Mine is 3% - I'm thinking Joann will let us know what she uses as well.

Hi, was out for a while. Yes, my Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) is the regular drug store variety and the bottle states 3%.

Now we are armed and ready to go.
Thank you Joanne

Thanks, Joanne, for your article; it is so informative.
I've been nicking and soaking my bluebonnet and sweet pea seeds before sowing (and others with tough coats).
I've not used H2O2 for soaking though.

Betsy

>> I didn't know you could soak seeds in straight h2o2.

That might kill the seeds. You should dilute "drugstore H2O2" by 32:1!
What you buy will be 3%, and you should pre-soak seeds around 0.1% (although some people use it somewhat stronger).

One and a half teaspoons peroxide per cup of water, or
1 tsp peroxide per 5.3 ounces of water or
1 ounce peroxide per Quart of water or
½ cup of 3% peroxide per gallon

Beautiful, I shall order me a bottle right away! :D x

Rick has some good advice.
straight water would be your #1 choice for soaking
If the seed coat is thick and hard, you might want to scarify (small cut/scratch) and then soak in water
If that doesn't work, then try hydrogen peroxide(3%) in dilution recommendation

I have used straight 3% hydrogen peroxide for extremely hard seeds, but as Rick mentioned, there is a chance that choice may damage the seed.

Experiment with one seed and see what happens. If you choose to soak with H2O2, only soak for a few hours and/or until you seed the seed swell
Different seeds will have different results

Here's a very helpful link
http://www.using-hydrogen-pero...

I have to agree with Rick! You've put an entire book into a nice, concise article!
I also wondered about the advisability of using straight H2O2, but it might be worth a try on stubborn seeds.

Thanks Woofie!

Great job, Joanne.

Karen

Thanks Karen!

>> I also wondered about the advisability of using straight H2O2, but it might be worth a try on stubborn seeds.

Perhaps first try soaking in 1% H2O2, then see if they sprout on a coffee filter.
If not, use the 3% for an hour or two and try again.
Then a longer 3% soak.

I was surprised to learn that some seeds need to sprout in cold conditions, and too much warmth inhibits them. I think that room is already cold enough for most seeds, so I never noticed a problem on that side. "Heat helps most seeds" might only be true in a cold room!

Stokes Seeds does a fantastic job with giving optimal soil temperatures for germination of specific plants. They are in ATP Recommendations. The germination temps are not ambient temperatures, it is soil temperature

For the most part, stratification cracks the seed coat for the water to penetrate. Once the temperature of the soil is compatible with the liking of the particular seed, it will sprout. The tough seed coat is there for protection to not germinate before the environment is ok

Johnny's Seed catalog (the paper one, not online) has a Germination Guide graph for each category of crop seeds. It shows temperature on the X-axis and a sloping line showing a range of "optimum" soil temps with the peak at the very best germination temp.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/t-I...

All kinds of information that would be helpful.

I emailed Johnny's once, asking if I could get an electronic version of all the growing tips they put in their paper catalog. Nope.

I urged them to add the paper tips to their online library, and they said, well, maybe someday.

If I were them, I would realize that people will keep requesting new paper catalogs whenever their old one gets too beat up, because those growing tips are GOLD.

They are like Dave's ATP Plant Database "Plant Parent Pages" with common info for plants with common growing, harvesting, storing and pest data. For exam ple, they split up "beans" into five categories).

Examples of categories:

Artichoke, Globe
Asparagus
Bush Beans
Pole Beans
Shell Beans
Soybeans
Fava/Broad Beans
mini-Broccoli
Broccoli (Broccoli Raab, Gai Lan & Sprouting Broccoli)
Cabbage
Chinese Cabbage
Pak C hoy & similar Asian Brassica Greens
Cauiflower

Hey Rick, your gardening idea popped up in the "Random"

http://garden.org/ideas/view/R...

Thanks!

"Random" is the exact right word for most of my ideas!

Of course, I got this idea from many other people.

RickCorey said:Thanks!

"Random" is the exact right word for most of my ideas!

I love your random ideas Rick. I have starred this one so I can find it easily.

Thanks, Lynne! A compliment from a Quick Tipster like you means a lot.