water with hot water-how hot?

[michael johnson]

I have often seen Craig and a few other state that after they have set up their seed trays etc, they water them with hot water- how hot is hot water, very hot-tepid-or otherwise, I ask this question since they always seem to get good germination results afterwards and I am interested in the method as well as being curios.

[2FrontFeet]

I use warm water, just warm enough for a baby's bottle. So far, so good.

[dcarch]

In nature, I would think that seeds on the surface of soil can experience very high temperature under the sun.

dcarch

[Tomstrees]

For indor seedlings, I always let "tap" water sit for at least 24 hours - when I do water, its room temp -

As for outside - anyhting goes - I mostly let the rain do the watering ...

~ Tom

[wilderness1989]

Originally Posted by Tomstrees

For indor seedlings, I always let "tap" water sit for at least 24 hours - when I do water, its room temp -

That's the way I have been doing it for years and it works great for me.

[Tomstrees]

I also do it for all the house plants ~

Tom

[Suze]

Originally Posted by michael johnson

I have often seen Craig and a few other state that after they have set up their seed trays etc, they water them with hot water- how hot is hot water, very hot-tepid-or otherwise, I ask this question since they always seem to get good germination results afterwards and I am interested in the method as well as being curios.

As I understand your query, you are not asking about how to water seedlings.

I suppose you might get some small initial germination advantage in starting off with warm/hot water, but the mix is going to equalize to room (or heat mat) temperatures fairly quickly. The main point of the hot water is to make hydration of a soilless mix easier, as peat moss tends to be pretty hydrophobic when dry.

I let the water run until it is very hot and then I use the sprayer attachment for my kitchen sink to evenly water the seed flats. Alternatively, one could hand mix the soilless mix and the hot water in a pail, then put into the flats.

Next, I let flats drain for a bit (if one doesn't use flats with drain holes, they'd need to pour off any excess water). After that's occurred, seed is sowed. Much like Craig mentions in the seed starting sticky, I just lay the seed on top and lightly cover with a sprinkling of peat moss. That gets carefully misted with very warm (but not scalding hot) water from a spray bottle.

My seed flats are loosely covered with plastic wrap - I do not care for domes at all as they tend to hold in too much moisture and can rot seed. My seed flats are not usually rewatered before germination.

Doing this, I consistently get anywhere from 85 - 100% germination within two weeks for seed that is less than 5 - 7 years old unless there truly is a viability problem (bad fermentation, improper storage, etc.) Most of the time, germination occurs within 7 days (5 - 6 days, if I use a heat mat).

[michael johnson]

Thanks-Suze, thats exactly what I wanted to know,very well explained,

Hopefully I shall now perhaps gain a small advantage in some germination results on older seeds.

I have always done my seed tray flats the same as you-with the plastic sheeting over them, but when I water them initialy from filling the trays with compost I have usualy used cans of water that have been stood in the green house for a day or two before using and then let the seed flats stand for an hour or two before sowing the seed and covering them- but this year I shall try the warm water method straight out of the tap instead.

[Andrey_BY]

As our tap water is not so clean and healthy so I used to use melted snow water of home temperature 'cause even in March we usually blessed with a lot of snow here :wink:

[michael johnson]

I should imagine that melted snow water-is probably one of the very best waters to use anywhere, as it will contain all the nessesary (essential things ) in it that have not soaked into the ground already, and in most areas its pretty pure to start with- unless you are in an acid rain area.

I might even save a few gallons of it-at that- for trials on some seeds, as we have about two foot of snow over here at the moment, and I am to say the least-frozen stiff -Brrrrr, central heating on day and night,-roll on spring

[Earl]

Rain always makes plants vibrant. Maybe catch some rain water?