Seed germination on damp paper

Have any of you ever tried to germinate seeds between two sheets of damp paper. I have read about this and had a go this afternoon for the first time.

The system involves sprinkling some seeds between two sheets of damp absorbant paper (like kitchin roll) and placing them in a resealable polythene bag. The seeds should germinate fairly quickly, as they should be at an optimum dampness and cannot dry out. You can store a large number of bags in a box, and everyday you hold them up to the light to see if anything has germinated. Cold stratification is easy, as a bag will take up so little room in a fridge. The advantage of this is its extraordinary economy in space and material. You could keep 100 bags in the same space as a seed tray. When they do germinate you must remove them individually with tweezers and put them in a seed tray or straight into a pot.

Its a great way to test the viability of seed as you can do it with very small numbers. I cannot remember who was writing about this - but a famous name said that he now does all his seeds this way.

 

I've known about this technique for a while, Peter, but I've never tried it out. Maybe this is a good year to do it!! I think it might well be - frdge, here I come.... :D

 

I am not sure how you transfer the very small germinated seeds. The big ones would not be a problem. I would also be interested to see how big seeds can grow without being transfered. Some seed is so small it always amazes me how a seedling can grow from it and get big enough to anchor itself in the compost, which it must do before it can get any nutrition.

It is also a very practical way to test the viability of older seed, without all the fuss and hit and miss of compost. Apparantly seed banks (and there are a few about) must test the viability of all their seeds every few years. And I think this is the way they do it.

 

Update. The first seeds have germinated using the damp paper method. About 70% of Nemophilia (Californian Bluebell) had germinated today - 4 days after sowing. The same seeds sown at the end of August in seed trays took 5 days - the differance in time is probably not significant, but the simultaneous germination is claimed to be one of the advantages. The biggest problem was in seperating the two layers of damp paper, which had stuck together and had no strength. But once that had been done it was much easier than I anticipated transfering the germinated seeds to individual pots using tweezers.

If Nemophilia sounds an obscure choice (its new to me), it is a blue 16 cms hardy annual that Christopher Lloyd used to sow in Autumn to flower in the following May. For details http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_50_141&products_id=956

 

I have done viability testing on just one piece of damp kitchen roll. I just planted the kitchen roll! Tiny seeds are always hard, sometimes you can mix with sand to get wider spacing.
I found this article:
http://www.kew.org/msbp/curation/cur_germ.html
Has anyone tried the Agar jelly for germination?

 

Thats very interesting Liz - I have saved that site. Does Agar jelly have nutrient to allow the seed to grow. Paper, of course, doesn't and the seedling will die when it has used up its internal reserves.

Further progress: I have just looked at a bag of Centaurea (Cornflower) seeds. These needed to have light excluded, so they were covered by a magazine - and forgotten. Just now, after 4 days, 15 out of 19 seeds had germinated. As some of the seedlings were almost an inch long, I supect they germinated in 3 days, which would be the same as in August in seed trays.

 

Used to do this with cyclamen seeds and Dianthus. One thing you do need to be careful of, is when transferring (if you are not just testing viability) to a growing medium, that you do not damage the tiny little hairs on the root. They really are very delicate and removing the seeds from the paper can be a problem.
Another thing you could try is pregerminating in wall paper paste.

 

(showing my ignorance here!!)

Why wallpaper paste??

 

cos you can grow them on them on the wall :D :D :D

 

Wallpaper paste because it is sterile, transparent so you can seed the seeds and it holds moisture for the seed to use. It is also non-abrasive so there is no damage to the roots when and if you remove the seed from the medium. Also it is a lot cheaper than agar jelly and more easily available. Also you can add more water and using an icing bag you can sow the pregerminated seeds directly into the soil.

 

I will try that Palustris - my neighbour mentioned that only a couple of days ago - I had never heard of it before. For how long would a seedling grow in paste. If when you added extra water you also added a very small amount of fertiliser, would that be a viable hydroponic system - for a while at least. Using the icing bag gives new meaning to the idea of decorating your garden. :D

 

Make sure the wallpaper paste doesn't have a fungicide in it though.

 

Fascinating stuff guys, thanks

 

A lot of wallpaper pastes have a fungicide incorporated which is also beneficial!

 

The only thing to do is to try. I agree Liz as long as the fungicide is not too strong or unsuitable, it could be a benefit. I read an article on Pelargonium cuttings that recommeded using atheletes foot powder (as a fungicide) mixed with hormone rooting powder.

Athletes foot powder sir! of course, will that be for your bunions. No - for my Pelargoniums. :D :D :D