Seed Germination Process

      Most of the people prefer buying pre-matured
saplings from outside.  But, enjoying the yield starting from a seed to fruit/vegetable will make you special and more happy than any other gardener!  In this post, I will try to cover the basic things about germinating the seeds and getting healthy saplings by the general process which I follow.

Basic things you require:

Seedling trays

Medium (Cocopeat and Compost)

And ofcourse, Seeds!

Seedling trays – It will be good if you are able to get these trays, don’t worry if not! You can even use Paper cups/Raised soil beds/Container.  Using Seedling trays gives you an added advantage on few factors like..

·         Holds the moist for longer time.  If you are using raised beds or containers, water will be drained to the bottom, leaving your top portion dry.  So you need to check and water on time to time.

·         Less medium is required compared to the other methods (raised beds/containers)

·         Most importantly, transplantation is easy! you just need to pull each sapling(along with medium) and sow in container/ground without disturbing the roots which helps for faster adjustment and survival of roots and plant.

·         You can check on seed germination rate.  It helps you understanding success rate of your seed source

Vigorous Root Growth!

Process:

Soaking the seeds – This helps in quicker germination of seeds.  You need to soak the seeds(hot water preferred) over a night or one day, depending on the seed type. If you feel that the shell is little harder, then you can soak them for one day.

Soaking the seeds - Tomato, pepper, Brijlal and Cabbage. 

Now, take out the seeds from water and wrap in a wet tissue paper/cloth.  Over water leads to seed rot.  So, make sure the seeds are just moist all the time.  You can

seal the wrapped seeds in a zippo bag or you can place them in container as I did.

Cucumber and some gourds, few of them still struggling to come out of the shell!

Brinjol sprouts

For sowing, you can wait till you see the sprouts or you can sow them in medium after couple of days.

Preparing Medium – Cocopeat and Compost at 1:1 ratio is an ideal medium for seedling trays.  The composition is very loose/porous and light weight leading to easy root growth/spread which helps in faster and healthier plant growth.  Cocopeat helps in holding the moist for longer time and Compost supplies the nutrients required for the plant growth.

Cocopeat and Compost.. make sure it is just moist! Over water will rot the sprout

In case if Cocopeat and compost is not available, you can use Soil + Dry Cowdung + Rice husk(optional) as your medium at 1:1:2 ratio.  Rice husk helps in holding the moist for a longer time.

Fill the trays with the medium and make holes of ½ inch in each cup and sow the seeds.  You can cover the top of tray/container with transparent polythene sheet(optional, this is for holding the moist) and place the trays in shady area and count the days!!

Trays ready for sowing J

You can wait till you see the sprouts or you can sow the seeds after soaking for couple of days

All set.. just wait and watch !

Welcome to the new world! 

It’s a wonderful feeling watching the new leafs trying to come out of the medium.

 
Transplant  –  Once you see the true leaves(the actual ones other than first two round leafs), gradually you need to expose these plants to sun.  First two days, expose to sun for an hour and gradually increase the time till you find these stress free.  Now you can transplant these in to the growing container/ground.  Evenings are the best time for transplant.  Do not water the plants before transplanting, make sure the medium is just moist so that the plant roots come out like scoop along with the medium (as seen below) without disturbing the root set.  Place the pot in partially shaded area for couple of days and then you can move to the required location.  This helps in reducing the stress on plant till the roots settles down in new medium.

Sow only one or two seeds in each cup, if not.. this is where you end up!  With all the root spirals, Separating the seedlings is really a difficult task.  Sometimes you may loose few plants in this process!  So be careful.

 

I made a closed room with wood and polythene sheet to place all my trays.  This helps me in protecting from wind and keeping the medium moist for longer time.

Finally..transplanted the seedlings placed in partial Sun

Hope this post helped you gaining knowledge on Seed Germination Process! 

Good luck!!
-Nisar