDS

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For sowing seedlings, only large and full-weight grains should be used, and empty and feeble grains should be discarded. Another thing is that nowadays in most cases, when there are very few seeds in the package, you can’t accelerate with calibration (selection of the best). Seeds offered in specialized stores should already be calibrated by the producers. This is especially true for hybrids. But for those that were harvested independently and in abundance, calibration is necessary: large and heavy seeds give powerful shoots and a higher yield.

The easiest way to calibrate seeds is to dip them in a saline solution. Before doing this, they are simply soaked in warm water (22 ... 25 ° C). After two hours, mix and remove the floating. Then a solution is prepared at the rate of 30-50 g of salt per 1 liter of warm water (the larger and heavier the seeds, the higher the concentration of the solution) and the seeds are poured into it. Stir after 10-15 minutes. Those that have sunk to the bottom are washed in water, and then they are either sown, or soaked in a fertilizer solution, or dried and stored until sowing. If there are few seeds, the salt solution that floats can also be sown, but after germination, only the strongest sprouts are left.

SEED DISINFECTION

Most garden crop diseases are transmitted not only through soil and plant debris, but also through seeds. Among the most harmful are cladosporiosis, or brown leaf spot of tomatoes, mucous bacteriosis of cabbage, as well as Fusarium wilt of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and cucumbers. It is their wide distribution that vegetable growers have recently noted in their personal plots.

At the same time, you should be aware that large manufacturers offer seed that has already undergone disinfection (information about this is placed on the packaging). Such seeds do not need processing, on the contrary, it is harmful to them. For seeds that have not undergone this procedure, and also when their origin is unknown or they were harvested on their own, disinfection must be done.

Partially disinfects seeds from external and internal infection dry or wet heating. It also increases their germination. First of all, seeds collected on their own plot need heat treatment. Especially if they were removed in inclement weather, and also stored in an unheated room in winter.

The easiest way to disinfect seeds is to warm them up in the sun for 3-5 days. A good substitute for sunlight is an ultraviolet lamp. Irradiation with artificial light for 50-70 seconds not only disinfects the seeds, but also stimulates intensive growth. Especially useful is warming up (solar or under lamps) after soaking the seeds in nutrient solutions. The amazing effect of the method is due to two factors: temperature and light.

But heating any seeds at a temperature of 23 ... 35 ° C for 2-3 months is considered more reliable: there is no risk of overheating and, accordingly, a decrease in germination. This is especially true for pumpkin crops. Seed bags can simply be hung by the central heating radiator or by the stove, or placed directly on it, after placing a cardboard or cloth lining (book or towel).

You can warm up the seeds faster in a wet way. To do this, on the eve of sowing, the seeds of cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, watermelons are immersed for 2 hours in a thermos with water heated to 50 ° C.

As for the seeds of nightshade crops, it is recommended to warm them up in a wet way. After prolonged dry heating, they may germinate less amicably. Seeds of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants are dipped in thin fabric bags into a thermos with water heated to 48 ... 50 ° C for 25 minutes. Immediately after warming up, they are lowered for 2-3 minutes in cold water. The seeds are then dried and sown on the same day.

Cabbage seeds are kept in hot water (45 ... 50 ° C) for 20 minutes; seeds of carrots, beets and flowers - also in hot water (50 ... 53 ° C), but not more than 20 minutes. As a result, at least two or three times the incidence of diseases is reduced.

The temperature, like time, must be maintained very accurately: if it is lower, there will be no effect, if it is higher, the seeds will die. You should be aware that weak seeds after such treatment may not sprout. But the rest will give healthy, powerful plants.

Heat treatment can be replaced - by disinfecting seeds for an hour in an infusion of garlic. At temperatures above 15 ° C, the substances contained in it release free sulfur, which is deadly for pathogenic fungi. The infusion is prepared as follows: the pulp from 3-4 cloves is poured into 100 ml of water, hermetically sealed and allowed to brew for a day. The seeds are kept for 30 minutes. Sow without washing.

But it is most practical to use biological products that have a fungicidal and growth-stimulating effect. They are able to give future plants not only resistance to a number of diseases (late blight, cladosporiosis, alternariosis, blackleg, true and downy mildew, gray and white rot), but also retain beneficial microflora on the surface of seeds and in the soil. These are Immunocytophyte (1 tablet per 15 ml of water, kept for 3-9 hours), Agat-25 Super (for tomato and pepper seeds - 0,2 ml per 50 ml of water, for cucumber - 0,1 ml per 150 ml of water, cabbage - 0,1 ml per 250 ml of water, incubated for 6 hours), Fitosporin-M (the paste is diluted in 2 stages: first, a mother solution is prepared in a ratio of 1: 2, and then 2 drops of a concentrated solution are diluted in 100 ml of water, incubated for 2 hours ).

Recently, among amateur vegetable growers, disinfection of seeds has become popular not only in potassium permanganate (1 g per 100 ml of water, kept for 30 minutes), but also in hydrogen peroxide, brilliant green, chlorhexidine.

To disinfect the seeds with hydrogen peroxide, they are dipped into a ready-made 4% solution, heated to 3 ... 30 ° C, which is sold in a pharmacy, and kept in it for XNUMX minutes. In smaller doses, it acts weakly on pathogens, and in increased doses, it is detrimental to embryos. Hydrogen peroxide, like potassium permanganate, is a strong oxidizing agent that easily penetrates into seeds. Therefore, the results from the impact of both are often unstable, up to the loss of germination of the seed. Then the seeds are washed and sown.

Brilliant green (brilliant green) seed disinfects well. To prepare the working composition, 1 teaspoon of a 1% pharmacy solution (in order not to get smeared, it is better to take it with a syringe) is diluted in 100 ml of water. Seeds are kept for 30 minutes, and then sown without washing.

For disinfection of seeds in chlorhexidine, a pharmaceutical preparation with a concentration of 0,05% is taken. Use it undiluted. Holding time - 30 minutes, then washed and sown.

Reference by topic: Preparation of seeds for sowing: soaking, germination, hardening, bubbling, etc.