Hydrogen Peroxide.

Anybody else use this regularly for soaking seeds? I have used it before now and not noticed much difference, but I have to tell you about my Morning Glories!
On February 1 after washing the diner dishes I put some fairly old Morning Glory seeds in a cup with a good dollop of HP. This must have been about 8pm. By 8am the next morning all the seeds had sprouted in the cup. I planted them that morning (the 2nd) in the pot, about 1 inch deep. This is a picture of what I have on the afternoon of the 3rd of February....I am quite taken back by the speed from seed to plants. Anyone else seen such fast results? Not having a very green thumb I think it must have been the HP.

I just put some morning glories to soaking yesterday too! Thanks for the idea. It's my first year starting seeds and so far things seem to be going well. I've just started to water my brugs with some HP as well. Keep us posted on the seeds. (The morning news said y'all were getting lots of rain??? Stay dry.:)

Hi Ashley. Lots of rain on parts of the island, just an a light mist or two for us here in Kihei. The local name for these gentle sprinkles is "Gods Blessings". Lovely isn't it?
What kind of seeds are you starting apart from the MG's?
Don't you just love "witches brews"? I just mixed up the brew from the brug forum with beer, etc. Going to spray some plants this morning with this concoction (sp?), interested to see if there is a difference. Have you tried this one?

God's Blessings--that's great! I'm trying the Heavenly White. According to the package, they are large white blooms. I've never grown MGs, but see them everywhere around here, so I'm hoping they will be easy.
I've printed out the recipe for brugs but I'm having trouble finding some things...Maybe you can help? I bought the tea tree oil yesterday, but where do you get liquid seaweed (kelp)? Local nursery? And what about molasses? (I feel like I should know this!)

I didn't add the tea tree oil, didn't happen to have any about my person when I mixed it up last night! Our local HD has seaweed extract, and I just used molasses from the cupboard...If and when I have some time I will go to the farm store (only one on Island) for the proper type of molasses. Meanwhile I am going to try what I have on hand.

I got the tea tree oil at WollyWorld (w/the supplements near pharmacy). The beer, we had! :) I'll have to hit the HD today. thanks for the info.

Last year I soaked all my seeds in a mixture of water, hydrogen peroxide and super thrive and had wonderful results.
Randy had some good results with a new method he tried, maybe he will stop in and tell you about it.
Don't sell your thumb short, probably a lot greener then you give it credit for. :~)

We have "Seasol" it is one of our biggest selling items ...it is a tonic that stimulates root growth ...it is a seaweed extract. Perhaps if you google seaweed tonic or extract that may toss up a few names.I use that on all my seedlings and cuttings as it is so very gentle but very good at stimulating roots.
Wow I read that peroxide does that (in the other forums) thanks for the great tips ...needless to say I will try it ...at the moment I have brug seeds soaking in peroxide /water ...one lady on the brug forum reckons it is a miracle worker on seeds.:)
Happy growing everyone
chrissy

Another good idea. Mudpies is right, Jen. Don't sell your abilities short. I think this experiment is remarkable. Kind of like Jack and the Beanstalk...hahaha.
9 more days....ta da.

LouC

By brugs I assume you mean brugmansia. I got almost 100 % germination (43 of 44 seeds) two years ago by heating water in microwave (used pyrex bowl) to ~190 - 195 and adding water to cool to ~ 180 - 185. Deerweed seeds do not germinate if metal container is used to heat water. I don't know about other plant species seeds. I used a candy thermometer to measure temperatures.

Put seeds in styrofoam cup, added hot water and placed cup in styrofoam cooler for overnight cooling. I used the same process for rhubarb seeds and got almost as good results.

What is the ratio of water and hydrogen peroxide used? Are you using 3% hydrogen peroxide (common concentration available at drugstores)? Any other ingredient?

I used warm boiled water and a tablespoon of peroxide.
I did it this way without the peroxide (just the common stuff from the supermarket) about 5 weeks ago and had 100% strike, the seeds were fresh and all arborea these may be different because they are my own crosses. It is Summer here so I just planted straight into polystene boxes lined with newspaper and filled with washed river sand (which works better for me) here in all this heavy rain. I think the fresher the seeds the better the strike rate, the arborea were lovely fresh seed (I removed the cork first before planting).It took ten days to get them up and now they are looking like this ...actually they are much bigger than that pic as it was taken about 4 days ago :)

Lordy me, Chrissy. If we ever got you and RJ in the same place the whole planet would be covered by noon the next day.

C

you are so very cute LouC here give us a cyber hug ...just planted 118 seeds of my own cross (Angels)and I am just sizzling with excitement and drenched ...floods everywhere here we lost a firetruck just about 10 miles from here just swept away like a toy.
Building a raft for my pots lol ...I'll swim behind.

Oh no. Hope no one was injured. A firetruck has considerable weight and traction. Just a few weeks ago you were telling of all the fires and the unimaginable work the firemen were doing...now this other side of nature. Hold on, girl, hold on.

C

A teenager and a three year old killed up North yesterday two killed about 4 days ago ...many vehicles washed away ...luckily everyone is ok around here, the firemen were evacuating people and the truck was empty ...lots of people need to be lifted off the top of their cars.

Aloha Junder, and welcome! Chrissy gave you a h2o2 ratio - I was far less scientific and just tipped some in. Next thing I plant I am going to add some Superthrive as PudgyMudpies does and stand well back!
Oh Chrissy, you are going to be so overrun with brug babies! I only plant a few at a time now because they grow so large here without any cold weather, and it's so hard to compost the not very special ones! If you are excited now, wait until your crosses start to bloom! I used to run out everynight to see what color I was going to get as they opened. Frank bought me a large lantern for my nocturnal amblings in the dark, but friends of mine have used miners lights strapped to their foreheads to check their babies in the dark! Can't believe it's still raining for you...

Salam bahagia! (Happy greetings)
Sharing my experience here. Was advised by an old Cajun gardener/neighbour eons ago, to soak my beans in equal amount of H2O2 and water before planting. He said it wakes them up faster! Perhaps he learnt too that's how Jack got healthy beanstalks.
I never thought of applying that tecnique to other seeds!

Jenny...Planted your lilly seeds before I left and NOTHING when I came home.... Is it too late for the HP?

Heavenscape...Salamat...absolutely fantastic time in KK...what beautiful people!!! Everything was so R E A L and so warm and loveing.... am still reeling from lack of sleep...more later....

C

I noticed that the MG's respond particularly well to the H202. My solution is basically the same things...H202, Vitamin B, Seaweed extract and messenger. The only thing different I did was soak the perlite in it before I mixed it in the potting medium.

I used HP for some of my daylily seeds and they germinated really fast! They got about 3 in tall and then dampened off (boohoo). But the HP does work!

Carol, don't know about the gloriosa seeds, can't hurt I guess. I googled gloriosa and germination takes 30 days in peaty soil at 70 degrees. This is from TM germination guide...

If you have no luck I am sure that my tuber must be large by now, we can dig it up and divide it if you can get it back to the BI with no AG problems...

Interesting to read all of your experiences with HP, I don't start very many types of seed here, but I am going to try it on more of them now - I was astonished!

Thanks for the info on HP. Have some morning glory seeds I wanted to try. I can't believe they sprouted for you within 12 hours!

Aloha Karma, don't forget our night temps are in the seventies here, so the soaking water never did get cold..I will be interested to see how you do, let us know.

Always game for new ideas. Currently have nastursum seed soaking in PR and alfalfa tea. Instructions said to brush seed with nail file. This sounded a lot better. Haven't checked this morning. Will let you know how it turns out.

Kilikina

I love Alfalfa tea! Never do let it get stinky though, the first time was enough for me! I throw it round the base of the plants, dregs and all, but I never thought of soaking with it - good idea! Warning to all - dogs seem to love it, at least my idiots do. I have to keep the brew covered or they are in it drinking like mad - Lord knows I don't need any growth on them!

Just soaked the seeds. Will keep you posted!

Good morning,

I just reviewed the seed starting information at emamerica. They also begin with an HP soadk, then a week EM solution soak to set up a probiotic situation, then clean water. They also use an EM solution to spray sprouts grown for food.

I haven'e gotten to the use yet. I'm using bokashi for my garbage and it works great.

katiebear

Aloha Katie,

EM's? Effective microorganisms? Do tell more.... I think that is sort of what I am doing with the alfalfa tea isn't it? Must google emamerica to see what you are talking about.

Educate me, please!

Surfs up - off to the beach!

Jen

In the Soil and composting Forum there are threads on EM (Effective microorganisms) and bokashi which is innoculated with EM.

A friend of mine who lives with Amma (for which see Amma.org) told me about EM last summer. I got a gallon from EMamerica and have been using it to make bokashi.

Whe you see posts by EMEric, he works for emamerica so he is our resident expert. Because of daves policies (which I agree with, byb the by) he cannot post about specific products, but you can contact him through the website for specific recommendations.

The web site has some interesting videos and LOTS of information. It speaks directly to many of the problems here. And elsewhere. Read about it and you may just have them fill up that hole and forget about a septic tank.

katiebear

Jen, checked my seeds. . .I think I have 3 that are sprouting? Is this how it's supposed to look? 4 of them are a tan color and the other 5 are still black at the bottom of the cup. I have no idea what to expect. Help please please please.

Looking good to me! I can't really advise you because when I woke up in the morning I had actual root sprouts, maybe 1/4 inch long, so I didn't see the inbetween bit! My guess is that if the seeds are cracked you are well on your way! I would stir them up, but thats just me, never leave well enough alone!

My sprout are approx 6 inches tall now and ready to start grabbing onto the wire, I think.
Keep us posted Karma (love that name!). If Randy says HP is good for MG's it's got to be right - have you seen his garden of Eden?

Katie, I will have a read of that site, sounds really interesting - I love experimenting! Wish you had told me about that before my big hole in the ground girl! LOL! Probably wouldn't have passed the EPA anyway....sigh! Sorry I am so ignorant, but what is bokashi - inquiring minds want to know! Crisis at work so I have to go in tomorrow to cover - darn! Will try to have a read of eamerica while I am there. Nothing like being paid whilst doing your own fun reading!

Update on the hole to China (or maybe not, what is opposite Hawaii?). The three old fellas came today and dumped a huge load of gravel into my neighbors garden ready to scoop it across the wall into our garden. Then they ran the digger for about an hour, declared it to be too hot to work further, and promised me they would be here by 7 am tomorrow. The hole is even larger now, and extends right down the garden. I am hoping it means we are further ahead, but I am not taking bets on it. This time they abandoned the digger across the front of the shed so we can't open it to get any tools out! Still I guess it's better than across the path where it has been left for over two weeks. Boys and their toys! I was really tired of having to climb through the banana patch (too many banana spiders in your hair), so I guess having the shed cut off is an improvement...

Jen, I was looking at your set up again. So you have the seedlings planted all around the wire thingamajig. Is it cone shaped? When it gets bigger, will it get too crowded in there? Are you planning to keep them in the container that way? I'd like to do the same. I think it will be beautiful.

There is a bokashi thread on the Soil and Compost Forum. It's a mix of EM1 solution and bran or sawdust which is allowed to ferment for a couple of weeks then is used to sprinkle on garbage or whatever to ferment. It ferments the garbage, making it faster to break down when it is put in the ground. There's also information on it at the emamerica site. One very good thing about it is that when you use it you can compost meat, fish and milk gargage that hcannot be used in other composting methods.

I'm just finishing using up my first batch. I used some on a bunch of fish scraps (half a barrel full) that a fisherman friend brought me. It almost eliminated the smell and after a few weeks I was able to bury it in my compost pile. Used in the kitchen, it cuts the small of rotting food. in the compost bucket.

Good stuff. Lots of other uses. Used to clean up polluted rivers and oceans.



katiebear

Neat info, Katie, got to look into that...

Karma, someone dumped a load of huge pots on us so I thought I would try to use them, although I generally don't have much luck with container growing. I had come across a roll of wire in the bottom of the garden when we were hacking our way through the undergrowth, and I had saved it thinking it might come in handy some day. I haven't planted MG's in the garden before because I was so afraid they would escape into the wild but I though I could perhaps contain them more in pots. Anyway to make a long story short, I simply took wire cutters and cut off a hunk of wire, shaped it into a sort of circle and buried it into the pots, which are very deep. The number of MG's in the pot are probably far too many, but each and every one I had soaked germinated so..
They are rather crude looking, but I hope they are going to look beautiful when they cover the wire!

Well, aren't you clever. Just look how big the seedlings are in just a few days,

B.H. Mom,
Apparently there are lot's of gardeners into soaking.
There are many people who have told me to go soak my head. This must be some kind of germination slang I don't understand.

Wowie Jen, they are so big already! Thanks for posting that picture. That's a beautiful pot. . .wished someone would dump some of those here. It's going to be beautiful. Please post a pic when they cover that hunk of wire with blooms.

Found this topic intresting! I sprout my Amarylla seeds in a water-HP solution. It keeps the water from getting grungy.

You should see them today. Going back to Texas tonight. Will post pictures of them tomorrow or next day. Seven days of heaven on earth at Jenny's.

Aloha,

Kilikina

Aloha!

Just returned home from taking Christi and Mike to the airport for their long trip back to Texas. We really had a lovely week, the first of many I hope.

Took this picture of the MG's this morning (the 20th) while we were in the garden collecting seed for Christi to take home. 19 days from seed - Whoohoo!



Edited to say 19 days (can't count)

This message was edited Feb 21, 2008 7:07 AM