Seed treatment before planting is the key to healthy and strong plants. Most diseases are transmitted with seed, so it is necessary to properly prepare the seeds for sowing.

Consider in detail the methods of preparing seeds before sowing.

Before sowing, the seeds must be decontaminated, except for encrusted and coated seeds.

F1 hybrid seeds- undergo processing before hitting the counter in the store. Processing is carried out against pests and diseases. Hybrid seeds are completely ready for sowing. They are sown dry immediately into the ground or pre-treated with growth stimulants if desired.

Seed sorting before sowing

The collected seeds in your garden must be sorted out before sowing, leaving large and healthy ones. To select empty seeds, we need a solution of table salt (2 grams dissolved in 100 ml of water).

Dip the seeds in the solution, stir and after 10 minutes empty seeds will float to the surface, throw them away, they are not suitable. Rinse the remaining seeds in running water and dry.

How to treat seeds?

Varietal seeds, purchased and collected in the garden, must be treated against diseases and pests. Flower seeds are also treated before sowing.

Video - We process seeds before sowing

Seeds are placed in a bag and lowered into a thermos with hot water for 20-30 minutes. Then immediately rinse with cold water for 1 minute. Follow the heat treatment regime, otherwise most seeds will become unusable.

The temperature and processing time are indicated in the table.

Attention: during the heat treatment of seeds, about 30% may lose their germination. Everything is in order, non-viable seeds die.

To combat viral diseases, soak the seeds in a weak solution of Immunocytophyte (1 tablet per 100 ml of water) for 3 to 12 hours. You can also hold in Fitosporin solution according to the instructions.

A solution of potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate) works well. To do this, the seeds are preheated in hot water(45-50 degrees) for 2 hours. It is better to use a thermos for this procedure. After warming up, place the seeds for 30 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate (1-2% solution).

For crops such as onion, radish, tomato, physalis, lettuce, legumes, corn- pickle in a 1% solution of potassium permanganate for 45 minutes.

Carrots, eggplant, peppers, dill, cabbage and pumpkin- use a 2% solution of potassium permanganate for 20 minutes.

Also use special preparations for dressing seeds - Bunker, Commander, Winner, Baitan, Fundazol and others.

Attention- after treatment with chemicals, be sure to rinse the seeds with water at room temperature.

Seed treatment with hydrogen peroxide

An effective way to treat seeds before sowing, disinfect and prepare the seeds. You will need 10% hydrogen peroxide. Seeds spread out on gauze are soaked in a dish, or you can put the seeds in a bag and dip them in peroxide. Soak for 12 hours, no more.

For rapid growth of seeds, they are soaked in any growth stimulator or warm water (it is better to soak in melt or rain water).

Pre-freeze the water, then place the ice in a bowl and let it melt completely, then lower the seeds, they should be completely in the water. Cucumbers and tomatoes are soaked for 19 hours, legumes for 7 hours, celery and onions for 35 hours.

Biological products stimulate the germination of seeds more strongly.

At home, you can prepare growth stimulants like this:

Dilute 1 tablespoon of wood ash in 100 ml of water, leave for a day (solution temperature 17-20 degrees), in this way seeds are enriched with microelements;
- 20-25 drops of liquid peat Potassium Humate diluted in 100 ml of water, soaked for 12 hours;
- Epin preparation (2 drops per 100 ml of water), soak for 18 hours;
-- Fertilizer New Ideal or Signor Tomato (20 grams per 1 liter of water), soak for 30 minutes.

There is also a verified old way: soak seeds in aloe juice for a day. Then dry the seeds on paper.

Attention: when soaking the seeds for more than 10 hours, change the water every 3-4 hours to enrich with oxygen and so that the water does not deteriorate.

After the soaking procedure, dry the seeds a little and immediately sow in the ground.

Video - Super way to soak seeds

To increase the cold resistance of crops, it is necessary to harden them first. Seeds are placed in bags and soaked in water for 12 hours. After soaking, keep at a temperature of 15-20 degrees for 12 hours, then place in a refrigerator with a temperature of 3 degrees for 12 hours.

Seed vernalization

Cooling or vernalization of seeds accelerates the germination of cold-resistant crops. This method is used for parsley, carrots, parsnips. Pre-soak the seeds at room temperature until completely swollen, germinate in wet gauze until 10-15% of the seeds hatch. Then place the seeds for two weeks in a room with a temperature of 0 to 1 degrees.

Attention: seeds of beets, spinach, lettuce are not recommended to be prepared in this way.

Video - Super seed soak and germinator

For rapid germination of seeds, they are saturated with oxygen. You will need a regular aquarium compressor or a special bubbler.

Seeds of perennial crops with a pronounced dormant period need stratification. These seeds need cold to germinate. The container is filled with sand and seeds are placed in it.

The container with seeds is placed in the refrigerator, it can be buried in the snow for a period of 2 weeks to six months, it all depends on the type of crop.

Seed scarification

Seeds of perennials with a dense shell are scarified. The dense shell prevents the appearance of sprouts, so the seeds are ground with sand or between sheets of sandpaper.

Stratification and scarification not carried out for all crops, so it is not necessary to process all seeds in this way.

It looks red, yellow and blue. Such seeds are treated with polymers, which provides germinating to seeds and reliable protection against pests.

There is no need to further process these seeds. They are sown dry in moist, ready-made soil.

The seeds are covered with a peat-mineral mixture. The mixture creates a nutritious and protective shell, the processed seeds are larger and round in shape.

It is economically profitable to sow coated seeds, seed consumption during sowing is small, thinning is not necessary.

Seeds are sown dry, laid out in prepared pits or furrows. Water the soil well before sowing.

Video - Three ways to soak seeds

You have learned all the ways to prepare seeds before sowing in the ground. The main types of processing are sorting, dressing and soaking, without which you will not be able to get healthy and strong plants and, accordingly, a good harvest.

Preparing seeds for planting makes them less prone to disease and more weather resistant. Choosing and buying seeds is not enough, to improve germination and increase the frost resistance of seedlings, it is necessary to carry out additional procedures and provide the seedlings with the necessary care.

Three stages of seed treatment before planting

Having chosen planting material, it is necessary to process it before planting.

Stage 1. Soaking

For the procedure you will need a flat container, you can take plastic cover or a plate. Soaked pieces of moisture-absorbing fabric or cotton wool, previously soaked in warm water, are placed in it. Seeds are laid out on them (the process is also called soaking or vernalization), and soaked at a temperature of plus 25-30 degrees Celsius, moistening regularly until the seedlings appear.

Also very popular among experienced gardeners is the bubbling process (also called bubbling). It is produced instead of soaking by immersing the seeds in warm water (20-25 degrees Celsius). Usually, a high container is used for the procedure, at the bottom of which an aquarium compressor is placed, which saturates the liquid with oxygen.

A jar or jug ​​is filled 2/3 with water and the seeds placed in gauze bags are kept in it for a day. The procedure increases not only germination, but also the friendliness of seedlings, and also reduces the time of "black earth" by 5-8 days.

Stage 2. Heating and hardening

Germination can be increased by heating: planting material is kept for 2-3 hours in hot water or under heating devices at a temperature of plus 40-60 degrees Celsius.

Hardening is the opposite method of stimulation for germination (seeds are placed for a day in the cold 0-3 ° C). The procedure is carried out after the soaking stage, as they must be wet.

To increase the resistance of crops to frost and their productivity, experienced gardeners recommend hardening seedlings and grown seedlings with a single decrease in temperature or alternating heat and cold.

Stage 3. Treatment for diseases (pickling or disinfection)

Seed disinfection with a 1% manganese solution for half an hour will destroy pathogens of various infections. After soaking, the material must be washed in cool water and dried thoroughly (not in the oven, you can use infrared heater or a blower at a great distance, so that the heat can be felt a little by hand).

Picking and watering seedlings

Many novice gardeners and gardeners are frightened by the long absence of shoots and begin to take measures that are not necessary: ​​thereby destroying shoots that have not yet sprouted. The moment when the hatched seeds develop root system and the first cotyledons of plants, one of the most intense, are selected to the surface.

Black earth period

The time from planting seeds in the soil, until the appearance of seedlings is called the period of "black earth", it differs in duration for different crops. With proper preparation of the material, seedlings appear faster. Some vegetables and flowers germinate within a few days, others up to 3 months. At this time, they should be checked by loosening the earth in the seat and washing it to get rid of mold and other harmful microorganisms.

Watering seedlings

Sprouted seedlings should be watered very carefully, pouring water into the pan, where cassettes or other containers with holes are installed. The surface of the soil must remain dry and loose to prevent the development of a dangerous disease - the black leg. Therefore, combine each irrigation procedure with surface loosening.

The frequency of watering and the amount of water depends on the composition of the earth mixture. If the soil is soaked to the very top, and there is still liquid left in the pan, it must be drained and the plants sprinkled with dry earth to the very cotyledons.

Seedling picking

Planting adult seedlings in individual containers is called picking. The further growth of seedlings depends on the correctness of its implementation.

To facilitate the process of extracting seedlings, it must be watered abundantly. Large pots or cups are 2/3 filled with prepared soil mixture, in which a recess is made for the transplanted seedling. You need to take out seedlings together with an earthen clod.

To stimulate the development of lateral roots, the main root can be pinched off, freeing the seedling system from excess soil. The covered soil around the seedlings placed in the hole must be crushed. After watering, the plants are transferred for 2-3 days to a shaded place.

So that the dived seedlings do not stretch out, you need to provide it with good lighting. If the sun's rays are not enough, then you need to take care of artificial light sources so that the seedlings become stocky.

Growing seeds from China

Modern selection does not stand still, bringing out new varieties every year. Recently, it has become popular to buy seeds on the Internet. And Chinese manufacturers are famous for a special variety of varieties and colorings.

If you bought planting material on Aliexpress, then you were definitely looking for information on how to grow seeds from China for seedlings. The variety of seeds offered by this eastern country alone is amazing.

Its main drawback is that all the necessary information regarding the timing and recommendations for sowing is written in Chinese or not at all, so you have to look for it yourself - on thematic forums and websites.

Making such purchases is quite risky, because if they do not sprout, or the seedlings do not take root, it is impossible to figure out the reasons. If curiosity still prevails and you want to experiment, here are some recommendations:

• start with small purchases, one package will be enough;
• do not buy exotic plants, the probability of their survival in Russia is very small, even when planted in a greenhouse or conservatory;
• first find the information, the variety may differ, but one plant is often planted for seedlings at the same time.

Outcome

Before sowing seeds for seedlings, treat them to get healthy and high-yielding plants. Depending on the type of crop, the procedure and temperature regime may differ, as well as the rules for watering and picking seedlings.

Unfortunately, an attempt to answer that “You must have overdone it” is thwarted by a categorical statement that “I am a gardener with a hundred years of experience, regularly watch all TV shows, read everything that is written on the topic, implement everything I see and hear, so I don’t teach me, and confirm what I already know - the seeds are bad! Such people have nothing to say. But for those who, when asking this question, really wanted to hear an answer to it, we will try to briefly tell what can be done with the seeds, and what is better to refrain from.

Pre-sowing seed treatment is a necessary and effective technique if it is carried out by a competent and experienced specialist. For example, a good agronomist in the village - x. enterprise: hardening, pickling, treatment with microelements, stimulants, bubbling ... At home, only a few methods can be recommended, provided they are carefully applied. Of course, it is impossible to give universal recommendations on seed treatment for the whole variety of crops cultivated by man and for all occasions. We do not set ourselves such a task. Let's try to do short review the most frequently recommended techniques, and you will draw your own conclusions.

The whole variety of methods of presowing seed treatment can be divided (conditionally) into the following groups:

1. Methods for disinfecting seeds (disinfection).
2. Ways to bring seeds out of dormancy (acceleration of germination).
3. Ways to increase plant immunity (biostimulants, hardening, etc.)
4. Others; including those that do not have a reasonable basis - useless and harmful.

Seed disinfection methods.

If healthy man will unnecessarily use potent drugs, it is clear that this will only harm him. So for seeds, treatment with such a far from harmless substance as potassium permanganate is a strong stress. In addition, it should be borne in mind that not only pathogenic microorganisms, but also a variety of beneficial microflora can be found on the surface of the seeds. After processing, such "sterile" seeds will fall completely defenseless into the soil, which is not at all sterile.

In the literature, you can find recommendations for the treatment of seeds and other pesticides, even more aggressive than "potassium permanganate", but, fortunately, they are rarely found in home medicine cabinets.
In case of a real need for seed disinfection, it is better to use special preparations, for example, Maxim, strictly following the instructions.

Ways to bring seeds out of dormancy.

There are quite a few ways to remove seeds from dormancy (scarification, stratification, washing, soaking in water or in special solutions, heating, cooling, etc.). The choice of processing method depends on the morphological and biological characteristics of the seeds, on their physiological state associated with the conditions of cultivation, processing, storage.

Seeds are complex living organisms. During storage, they continue to develop invisible to the eye. Within 3-6 months after collection, the seeds are in the stage of "deep dormancy" and at this time their germination is difficult or impossible without the use of processing methods specific for each crop. These methods have been developed for laboratories involved in determining the sowing qualities of seeds, including freshly harvested seeds, before storage or sale. For summer residents there is no such problem - by the time of sowing for seedlings and, moreover, in the ground, more than 6 months pass even for seeds of the last harvest year.

Stratification. There are crops that require mandatory stratification of seeds before sowing, regardless of the timing of collection. Stratification is a long-term cooling from 15 days to 3 months, depending on the culture, at a temperature of 0 to 5°C. These are some medicinal, decorative and many tree crops. Usually on packages with seeds of such plants there is a warning about the need for stratification. For such crops, winter sowing in the ground is recommended so that the stratification process takes place in the natural environment. With spring sowing, the germination period can stretch for a long time. Sometimes the seeds may sprout the next spring after overwintering in the soil, or not sprout at all if their viability is short - one year after collection, as, for example, in a perennial delphinium. Among the vegetable crops and flowers familiar to us, there are no such finicky ones, but some methods of "awakening" seeds can also be useful to them.

pre-cooling. This technique differs from stratification in that the cooling is less deep and less prolonged. Seeds are cooled at a temperature of 5-10°C for 3-15 days. To do this, the seeds are placed in a moistened cloth, paper or sand and placed in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator or in some cool place. This technique is applicable only to those cold-resistant crops, the seeds of which germinate at low positive temperatures and are usually sown in early spring, in cases where it is not possible to sow them on time. Many people go to their dachas only in May, when the optimal time for sowing parsley, cumin, carrots, lettuce, watercress, celery, hyssop, spinach, sorrel, onions, radishes, cosmos, gypsophila, sea alissum, lavatera, phlox drummmond, mignonette, forget-me-nots, mustard, sweet clover, clover, lupine, alfalfa, rapeseed and other plants have already passed. If you sow the seeds of these crops on warm May days without prior cooling, the seedlings may be unfriendly, stretch for 3-4 weeks; and in radishes, lettuce, onions, increased shooting is possible.

Preheating and warming + cooling. Heating seeds in hot water at 50-60°C or "dry" heating at 40-60°C, sometimes in combination with subsequent cooling, is used to bring some types of seeds out of dormancy. Methods for influencing seeds at high and variable temperatures have been developed for laboratories to determine the germination of seeds and are used when necessary. At home, it is better to refrain from such experiments.
In farms, before sowing, insufficiently ripened seeds of watermelons and other pumpkin crops are sometimes warmed up (in dry form) for "ripening". For normally formed seeds, heating is not necessary.

Soaking and germination. This is the most common way to prepare seeds for sowing. It was also used by our grandmothers to accelerate the germination of seeds. Seeds are wrapped in a soft (moisture-absorbing) cloth, moistened and placed in a warm place (but not on hot battery). At an optimum temperature of 25-28°C, the seeds begin to "peck". They are gently dried to give flowability. It is important not to miss the moment so that the seedlings do not outgrow and do not “tangle into a ball”.

But even this simple trick can be harmful. In the days of our grandmothers and our youth, seed producers did not treat them with pesticides. And now the seeds of domestic production, intended for sale to the population, as a rule, are not processed. But our seeds are getting smaller every year, thanks that "foreign countries help us." A significant part of the seeds on the Russian market is imported. Varieties and hybrids of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers and other crops, including those with beautiful Russian names or names well known from childhood, are often grown abroad and treated with thiram (a highly toxic broad-spectrum pesticide) or other similar drug. Moreover, outwardly, they may not differ from untreated ones (some manufacturers dye the treated seeds in bright colors, but not all and not always).

When soaking such seeds, a microscopic seedling that has barely appeared will be under the influence concentrated solution pesticide that will kill it before you can see it. Soaking can speed up seed germination by only a few days, but it can kill them completely. Is it worth the risk?

In addition, it should be borne in mind that germinated seeds sown in open ground, are more vulnerable in case of falling into adverse conditions (temperature drop below the optimum, lack of moisture in the soil), they do not have the opportunity to “pause” and wait out these troubles.

Washing with water. This approach is rarely used. The seeds of some crops contain high amounts of essential oils that inhibit the germination process. These are some vegetable, aromatic, medicinal and ornamental plants (carrots, coriander, dill, fennel, tansy, etc.). The seeds are placed in a bag of loose fabric and washed for 20-30 minutes under running warm (20-25°C) water. Too strong washing is undesirable, because. essential oils This is part of the reserve nutrients needed by the seeds. After washing, the seeds are dried.

Soaking in water. Used for hard-to-sprout seeds (beets, carrots, fragrant ranks, onions, peas, beans, etc.). Seeds are placed in a cloth bag and immersed in warm water (20-25°C) from several hours to a day. The water is changed several times. Seeds are dried, scattering a thin layer on the fabric. Soaking is also used to hydrate seeds that have been stored for a long time in very dry conditions. But not all seeds tolerate such a “dive”, for example, cucumber seeds can “suffocate” from lack of oxygen and die. Soaking cucumber seeds, if they are very dry and really need it, is carried out very carefully: a moisture-absorbing cloth folded in several layers, spilled with water, is placed on the bottom of a shallow container and the seeds are scattered in one layer, so that the upper side of the seeds remains dry, by no means flooding them with a “head”. Soaked seeds can only be sown in well-warmed, moist soil; if the soil temperature drops or there is a lack of moisture, they will quickly rot.

soaking in solutions. Seeds are soaked not just in water, but in nutrient solutions: fertilizers, organic and mineral, containing the main nutrients and a complex of microelements; in solutions of salts of humic acids; in wood ash; infusions medicinal plants etc. Sometimes complex recipes for the preparation of "super-solutions" are offered, supposedly increasing the germination of seeds and plant yields at times. The effectiveness of such "top dressing" of seeds that are at the dormant stage, i.e., with a very low activity of metabolic processes, is exaggerated. Seeds use their own supply of nutrients to germinate. And when they germinate, they will begin to grow and develop - then use all of the above.

Barbation. Soaking seeds in oxygenated water. This technique is used on farms to improve the viability of seeds with low germination vigor. At home, you can oxygenate the water with an aquarium compressor and soak the seeds in it. Such a need rarely happens: for example, if seeds that are very valuable to you have significantly lost their germination capacity and it is worth trying to reanimate them.

Scarification. The seeds of some crops have a very dense shell (marshmallow officinalis, large plantain, castor bean). It is damaged mechanically (cuts are made with a sharp tool, rubbed with sandpaper, etc.) or treated with weak solutions of nitric acid salts to facilitate swelling and germination.

Ways to increase plant immunity

In the event that you have not treated the seeds with biostimulants before sowing, there is no reason to be upset. It is possible and necessary to treat them with plants at the seedling stage, during budding, setting and crop formation. Treatment of vegetative plants gives a more obvious positive effect.

hardening. In the popular literature for gardeners, you can find recommendations for hardening heat-loving crops by treating their seeds with cold. The positive effect of such treatments is rather controversial, serious scientific research on this topic is not known to us. Practice shows that no matter how much the seeds do not freeze, cucumber, pepper or watermelon will not become a frost-resistant plant. Better Methods hardening apply to seedlings.

Other methods of pre-sowing seed treatment

Such a division can only separate small (less completed) seeds from large (more completed) seeds. This division has nothing to do with germination. The germination of seeds in both fractions is the same or differs within the statistical error. Seeds cannot be completely homogeneous, their mass (fulfillment) depends on the conditions of formation, weather and agrotechnical, on the location in the fruit or in the inflorescence. Under unfavorable conditions (hot dry summer) all seeds obtained, for example, tomato or cucumber, can be small and float on the surface, while having 100% germination. In addition, the “feeling” of seeds can be a characteristic varietal trait, for example, this is characteristic of the seeds of the Malysh cucumber, and the “lightness” of the seeds does not affect their germination in any way. Small seeds have a smaller supply of nutrients, but in favorable conditions, their seedlings will quickly catch up with their comrades and you will not see the difference.

At the same time, the complete absence of germination will not prevent large seeds from drowning if their mass is sufficient for this. The ability to "swim" does not depend on germination, but only on the mass of seeds and their morphological features. The seeds of many crops will not drown at all (gazania, dimorphoteca, etc.), there are even more crops whose seeds will drown in any case, even very poorly formed ones (peas, beans, radishes, etc.). Please don't "drown the seeds in glasses" by dividing them into fractions, sow them all. If you have a lot of seeds, and you decide to use only the largest ones for sowing, you can simply sort them out and discard the damaged and small ones.

Do not rush to do everything helpful tips”, which you hear from acquaintances and new acquaintances or from the TV screen. Do not forget that the goal of any TV star, even in the form of a "knowledgeable avid summer resident" is to entertain you with an amusing spectacle, and not boringly teach something simply useful. What kind of "techniques for increasing germination and productivity" you will not hear from our customers, enlightened by such stars. There are also funny ones, for example: “before sowing, wear seeds on the cheek so that smart seeds absorb information about the host’s diseases and the fruits that grow from them heal his illnesses.” Before putting seeds by the cheeks, make sure they are not treated with thiram or other pesticide.

In the literature for gardeners, the topic of seed treatment is given a lot of space in the literal sense. Sometimes several pages are devoted to listing various recipes. If a conscientious, inexperienced gardener, in a good intention to “do the best”, decides to complete them all, then the seeds will most likely fall off the middle of the race. The authors of such books probably not only did not do what they write about in such detail, but also never grew anything themselves.

An experienced gardener-practitioner, Yury Nikolayevich Ushakov, the author of many articles in the journal Homestead Farming and popular books: “For a Beginning Farmer”, “All About Tomatoes”, “All About Cucumbers”, etc., writes on this issue: “With seeds I don’t shaman, I don’t freeze and defrost, I don’t tell fortunes and I don’t barbat, but I sow dry and a little more than planned for planting in the ground, so that after germination, leave the strongest.”

Our buyers ask the seeds of our company:

• do not soak
• do not pickle
• do not freeze
• do not warm up
• do nothing to process

Simply sow them dry in well-drained soil.
Right choice sowing dates and good care- more important than all pre-sowing treatments.
Crops whose seeds require stratification are best sown before winter; cold-resistant crops germinating at low positive temperatures - in early spring; heat-loving - not earlier than the second half of May in well-warmed moistened soil.

OOO "Agrofirma "Alena Lux"

Kuzmicheva Svetlana Vyacheslavovna

Sowing seeds for seedlings requires special care and skill from the gardener, because poor germination can depend not only on the poor quality of the seed, but also on inability and ignorance. In this article, we will consider one of the mandatory actions - seed treatment before sowing to increase the percentage of germination.

Seed germination: myths and reality

The seeds of each vegetable crop have a certain percentage of germination, which means that obtaining 100% of seedlings can be achieved extremely rarely. The longer the seeds are stored, the fewer seedlings can be obtained. Never believe that 5 seedlings are guaranteed to grow from 5 seeds - this may not happen due to real biological reasons.

Seed storage conditions are of great importance for high-quality germination. Optimal storage conditions for seeds:

1. Temperature regime - from 14 to 18 degrees.
2. Humidity of air - 10%.

If storage conditions are not met, the seeds gradually lose their germination.

Shelf life of seeds before sowing - table

Advice! When purchasing seeds, pay attention to the collection date, and not to the packaging time.

Seed treatment before sowing

Own seeds, which the grower stores for a short time under proper conditions, guarantee high germination, but purchased seeds and seeds that have been stored somehow should be processed before sowing to increase the number of germinated seedlings.

Seed processing is carried out in several stages, while the grower chooses the most optimal operations. But it is worth remembering that seed disinfection can be of great importance for the health and successful growth of seedlings, because infected seeds can die at any stage of growth, or weakened plants will bring a low yield.

The treatment process before sowing seedlings includes several stages, which include calibration, soaking, disinfection, heating or stratification at low temperatures, bubbling, treatment with biological products.

In this article, we'll take a closer look at the two steps:

1. Disinfection of seeds before sowing.
2. Treatment of seed material with biological products to increase germination.

Seed disinfection

Having received a low yield of vegetables, the gardener often does not associate this with the poor quality of the seeds that were used to grow seedlings. Blame is placed on bad weather, poor soil, rare fertilization, pest dominance, but first of all, crop failure depends on the poor quality of the seed material.

Many pathogenic microbes microscopic shoots do not oppress, allowing vegetable seedlings to get stronger, only after that negative manifestations become noticeable. The growth of vegetable plants is inhibited, flowering is delayed or does not occur - you can generally be left without a crop.

Some seed centers carry out disinfection of seeds before packaging and sending to the distribution network. On the bags there is always a special mark about this.

We bathe the seeds in potassium permanganate

Many gardeners carry out the disinfection of untreated seeds on their own, while the favorite remedy of many gardeners is soaking the seed in a solution of potassium permanganate. The seeds are placed in a gauze bag and dipped in a pink solution of potassium permanganate for about 30 minutes.

Advice! A solution of potassium permanganate for seed treatment should be 1-2%, for which 1 gram of the drug is diluted in 100 g of water. If there are a lot of seeds, then 1 tsp is taken to prepare the working solution. chemical (without top) in 3 cups of water. Tubers and bulbs are soaked in a 0.5% solution.

Water for cooking is taken at room temperature (about +20 C) or slightly warmer (no more than +40 C). Sometimes soaking seeds in potassium permanganate is combined with rejection, for which the solution of the drug is poured into a container, dry seeds are loaded there and mixed vigorously. Empty shells, debris and damaged seeds float to the surface - they can be scooped out with a spoon. Full-weight specimens sink to the bottom, they can be successfully used for sowing.

Really ask a question, what does potassium permanganate protect from? Many vegetable growers use only this seed treatment for many years, so how justified is this?

Seed treatment in potassium permanganate before sowing has several advantages:

1. Ensuring the needs of plants in manganese at the initial stage of growing seedlings.
2. Strengthening plant immunity and resistance to a number of diseases.
3. Prevention of the development of infectious diseases.

The effect of potassium permanganate on the suppression of pathogenic flora is very limited, for example, such treatment cannot stop bacterial infections. In addition, a solution of potassium permanganate does not affect the increase in the energy of seed germination.

How to deal with fungal infections

Every gardener has had a failure at least once when seedlings die from a black leg. This is especially often observed in seedlings of Solanaceae and asters, when tiny plants begin to rot from the root, leaning to the ground in a matter of hours. The causative agent of this disease can be in the ground, so it is very important to steam the soil before sowing. But some seeds are infected with pathogens of fungal diseases and their timely processing will help to avoid annoying misunderstandings.

For the treatment of seeds from the black leg and fungus, the following preparations are suitable:

In addition to these drugs, you can use: Baktofit, Bisolbi San, Sporobacterin, Albit.

Seed treatment with biological products

To accelerate the germination of seed material and increase the energy of seedling growth, it is worth using special biological preparations at the stage of preparing seeds for sowing. Even a short-term treatment of seeds with biological preparations can significantly increase the quantity and quality of seedlings, as well as obtain seedlings in a shorter time.

Among the drugs that stimulate the rapid germination of seeds, two groups can be distinguished:

1. Chemical - Epin, Zircon, Humat, Kornevin, Energen, Baikal - EM-1, Immunocytophyte, Ecosil.
2. Natural - honey solution, potato juice solution, aloe juice solution, melt water.

After the experiments, it was possible to compare the results, according to which the following preparations turned out to be the best growth stimulants for seed treatment before sowing for seedlings:

Along with industrial growth stimulants, nice results were obtained by soaking the seeds in melted water.

Seed treatment is not only useful, but also necessary, otherwise it may adversely affect the quality and quantity of the crop.