Did you do this at school.

Broad Bean,blotting paper and water,in a jar.



Watch this space.

 

Yep, also daffodils on a jam jar with some charcoal

 

Yes, and I have done it recently. If you put any seed in a polythene bag with wet blotting/loo paper it will germinate. It's quite a good way of germinating seeds, reliable, reproducable, clean and takes up very little space. You can remove individuals that have germinated with a pair of tweezers and pot them up.

 

Or if you want to be posh....vermiculite. Only thing is, that's no good for very small seeds, they get lost.

 

Still do do it as part of the curriculum

 

Just thinking about it, it was hyacinths.

It was quite a while ago. :D

 

Yes we still do it at school - lovely to see them rushing in each day to look at how their bean is doing.
Also grow cress on papertowel/plates - very fast growing too - so the children can see the results very quickly

 

Update on Mr Bean..
Doing Ok.

 

I seem to remember we added ink to show how the coloured particles weren't taken into the seedling..or were they??......Soooooo long ago :confused:

 

Roders - that is first class. I never did it at school. It is a wonderfully clear example of how it works.

Just one question, why doesn't the seed case end up on top of the leaves as it seems to do with all my seedlings of other plants?

 

Look up cotyledons Peter.
Peas and beans, I think, leave them below ground.
With some plants, ex. sunflowers they are pushed up and form the first two leaves.
In monocots there is only one, that stays below ground.
I am not good at explaining it, or understanding it, but its all interesting stuff. :D

 

I will have to scratch around a bit Pete. I have only ever noticed the seed case left on top. Most of what I grow are dicots - but then so too are peas and beans. I am also growing some Alliums from seed (a monocot) but they too have the seed case on top of the monoleaf.

I am not sure how to Google it - when I typed in seeds and underground, I got some very funny sites :D

 

Well you keep learning new things on this forum.

As usual Peter you are absolutely right hypogeal seeds include pea, mango, broadbeans, groundnuts etc and virtually all monocots - except onions (ie Allium)

Well I think I will sleep soundly tonight knowing that :D :D :D

 

Just like Susannah we grew cress when I was in the infants school in the early 70's oh course it was so ideal for us to grow as it grew so very quick and after just a couple of days you could see the seeds spurting!
Helen.xxx.

 

I still grow cress for my egg and cress sandwiches on a paper towel in a cherry tomato container on the kitchen windowsill as I haven't seen it for sale here. However, you can buy large bunches of the peppery cress for salads everywhere.