Seed Depth

[BrokenAppleTree]

All,
Just curious if anyone plants their seeds fairly deep. I always plant mine very shallow and they have done well. I got to thinking that maybe a deeper planted seed would have a stronger stem / stronger roots. Theory being that the pressure from the "dirt" on top would make the roots grow deeper and cause the stem to be stronger b/c it has to "push" its way up.

Thoughts?

- Brian

[bully]

No, I don't sow my seeds very deep.

But when I pot up I get them down there and again when I plant them in the garden

[cosmicgardener]

Seeds in nature lie on the surface - they will actually bury themselves to the depth they want to be as they swell with moisture. I use coco coir seed raising mix and only every put seeds on the surface. By its nature the growing medium stays damp and I just give it a light misting when necessary. I do this with all my seeds except pumpkin. I get nearly 100% strike rate every time with all my veggies. Before I used coco coir, I used ordinary seed raising mix but didn't have the same results.

[bcday]

What depth did you have in mind? If you plant the seeds too deep they won't come up at all. 1/4" is plenty deep enough to get well-rooted seedlings. What's really needed for strong stems is good lighting.

[cosmicgardener]

Theory being that the pressure from the "dirt" on top would make the roots grow deeper and cause the stem to be stronger b/c it has to "push" its way up.

That would be fine if the stems were muscles :wink: Strong stems are produced by the right balance of silica and calcium in the early stages after germination and this should be made available to the plants after the cotylodons appear, in minute traces.

[Earl]

I think the physics of seed/stem size would have a lot to do with it. Take a bean/pea seed, it's bigger and can be planted deeper. But a tomato seed is small, fragile so it can't push up to surface if planted to deep. So stay with the 1/4 inch depth.

[cosmicgardener]

As a rule of thumb don't plant deeper than the longest dimension of the seed. I've just planted lettuce, lambs lettuce, cress, broccoli, clove basil and sprouting brocolli in seed trays - none have been buried they are too tiny. just pressed into the mix to make contact and away they go. I once saw a lovely film of a seed planting itself. The seed landed on the ground and over a period of time, turned itself so it pointy end was down, it then 'drilled' itself into the ground where it germinated. Can't remember where I saw this but it blew me away to see how everything has its own built in ability to survive.