Why do some seeds germinate faster?

[spyfferoni]

I had assumed something was wrong with my Kellog's Breakfast seeds because they didn't come up like all of my other seeds. I kept watering and I just noticed a sprout---almost 2 weeks after everything else has come up. They were the same age as the other seeds I planted. I wonder why they were so much later. Glad I didn't give up!

Tyffanie

[svalli]

I am also glad that I did not give up, since I have some seeds which have taken two months to germinate. I started first tomatoes February 11th and only few game up. I have kept the tray moist and moving it to different warm locations. Last week I let them dry a bit and them watered again and now I have five different varieties come up. One of them had two come up in a week after sowing and others were such that nothing came up. Did the drying and remoistening do the trick?

I hope that these late ones will have time to produce. The greenhouse will not be up for at least a month (we have still snow on the ground), so I will give these sprouts a lot of light and warmth indoors.

Sari

[ireilly]

I don't have any evidence to support it, but I believe that the drying/wetting cycle and the Sun's heat is what caused 13/14 of the Hoy to emerge. The first 6 only sprouted 1 in the coffee filter, then of the second batch Medbury Gardens was nice enough to send, I sprouted 5 of the 8 I started. I put the first 6 outside after more than 1 week because I believe leaving them in the baggie too long contributes to seed decay. Then the remaining 5 came up. Of the second batch, after sowing them in mix outside, 7/8 eventually came up.

The only thing I can ascribe this to is either the time elapsed, the sun and drying/wetting cycle, or both.

Not causality necessarily, but certainly correlation.

Now I try to germinate in coffee filters but at a certain time from the initial wetting, I put them in mix in a window or outside (it's getting a mite warm and windy to put them in full sun here outside). I can't really see the seed so I have no idea if they rot or not, but i try to make sure the mix goes through a wetting/drying cycle, not fully dry, so it's my belief anyway that rotting is minimized. Of course, any seed that does not sprout will eventually decompose like all plant matter, but this is the development of the method I currently like to use here. YMMV.

And peppers usually take longer, so this method is even more critical in my opinion to minimize rot.

Walter

[ContainerTed]

Strange, but I have had a couple that led me to believe that a drying and remoisturizing cycle seemed to do the trick.

Can't be coincidence.

Hmmmm!

Ted

[OneoftheEarls]

thickness and coating of the seed

[semi_lucid]

This year I used a little "incubator" that I rigged up to keep my seeds warm till they germinated. (especially pepper seeds.)

I would try to get them planted as soon as possible after they showed a little root coming out.

I had a package of Brandywine seeds that I dumped the whole package in. One of the seeds put out a root in _less_ than 24 hours. I couldn't believe how fast that one seed was.

But then I didn't get any more for several days, and then only one or so per day. Ended up only getting only about one third of the package to germinate. A rather poor germination rate, but man that one seed was FAST!

John

[KevinCT]

yeah I found my Kellogg's were a little slower as well, out of the 5 I started a month ago ,2 are a solid size, 1 is really small and the other 2, I finally gave up on and restarted/reseeded the peatpod.

Funny,I also planted some 12 red brandys seeds that I saved from last season and they broke soil within 48 hrs.

The longest taking ones so far have been my Golden queens, it's been a month and only a little sprout has finally shown itself, but it's just a spec of white.

[pete]

Slowest seeds I've had are pepper tepin. Take 2 weeks usually.

Sungold are the fastest, sprouts sometimes in 3 days!!!

[davespitzer]

Weed seeds are frequently dormant for years, so that some germinate the first year after production, some the second year, etc. I've heard of desert plants whose seeds lie dormant for 50+years waiting for just the right conditions, and I've still got thistle seeds coming up whenever I break new ground (they may be blowing in, tho'). Maybe tomato and pepper seeds need a wet/dry cycle to break dormancy?

[rxkeith]

i have an alston everlasting cherry tomato just coming up 10 days later than 2 others that were a week later than the other cherry varieties i planted around april 9th. the drying and re-moisturizing trick has worked on eagles beak. one seed is finally poking up. i had planted 3/29, and replanted mid april. still waiting to see if it works for black giant, koroleva, fish lake oxheart and clarie claxon yellow, my other no shows.



keith

[davespitzer]

From recent experience- artichoke seeds seem to be extremely variable in their germination time, and advice I've been given by experienced posters on this site says that it is the result of both soaking time and germinating temperature. That matches what I've seen- some seeds germinated weeks after the first ones did. So, bottom line is don't give up too early as I did. I would be careful of overwatering also, as some of my best seedlings came up in moist, but not wet, soil blocks. Dave