Nicking Seeds

I have a really basic gardening question. How do you properly nick seeds? Its not something I have had to deal with in the past.

You can perform the operation using fine grit sandpaper. Place the sandpaper on a flat surface, then while holding it in place with one hand, take the seed in your other hand and gently rub an edge of the seed on the sandpaper until you just begin to see the internal whitish material of the seed. If you can't get a grip on the seed, you can use a slender needle-nose pliers to hold the seed. Take care not to grip the seed with too much pressure with the pliers or you could smoosh the seed.

You can also try using a knife but you risk personal injury to your finger by doing so.

Happy nicking!

Joseph

I like to use the X-ACTO fine and xtra fine blades for balsa wood...the blade is easy to hold and maneuver in your thumb and 1st or 2nd finger...the weight of the blade itself provides just the right pressure for making delicate and precise cuts in seeds... they are very safe to use...

http://www.x-actoblades.com/xacto/xpage3.htm

No. 234 Fine Saw Blade
For 3/4" Cuts (40 teeth per inch) 4 1/2" long
Order No. X234

No. 239 Extra Fine Saw Blade
For 1 1/4" Cuts (52 teeth per inch) 5 1/2" long
Order No. X239.

The small jewelers blades can also be used for precision work,but I still prefer the balsa wood blades mentioned above...
http://www.x-actoblades.com/xacto/xpage6.htm

Jeweler's Saw Blades

No. X746 Set of 12 blades
Extra Fine Jeweler's saw blades
6/0 .008" 70 teeth per inch

No. X752 Set of 12 blades
Fine Jeweler's saw blades
2/0 .010" 52 teeth per inch

No. X753 Set of 12 blades
Fine Jeweler's saw blades
3 .014" 42 teeth per inch


All of the above are great for making strategically placed full or partial cuts to help allow initial hydration and to help the embryo slough off the seedcoat...


TTY,...

Ron

This message was edited Jan 28, 2007 7:25 PM

I agree an x-acto knife would work better than a 1972 vintage yellow handled, serrated blade steak knife which I use to nick seeds.

I used a brand new toe nail clipper. Although, I probably have a few 'vintage' knives hanging around ...

I only used an old knife to minimize the reaction from my significant other.

i hold the seed in a needle nose plyers and run it over a file

FOR God's sake people, this is not a technical operation!!!!!!!!!!! Just get a finger nail file or an emory bord and file the point off the seed. The real point here is to break throoough the seed coat which is very thick and water proof, so that the seed inside can absorb some water from the outside long engough to swell up. We are just doing artificially what happens in nature in the gizzard of a bird, SCARRIFICATION!! The seed coat must be broken for the seed to swell up and get ready to germinate.. File it with an emory board and then soak it overnight in Hydrogen peroxide 3% and you are ready to plant in a sterile seed medium. Most homes allready have emory boards and hydrogen peroxide, so this should not mean a shopping trip. Frank

This message was edited Feb 2, 2007 6:03 AM

I read somewhere that if the seeds are too small to nick, you can put them between two sheets of fine sandpaper and rub them together a little.. I wish I had remembered that a couple of days ago.

Frank, that's good info up there, thanks. I use a nailclipper too, i'll try the emory board next week.

A.

We could emply Beth's dog to chew the seeds a little?

Or, next year I could try filling up the cat's litter box with them, and then the cat's scratching would nick them, plus the added boost of built-in fertilizer!

Oh wait, they're carnivores...dang.

Talk about your hot fertilizers! eww, ewwww, ewwwwwwwwwwww! LOL

Tie the seed around the neck of your pet canary?

Frank, this is a very diverse community. My DG is a sculptor (he only sculpts for himself), and it wouldn't have occurred to me to try nicking MG seeds with either one of his tools (including X-ACTO knives) or one of his sculptures without Ron's suggestion - LOL (Now, there, Gerris, is a spouse-reaction minimizer ROFL)

But - serously - I think DH will let me use a dull bladed X-ACTO knife to nick MG seed, and Ron's suggestion sounds a lot easier than what I've been doing.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I find the diversity of suggestions around here as interesting for being a commentary on the human condition as well as for being a commentary on morning glories - it would be a sad day when we divorce the plants from the plant lovers.

I have a handy little pair of pruners I have come to like and find they even can nick the tough canna seeds with not much problem. The morning glory seeds are easy with this tool also.

Thanks you guys for the humor. I needed that. It is just that I have stumbled onto some exciting little thing, and was looking for someone more serious to share with. Right now there is a seed advertisement on ebay, and th illustration is 4" pots of jmgs the size of pansies, with several blooms. Does anyone know exactly how this was done. Think of the hybridizing convenience this could make. Does anyone know anything about this and exactly which chmical is used to keep mgs from making a long heliotropic vine? I am dieing to find out. Frank

Frank, I know that the Japanese have used a short day treatment for seedlings to get them to flower very quickly. From what I've read, they do this typically when "proofing" a seed lot to determine if it carries a specific trait. I believe this is typically done in the fall with the current crop to determine which seed lots to grow out or save. I don't know if they then use these plants for further hybridizing / seed production. I doubt it.

There is also the large flowered cultural technique which uses pinching to keep the plant bushy with multiple blooms for show. The pots are substantially larger than 4" though. After the show, they then typically let the plant develop vines for seed production.

I'm not familiar with a 4" pot flowering technique, sounds interesting!

Arlan

Thank you Arlan,,, forgive my inability to lift my heavy finger from the keyboardddd,,,,,,,,, get me?
Please be my witness, go to ebay/homeandgarden/plantsandseeds/morninggloryseedss//page6or7, picotee seeds, ignore the seeds source and see the 4" pots that for so many varieties of JMG are blooming in 4" pots, like pansies. Howww can you and I DO THIS
ARLAN??????????????????? Frank

This message was edited Feb 4, 2007 8:53 PM

I found it....here it is: http://cgi.ebay.com/Annual-Picotee-Morning-Glory-Seeds-White-Edges_W0QQitemZ250078959949QQihZ015QQcategoryZ75624QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

My guess is that it was accomplished in a greenhouse with a short day treatment... I doubt that one could get very good seed production this way (4" pot) though. Maybe with a very accurate and closely monitored water and fertilizer regimine or hydroponics? Might be easier to plant them in the garden!!!

Arlan

I suggest to you the carol series JMG. I grew the carol white and they never even got a foot tall and had blooms on a short bushy plant. I`m going to use what seeds I have to get enough seeds to make a border around one of the beds to see how that looks.

Frank,

Read all about it on Dr. Yoneda's web site for artificially light treating the young MG plant:

http://protist.i.hosei.ac.jp/Asagao/Yoneda_DB/E/Introduction/htmls/44.html

Joseph

Thanks Joseph. I read it and copied it. Digested it. The last time I hyperlinked something from the ebay morning glory sales site, it got edited quickly. This weekend there is a guy there selling seeds and he is using a photo as an illustration, and in the photo is a number of jmg in 4" pots blooming their little hearts out, and the plant isn't any bigger than than a pansy. Trick of putting a box over them to give them an 8 hour day, or should we say a 16 hour night sounds hot, but I don't think that is enough to stunt the plants that much. The author mentioned also mums as being subject to photoperiod, but I know that those potted mums get sprayed also with a chemical to keep the stems short. So if I shade my seedlings giving them 16 hour nights, and apply whaever chemical it is that keeps the stems from growing, I should have a bushy blooming plant in 70 days or so at this time of the year. Thanks for the link, the chart is something to stare at and cogitate. Frank

I think that technique works well, I have seen Ron post a picture of one of his MGs with a huge flower on a tiny plant. I will try this light treatment technique just for fun and to learn.

Me too. Frank

In further searching for old threads on starting MG seeds, I found this one...

Frank, you said "just file the point off" but I thought the point of the seed (where the root will emerge) was the place everyone was saying should be avoided for fear of damage. ??

BTW, for smaller seeds, I think it was bigred who recently suggested putting a strip of sandpaper into a little glass jar (rough side in, making a cylinder) and then just swirling the seeds around in the jar until they seemed a bit scuffed. Clever!

Some morning glory seeds are harder to break through the coat than others. The Merremia tuberosa seeds I did last winter were tough. It took about 10 minutes per seed, using a dremel with a diamond grind stone. I ground through the coat along a ridge, full length. They jumped out of the seed in a short time it seemed like days. The fetal root is still safe inside, and hasn't swelled or grown yet. Frank