Snowhermit,
I soaked the seeds labeled "pink" in water on top of the refrigerator for 24 hours and then placed them in damp paper towels.
Next I put the moist paper towel inside of a plaster zip lock baggie and placed them under the grow lights.
Today two of the seeds had small roots so I potted them.
I'm going to continue this method and see what kind of results I get.
I have other brug seeds sitting in soil doing squat-notta-nothing-zilch-rien.
I've used this moist paper towel and plastic baggie method for most of my tropical seeds and it seems to work very well for me so I thought I would experiment with some brug seeds.
Can't wait until I get my first brug shoot.
Joydie
Snowhermit-Moist paper towel method
Joydie, These are the seeds I got from Busybee. From her description Of a bright pink flower turning a burnt orange when it starts to go by I have hopes of a EP or a darker pink since my FP didn't turn a darker color when it started to fade. These are the seeds I planted six unpeeled and six peeled. The only difference I found is two days difference between germination.Some of these also came up headless in both the peeled and unpeeled.I have four growing so far and waiting on three more to germinate. Let me know your results and how they germinated using this method.
Snowhermit,
Will keep you posted. Two seeds of Eric's Isabella crosses that I soaked for 2 days without peeling, set on a 75 degree heat mat came up in 10 days. They were under grow lights in addition to the heat mat.
The seeds from Busybee must be really fresh as a couple seemed to sprout so quickly I was actually shocked. Perhaps it may have had something to do with when the pod was picked and maybe some were already about to sprout in the pod.
I experimented with tomato seeds placed inside moist paper towel and then put inside a plastic zip lock baggie last year when I got a late start on my tomato seeds. They sprouted faster than the seeds planted in soil.
My other question I guess would be does anyone chill their brug seeds in the refrigerator for a bit before the soaking and sowing? I also chilled a few seeds see if that makes a difference as well.
Joydie
Another moethod I want to try is to use an alfalfa kitchen sprouter. The daylily growers on GW swear by sprouting their daylily seeds in them. I thought it might work for brug seeds too. I have a sprouter ordered & a few seeds left from Arlene that I haven't planted. I'll try it and see how it does.
Poppysue,
Where is that post at? I just planted up 17 pots of daylily seeds. I still have seed pkgs of tets left. Maybe I should try this method too. Do they chill there seeds first?
Joydie
Joydie - I think most of the talk about the sprouter was last year. I'll mail you a couple of threads I found.
Hi JOydie...I am going to try your method also.....since I am so new to seeds, I'll try some of each method.
Did you peel your seeds befor soaking?
Suzy
Sharbot, since you are in florida you might want to just throw them.....unpeeled and unsoaked, (maybe a little soil on them) in a pot ouside near near your other brugs so you won't forget to water them.
jodie, will be interesting to know, but i think germination time may be as much as by what kind of parents they had. don't know who you got eric's seeds from, but if they are isabella X butterfly they were not harvested until the week before christmas.
poppysue, i do like that sprout idea, please let me know. i was just a born seed thrower, not a peat pot/light person. used to grow my own sprouts all the time, love that alfalfa, taste like green peanuts.
Shabot,
I didn't peel the seeds at all. I tried that on some of Cala's seeds and killed them so I'm not going to try that again. I just soaked them and then put them on wet paper towel and then squeezed out the excess water leaving the paper towel moist. I think that Busybee's seeds were really fresh.
Tonny,
I have to find a source up here where I can buy the GA-3. If I had the GA-3 I would do all of my brug seeds with that. I'm only trying different methods to see which sprouts faster. I'm hoping to ease up on some space on the heating mat. I'm doing double studies. One on the moist paper towel sealed inside a plastic baggie under growlights. The other is in flats sown in potting soil under growlights. Both are on the heating mat.
By the way Tonny, do you know the parentage of the seeds that you sent overseas? I'm trying to keep notes on parentage of all seeds.
Joydie
Have your tried growing any in a baggie with the seedcoat removed? Do you think you could grow them until their second pair of leaves formed that way?
I'm going to try some this way, peeled and soaked, but am going to use two coffee filters, maybe the roots won't grow into them as bad as they do paper towels.
Brugman,
I have a few seeds left and I will try again to remove the seed coat first and then put them on the moist paper towel inside of a baggie. I'm not very good at removing the cork. Is the seed supposed to look white when the cork is removed?
TiG,
When they start to root in the moist paper towel you just plant them with the paper towel still attached. The paper towel will biodegrade.
hi joydie, done it many times, I still like coffee filters better.
TiG,
if I remove the cork what color is the seed?
Arlene,
Don't know what the parentage is for the Isabella, it was just labelled "Eric's Isabella crosses". Are those the Isabella x Butterfly or were there more Isabella crosses. I would like to label the parentage for the seeds that I received.
Joydie
there were lots more Isabella crosses that he made, I have 3 I can think of right off the bat, I think there's more. The seed can be almost white, yellowish and I've seen them dark tan, I think that's due to the hybrid, I'm not sure. And those are ones that did germinate, I think your white ones will be fine.
joydie, I think the ones that are marked Isabella crosses were the ones that got the tags pulled. I got packets of Isabella crosses, Isabella x FP, and I. x Bfly. Not certain cause I didn't send them to you, just saying that's what I got.
TiG,
Thanks for the information.
Joydie