Re: [CH] sanding seeds

Russ Spanard (RSpanard@home.com)
Sat, 06 Oct 2001 23:08:04 -0400 

Paul:

I'm new to pepper gardening, but tilling a new 6' x 25' plot for next spring. I
told my sweetheart that she could have whatever area I didn't take for peppers
and tomatoes and plant whatever she wants (she'll probably just have enough
room for 2 basil plants and some parsley...!)

Anyway, I've been vacuuming up as much information as I can and already laid in
a stock of Pepper Joe's finest as well as several other cultivars. While I'm
waiting to start the real seedlings in March, I've been playing with a few
seeds here, a few there to see how they germinate. Occasionally, I've seen a
few seedlings with their heads stuck in the seed casing, but I haven't seen
that happen since I tried initially soaking the seeds overnight in a solution
of potassium nitrate (saltpetre).

Several sources have referred to this technique as marginally simulating the
effects on a pepper seed being passed through the digestive tract of a bird.
Regardless, my (very) limited testing has yielded positive results with
germination times averaging less than 7-days.

One interesting issue is the availability of saltpetre.  None of my local
drugstores stocked it, but all of the major chains were more than willing to
ordering it in within a few days. The smallest container was 4 oz., and you
only need one teaspoon per quart of water.  It cost about $4.50 for the quarter
pound, and I obviously have alot left. One of the seed supplier's sites offered
1 tsp. packets for $1.00 each! (There are about 50 teaspoons in a 4 oz. jar...)

Anyway, if anyone would like to try the saltpetre technique, just mail me a
SASE and I'll return it with a couple of teaspoons. If interested, email me
offline and  I'll give you my address.

Russ Spanard
(CH-in-training)

Paul Karpowicz wrote:

> L.B.
>   You mean you never picked up a couple hundred pepper seeds with a pair of
> tweezers and sanded the edges to help prevent the dreaded "cotyledons
> interuptus" ?
> After loosing a very small percentage of pepper embryos because the first
> set of leaves "stuck" in the seed shell (even with soaking) I start sanding
> the seeds around Jan. 2nd. Needless to say, my family thinks I'm nuts also.
>     Paul