Seeds that would otherwise lie dormant will spring to life with the aid of a new chemical discovered by a UC Riverside-led team.

https://www.eurekalert.org/new...

https://www.pnas.org/content/1...

Hi Rj,

Interesting links. Hopefully, this is "on the up and up". I wonder how long it will be until there are commercial products available making this new chemical technology available to home gardeners.

Although my experimental zinnia seeds germinate in 3 to 6 days, so I don't really feel the need for this technology. But we shouldn't have to wait long to hear from gardeners who would want to try out these new seed germination stimulants.

ZM

The test subjects were already fast germinating seeds anyway. While this might translate to "hard to germinate" seeds, it's quite a jump to assume that.

But the discovery made is very important, nevertheless, and I see its implications going beyond germination. It's just improving on what nature does already. In cold Minnesota zone 4a, Arabidopsis spp. regularly begin blooming in March.