Seeds germinating during fermenting???

Wolfie1038 · August 30, 2015

Hi! I'm relatively new and this is my first year saving seeds.

I had some seeds I wanted to save and put them in a small plastic cup with some water and used a strainer to help remove some of the gel. After about 3 days, the gel was off of them, so I turned them onto a paper plate to spread them out to dry and found that some of them had apparently started to germinate while in the water? There's a small white "tap root" coming out of some of them!

Are these still good to save or is the fact they have done this mean they will not germinate if they are dried and stored for later?

Also, since I live in high humidity, I have been adding those little silica gel packs to my amber plastic pill bottles after the seeds have dried for a week and then put in. Is this ok? Are those bottles ok to use?

Thanks in advance for your help.

KarenO · August 30, 2015

If they are already sprouted, they can't be dried and kept. It happens sometimes.
Any clean dry container can be used to store seeds, there are many options, coin envelopes, plastic zippies, bottle, vials, film canisters etc. Silica gell packs likely aren't necessary if the seeds are dry, stored cool in sealed containers.

KarenO

Wolfie1038 · August 30, 2015

Thanks, Karen. I'll have to pick through them when they dry and weed out the sprouted ones.

zeroma · February 22, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolfie1038

Thanks, Karen. I'll have to pick through them when they dry and weed out the sprouted ones.

Weeding is a chore even before you plant your seeds! LOL I've had this happen to my seeds as well. It's not so bad when you have a lot of seed but when I have just a few of that one variety it hurts the soul.

zeroma

August 30, 2015	#1
Wolfie1038 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: South Carolina Posts: 13	Seeds germinating during fermenting??? Hi! I'm relatively new and this is my first year saving seeds. I had some seeds I wanted to save and put them in a small plastic cup with some water and used a strainer to help remove some of the gel. After about 3 days, the gel was off of them, so I turned them onto a paper plate to spread them out to dry and found that some of them had apparently started to germinate while in the water? There's a small white "tap root" coming out of some of them! Are these still good to save or is the fact they have done this mean they will not germinate if they are dried and stored for later? Also, since I live in high humidity, I have been adding those little silica gel packs to my amber plastic pill bottles after the seeds have dried for a week and then put in. Is this ok? Are those bottles ok to use? Thanks in advance for your help.

August 30, 2015	#2
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,931	If they are already sprouted, they can't be dried and kept. It happens sometimes. Any clean dry container can be used to store seeds, there are many options, coin envelopes, plastic zippies, bottle, vials, film canisters etc. Silica gell packs likely aren't necessary if the seeds are dry, stored cool in sealed containers. KarenO