Priming spinach seed

[FoxHillGardener]

Interesting article here http://www.growveg.com/growblogpost.aspx?id=174.

She says you can improve germination of spinanch (and some other seed) by priming it. This is soaking it at room temperature for 24 hours, transferring to kitchen towel and leaving to dry for a couple of days. Then put into an airtight container somewhere cool for up to a week. This allows the seed to take up moisture and then grow more cells within the seed before it goes on to sprout.

I'll be giving it a go and maybe it will be useful to anyone else who's getting patchy germination

[Kristen]

The "drying out" bit bothers me. A seed that has started to germinate, that then dries out, is going to have used up its germinating energy, and the starch will have begun changing to sugars ...

Putting seeds in the fridge, in damp conditions, is a method of breaking dormancy (stratification) but I'm not sure if that helps germination of Spinach (I guess if it did we would all be sowing it in the Autumn to get some Winter chill on it ...), but in those situations damp is important, putting dry seeds in the fridge doesn't cause stratification (although I have no idea what soaked-and-then-dried does in that situation!)

Personally I would chit on kitchen paper and then plant it - i.e. no drying stage.

But its a lot more faffing than just sowing of course, so won't be everybody's cup of tea!

Can you grow them in newspaper pots to avoid transplanting shock? (probably way too much faffing given the number of plants you probably need)

[Flummery]

I can't see the point in this in as much as I don't find spinach at all tricky to germinate. If it were a foolproof method of improving parsnip germination, yes.

[FoxHillGardener]

I tend to get gappy rows with spinach so the bit that caught my eye was

Several studies have shown that spinach germination rates are higher and more uniform when the second stage is prolonged a bit, in an oxygen-rich atmosphere, before the seeds move on to a full sprout..

They don't dry out completely, but the germination process continues slowly within the seed which suits spinach

Also in the comments she says it suits carrot too. I've never had much luck with carrots so I will try it. Though it may well be that they germinate fine and then get grazed off by slugs before I ever see them

[FoxHillGardener]

Parsnips I pre-germinate on kitchen towel in a sandwich box which seems to work ok. Maybe that would work with carrots too?

[King Carrot]

The "drying out" bit bothers me. A seed that has started to germinate, that then dries out, is going to have used up its germinating energy, and the starch will have begun changing to sugars ...

Putting seeds in the fridge, in damp conditions, is a method of breaking dormancy (stratification) but I'm not sure if that helps germination of Spinach (I guess if it did we would all be sowing it in the Autumn to get some Winter chill on it ...), but in those situations damp is important, putting dry seeds in the fridge doesn't cause stratification (although I have no idea what soaked-and-then-dried does in that situation!)

Personally I would chit on kitchen paper and then plant it - i.e. no drying stage.But its a lot more faffing than just sowing of course, so won't be everybody's cup of tea!

Can you grow them in newspaper pots to avoid transplanting shock? (probably way too much faffing given the number of plants you probably need)

quite simply this - done it myself to get them off to a very quick start.

[Kristen]

I should have said "chit on moist kitchen paper"