Soaking Seeds for Faster Germination?

Mel says that I can give my seeds a jump-start by presoaking them. I mentioned this idea at the end of my post "Do Overs (or More on Watering)." The idea is that if seeds have water before they have to suck it out of the soil, then they will sprout faster.

I have to admit that I was a little chicken to try soaking the seeds.

Get it through your hard head--I mean hard shell...

I decided to get brave and give soaking a try, so I found some Web sites that told me more about soaking seeds than the one paragraph that Mel writes in his book and then tried it myself.

Here are the Web sites that I read: 

• Pre-Soaking Your Seeds by Elizabeth and Crow Miller
• How to Soak Seeds Prior to Planting by GardenGuides.com

The boys and I soaked some seeds and observed how they changed... They really didn't change as much as we expected.

We soaked three types of large seeds and took pictures each hour--they didn't change at all. Well, one of the seeds did turn brown. I would guess that it was rotting? I really don't know.

We soaked 9 types of small seeds, and they didn't change at all, either, but I really didn't expect them to. I'm not sure that I could tell that they changed because they were so small to even look at. (Okay, so I don't have the greatest eyesight, but I challenge you to observe changes in tiny oregano seeds!)

I guess I thought the large seeds would fall apart. Mel did say that some seeds can be soaked overnight and some fall apart after only an hour. Well, I guess the ones that I chose were the hardy ones.

After soaking the seeds for an afternoon and seeing nothing change, we decided to leave them soaking overnight. We still didn't see any changes.

So, with that homeschool assignment done, I moved on to soaking seeds and then planting them. I still had some 180 Plant Dip, so I soaked some seeds in the Plant Dip and some in water. I did this almost a month ago at the end of April--remember my posting about how stinky the Plant Dip gets when you leave it in the sun for several weeks!?! [See "180 Plant Dip (Another Do-Over!)."] I thought it might be interesting to see if soaking the seeds in the Plant Dip worked better, worse, or the same as soaking them in water.

In the following picture, you see how I labeled the jars so that I wouldn't forget which seeds were which. Obviously, these seeds were soaked in water, not the Plant Dip. The Plant Dip had a brownish color to it.

Below are pictures of the pots in which I planted the cilantro and oregano seeds:
  

 

Well, I don't know that I have an answer to my "scientific" questions. Sorry! My presoaking didn't produce any results. The seeds didn't produce at all. The pots look the same today as the pictures above.

And I'm quite certain that it's all my fault. I got lax in my watering routine. I think the seeds did not produce because I did not water them every day or even every other day.

Mel does point out in his book that when seeds don't produce, it's usually because the new gardener gave up when they didn't see immediate results and stopped watering. At this point in his book, he's teaching us that seeds sprout down and make roots before they sprout up to make a stem. Recall the picture of the morning glory seeds that my Spiderman planted:

Well, I didn't give up because of lack of results. I just got lazy--or busy with other things. Yeah, that's it! (No, not really. If something is important to you, you'll make the time. I didn't make the time to water my garden regularly. My attention turned to things other than my garden.)

And the weather has been warmer than usual (at least that's what the locals tell me). For the most part, this past month has felt like a Minnesota July. My mom is still visiting from Minnesota, and that's how she describes the weather. We've had upper 80s and low 90s for most of the month. From what I understand from those who have lived here in Georgia far longer than me, this is about 10 degrees warmer than usual.

(With a warmer-than-normal "spring," I can only imagine how awfully hot it is going to be in July, August, and September when the Georgia humidity rears its ugly head! Yikes!)

I guess I can only say that presoaking is probably a good idea--I mean, Mel says it's a good thing to do, and many other experienced gardeners pre-soak their seeds. I'll just have to try it again. Next time, I will only soak the large seeds because the small seeds are too difficult to pinch and plant.

If you have any success with or tips for soaking seeds before planting, please post a comment!