I have read that you can speed up germination of seeds with bleach , nicking , soaking - any other suggestions - or web sites ?
Corn , punk-ins , tomatoes , daturas and Brugsmansia
I'l start looking in books again .
germmanating seeds
The Seed Germination Forum http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/germination/all/
might be helpful.
I do not recommend it for corn, pumpkins and tomatoes, they germinate fine on their own. The more exotic ornamentals I don't grow so have no advise on those.
Farmerdill, does soaking corn seeds in tepid water hurt them any? I thought I read that that was supposed to help get them started quickly in soil. I would like to try a very small corn patch next year, so soaking would be practical if it would help.
Thanks for your advice!
For the Datura and Brugs, I think that cozy, warm soil is more helpful than soaking. But I suppose it wouldn't hurt!
It does not hurt to soak corn and beans for 12 hours or less. If however you then plant them in cold dry soil, they may die at that point. Temperature and condition of the soil is very important in getting good emergence. Quick germination does not help much if they die in the sprout.
Cold soil is very rarely a problem here, so I'll give it a shot next spring. Thanks for the expert advice!