Rick, love your quick tip about soaking seed in Hydrogen peroxide but you failed to give measurements or did I miss reading that part?

I never knew this & it's an excellent tip. I will give it a go. Thanks Rick!

Thank you! The first time I tried it, on old Salvia seeds, I got better germination rates.

Here are measurements for making different size batches.

The second number is the peroxide (just a little is needed).
Some people use it 2-3X stronger for brief soaks, like just washing the seed.

water - - - - - - - - peroxide

1 ounce - - 1 milliliter
1 cup - 1 and 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 ml)
1 pint - - 1 tablespoon
1 quart - - 2 tablespoons (1/32) = 1 OZ peroxide
1 gallon - - - 1/2 cup peroxide


I got this and several good ideas about peroxide from here:
http://www.using-hydrogen-pero...

Do you use this on wintersown plants that are grown in milk jugs or liter bottles? Or is just for "Growing plants under lights?"

I soak seed that have hard seed coats like moonflower or morning glories in hydrogen peroxide over night. They germinated within a few days. Easier than nicking the seed coat.

Thanks for the tip! And also the measurements. I had visions of measuring by teaspoons, endlessly!

I have heard of many different people watering seedlings with dilute H2O2 becuase it does carry some oxygen down to the root hairs.

Me, I would rather use a very open, coarse, soiless mix that let's beaucoup AIR get to the root hairs.

But peroxide might discourage damping off, at least a little.

I like the theory that H2O2 disourages mold and bacteria while soaking seeds overnight. And MAYBE in some cases it helps break dormancy by oxidizing some germination inhibitor, or helping to strip something off the seed coat.

Several people said they saw older seeds germinating faster or with a higher % germination.

LOL I should have said nicking not kicking

>> Easier than Kicking the seed coat.

That might be one way to wake them up from dormancy!

Thanks for the thumbs, everyone!

I do want to mention again that many people use stronger concentrations of hydrogen peroxide for treating sick or fungusy-plants, or for soaking seeds for an hour or two.

Rick, great tip. I'm going to give it a try. And happy holidays to all!

I hope it helps. Maybe not much, with fresh seeds that are vigorous and already easy to start.

But older seeds and slow-to-germinate seeds do seem to benefit from it. And several people have said they use it to start seeds with thick coats.

Great tip. Thanks for sharing.