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[munnharpe]

A little while ago I soaked 15 morning glory seeds in water for 24 hours, and them planted them.
About half the plant embryos had started poking out of the seeds by this time.
4 days later I spotted some green-blue-ish color poking through the soil where I had planted one of the seeds.
I dug up the seed and discovered that the entire seed was covered in this blue-green-ish bacteria/fungi. I then proceeded to dig up more seeds and found out that the same thing had happened to all the seeds I planted.

These where seeds that I have harvested myself and stored for almost two years now in the refrigerator.
I still have many more, but I'm thinking that I should sterilize them somehow before I plant them, so here comes my question:
Can I soak the seeds in diluted H2O2?
If so, for how long should I soak them, and how much should I dilute the H2O2?

[New Wisdom]

Edit: Misunderstood the question for a minute.

I just use pure H2O2 when I soak my seeds and I do it for 20 minutes.  Also try just planting the seed without doing a soak.  They sprout pretty easily without it.

[munnharpe]

Ok, I will try that then.
By undiluted, do you mean the 3% or 6%? Or maybe it doesn't matter?
6% is what I have lying around from other projects.

Ok. I will try planting them without a 24 hour soak this time.


Thanks =)

1 Like New Wisdom likes this.

[AcaciaAve]

Have never soaked them and have had great success. You're starting them at a good time so they'll have a chance to flower.
Keep it warm and by a windowsill and move outside when it's a few centimeters.
Make sure they don't get too much sun too early as well.

-AA

[munnharpe]

Allright!
I've pressure cooked the soil for 45 minutes, and soaked the seeds in in a 1% solution of H2O2 for 20 minutes.
Now they are in the soil, and I'm looking forward to see the results in the coming days! =)

My plan is to make cylinders of wire mesh and stick them in the ground around my morning glorys when it's time to move them outside.
I'm excited to see of it works well! =)

[New Wisdom]

Why are you pressure cooking the soil? Seems to me like you're overcomplicating this.  I just put soil in the pot, plant, water. Morning glories are one of the easiest things to grow ime.

But anyways, hope it goes well for you. Keep us updated.

[munnharpe]

Since all my 15 seeds got this bacteria/fungi all over them, I thought I'd do it just to reduce the risk of this happening again.
I never usually pressure cook soil, but I never usually get all my seeds infected either.

1 Like New Wisdom likes this.

[nobody]

I have always had the best luck when the seeds were directly sown instead of starting them in pots. Lots of people have good luck with growing them in containers but it does drastically retard the growth as does transplanting them. A transplanted MG can take up to 30 days to properly recover and resume a natural growth state. Like AcaciaAve, I have never soaked my seeds first.

If in a temperate climate direct sowing is best done in late Feb - mid March depending on when the ground starts to thaw. It will obviously be later the further north of the equator you are.


nobody

[munnharpe]

Even after sterilizing the soil and soaking seeds for 30min in diluted H2O2, they all got mold and/or bacteria again.
So I'm giving up on the old seeds I had in my fridge and have now planted 10 new seeds that I bought a couple of days ago instead.

[New Wisdom]

That's odd.  Did you leave the seeds to see what will happen?  Maybe one or two will end up sprouting.

1 Like fairdinkumseeds likes this.

[munnharpe]

I left the two that looked the least infected, but I threw the rest.
Needed the space for the new seeds.

[BubbleCat]

I think altho it can be said to be overkill in this situation, sterilising soil is always a good idea since it doesnt bother you much and gives you the peace of mind problems dont arise out of the soil, thats especially true with soil you collected outside or a bag you opened a longer while ago. Same applies to pots, you can always boil / microwave / expose to any DNA cracking radiation ... And so on. Especially in high humidity applications all this comes handy (morning glory is not in that category as far as Im concerned).

As for anti mould, no one would use pure H2O2 on seeds, not only is it hard to obtain, seeds would also react violently and be destroyed in a matter of moments. Anyway im no fan of H2O2 for its anti mold properties anyway, and for chemical scarification its not a good choice too, I use this (see attachement please) I must try to find out what it is called in english, I can tell you its a anti-fungus substance that has originally been invented for human inner and outer treatment, it has been discovered that ingesting it really is a thing you dont want, so its now sold in pharmacys for external treatment, altho there is better substitutes. So its solely purpose today is plants, even orchid seeds like it no matter what youve done to them first, same applies for cacti.

Edit: one last thing to mention, most fridges are highly contaminated with funghus and bacteria, ince we store so many things in there they might like. The temperatures may inhibit excessive growth, but they do grow and spread ... I think everyone can testify. Also most fridges are set too warm and for theese reasons the manufacturers recommend cleaning a fridge on a monthly basis. So storing seeds in it for a longer span of time will lead to multiple contamination (if not sealed). You wouldnt store food for that span of time in it and expect it to be okay wouldnt you ?

I hope I could offer some usefull information.

[New Wisdom]

I disagree that sterilizing soil is always a good idea.   The microorganisms that live in the soil are a major part in plant health, and sterilizing soil will kill all beneficial microorganisms. 

[BubbleCat]

I'm sorry, I was talking in general, youre right, dead soild wont host alive plants, but keeping temperature in check will not kill all spores, luckily most undesiravle ones die first. I would like to simply quote Wikipedia on this since I dont know where I originally geard about anymore: "Important heat-resistant, spore-forming bacteria survive and revitalize the soil after cooling down."
So yes, putting it into the microwave or go 130 degrees celsius with it would be a rather stupid thing.

1 Like New Wisdom likes this.

[New Wisdom]

I work with such large amounts of soil that it would be inconceivable to sterilize all the soil I use, but I have never had issues without doing it.  The climate I live in is dry and mold/fungus does not do well out in the elements here.  Even when I keep the soil constantly wet mold has never been an issue. Climate plays a big role.