Pre-germinating Seeds

Pre-germinating Seeds

The most important characteristic of any seed is whether it will sprout and begin to grow vigorously. Everything else about what a seed might do is irrelevant if germination fails.


I live in a short growing season as do a lot of people so I think it is important to get as much as you can out of it. Pre-germination is soaking seeds in water first to get the seeds to germinate faster. In experimenting with it I have found that soaked seeds came up several days earlier that an un-soaked seed. The importance of pre-germinate seeds before sowing them is that guarantees that hopefully every seed we plant is likely to come up. It is also important if we’re sowing an old seed which may be slow to germinate or a rare heirloom seed that we can’t afford to waste. The faster we germinate our seeds the faster we get crops we can eat.

Here are two simply ways to pre-germinate seeds:

- You can place them in a bowl using a warm water temperature then place a small plate on the top to act as a lid. Changing the water daily is important because it keeps the seeds clean and replenishes the oxygen.

- Place them on a dinner plate and lay a paper towel across them all. Add enough water so that the paper towel is saturated and there’s water standing in the plate, but not much. You want the seeds to have access to air as well as being kept moist on both sides. As soon as you see the tiny radical tip begin to emerge from the seeds, then plant them as normal. You do not want the seeds to grow into the paper towel.

Of course there are many more ways to pre-germinate, so please explore if you would like more options.

Temperature
Most vegetable seeds sprout at between 60 and 105 degrees, with the best germination at 75 degrees to 85 degrees. For most species, sprouting stops at temperatures under 60 degrees or over 100 degrees F. Some tropical species like peppers, eggplant, and melons won’t sprout at all if soil temperatures fall below 70 degrees for very long. There are a few types of seeds that sprout better at slightly cooler temperatures. Spinach, for example, will sprout at from 45 degrees to 85 degrees. See the chart below for more temperatures.