Science Forums 2

[HydrogenBond]

Uncle's advice was excellent with a few new one's added to my knowledge base. One strategy is to use a good sterile seed starting mix. This soil is optimized in pH and nutrients concentrations, to give the seeds the best chance of getting going. Plant them to the depth it says on the package, which is usually a seeds diameter or two, deep. Then transplant them after a few sets of leaves. This could be 4-6 weeks. If you want to use the paper towel to get them started, use tap water instead of bottled water. The tap water contains some chlorine to help sterilize the paper towel. If you wish even more precaution wash your hands to assure there is nothing on your fingers when handling them. Another trick to help stubborn seeds germinate, is to place the seeds-media in the refrigerator for a day or so, then take them out permanently to warm up. Some seeds benefit by the chill. It sort of reminds them of cool spring nights then the warming days. It doesn't always matter, but it won't hurt either. The rate of chemical reaction increases with temperature so 75-90C is a good final temperature range until they sprout. The lower range is better for seedlings, making them hardier.

After they sprout be moderate with the water. This forces the roots to grow looking for it. Too much water sort of spoils the roots so they don't need to grow quite as well to find plenty of water. The result can be tall skinny plants due to the plant too dependant on its tap root. Bottom watering in a tray is better than top watering, since it won't compact the soil making it harder for the finest roots. One of my other tricks with seedlings, is only fill your starting soil container half way with the soil. The seedlings might still get tall. Then you backfill the pot the rest of the way to make the plants shorter again, by raising the height of the soil level. That makes part of the stem become root. The cells within the seedling's stem are still stem cells, and can re-differentiate to root cells.