It worked!!

[Dave & Kate N Wales]

Well after asking on here about pre germinating peas on damp kitchen paper we decided to give it a go and placed about 40 seeds on the damp kitchen paper last weekend and covered them over. All but 2 germinated - the 2 that didn't had mould growing on them instead. They have all now been potted so fingers crossed they keep growing now so we can have some peas this year.

We also did a plate of broad beans at the same time but only 2 germinated up to today but i decided to pot them all as they were starting to get back mildewy type spots on them so not sure if they will grow or be ok but will soon find out i suppose.

Tomorrow i am planning on pre germinating some parsnips in the same way before transferring them to kitchen roll tubes as last year we had zero germination planting them straight into the ground.

Any idea if i could pregerminate my peppers this way or would it be too cold for them and be better off sowing straight into pots?
Katie

[Glutton4...]

Sorry, I can't answer your question, but I wish you luck with the Parsnips. I had 100 % failure with that method last year, so ended up getting pre-germinated ones.

It may just be me though!

[jayjay giant]

I haven't had much luck with parsnips either way but I will try again this year.
I will try some peas on kitchen paper and update my blog with the progress. It sounds like a very good way to germinate and a good sucsess rate.
Do they grow on well when put in pots of compost I wonder ?

[Dave & Kate N Wales]

Jay jay giant i have no idea how well the peas will grow on but i transplated the majority of them yesterday and then covered them over with compost and this evening 2 of them are poking through the compost already. We had such bad luck with peas last year that we are trying different methods and different varieties this year to see what works
Katie

[BUFFS]

dont use cold water when you wet the paper towels,and i put mine in bottom of the airing cupboard,works for me,average about 75% germination so far,not started mine this year yet as have said on another thread, ground is still locked up in ice,its been a long winter

[taff]

I sowed parsnips last year straight into loo rolls in the unheated greenhouse in March. 95% germinated.
I thought the kitchen paper trick was just to check whether you had viable seed or not if you'd had them for a while.
Personally, I'd sow peppers in whatever I'd usually use for sowing for seedlings if you know what I mean,small pots, without bothering with kitchen paper. I'm not planning on sowing any for a couple of weeks
I can't provide enough heat or light until then, so I know my limits

[tamsin]

I do my peppers that way On a bit of kitchen roll, in a sandwich bag and then leave them on top of my fishtank (nice and warm). My first ones only took 4 days to germinate. They are a bit more fiddly than peas/beans to handle though.

[Liza]

I do my peppers that way On a bit of kitchen roll, in a sandwich bag and then leave them on top of my fishtank (nice and warm). My first ones only took 4 days to germinate. They are a bit more fiddly than peas/beans to handle though.

Tweezers

[stella]

I do parsnips on damp paper as they are hard to germinate, and this way you can see what you have got and plant some more if need be. Broadis go straight in the ground and no trouble, good luck

[gojiberry]

I tried the kitchen roll then into loo rolls last year. Firstly I think I left the seed to long after germination and had a problem getting the seed of the kitchen roll. Secondly I still had some of the parsnips fork though further into the ground. I think this may be because I have MPC in the tubes and then when the root hits the normal soil it is firmer causing the root to fork. Am thinking of going back to direct sowing this year.

Ian

[Bigmallly]

Not want to say the p word, mine have been fine in heated prop.

[Lazgaot]

I put my broad beans, chilli and pepper seeds in between a damp fold of kitchen towl, in an old chineese takeaway tupperware and leave this near a warm radiator. The container gets warm and steamy and they germinate quickly. They all tend to germinate at different times and I put them into compost modules as soon as they have a decent lenght of root showing.
I'll be directly sowing my parsnip this year as the pre-germinated ones I tried last year mostly forked horribly compared the directly sown ones that came out perfect. I won't be panting them till the soil has really warmed up though.