TOPIC: Seed ?

Being my first year with seed.When I float them,How many floaters should i have???I bet 1/4 of them are floaters...

Now I read somewhere that some floaters are still good is this true?

Thanks ...Frank....

I would plant them anyway but that isnt a good sign. Out of a pound of seed I might have 20 or so that float. Contacting the supplier might be a good idea. Good Luck!

Hillhopper

FTB,

I never had anywhere near that float.

Now when you first put them in water several will float initially that will after 4-5 minutes sink. I usually wait a few minutes and stir them around some and some will almost always sink.

But now I think something more like 1 or 2% was the most I had float last year.

If I had 1/4 of total floating I think I would be trying to return them and get my money back.

I did test plant a small spot with some floaters last year and this spring found that several of them germinated. I planted them in a place off to themselves though and away from my other plantings.

I have a bunch of land so having the space to experiment a little like that is not a big deal for me.

Good Luck to you this year !

TNhunter

TNhunter wrote:

FTB,

I never had anywhere near that float.

Now when you first put them in water several will float initially that will after 4-5 minutes sink. I usually wait a few minutes and stir them around some and some will almost always sink.

But now I think something more like 1 or 2% was the most I had float last year.

If I had 1/4 of total floating I think I would be trying to return them and get my money back.

I did test plant a small spot with some floaters last year and this spring found that several of them germinated. I planted them in a place off to themselves though and away from my other plantings.

I have a bunch of land so having the space to experiment a little like that is not a big deal for me.

Good Luck to you this year

TNhunter

Thanks Guys....

I got a hold of the dealer.They said that,that batch had a 92% germination rate.I guess I'll plant them and deal with it in the spring.But being a new grower if I screw up I won't know if it was me or the seed.

Only buying a pound of seed all my eggs are in one basket so to speak.I plan on buying 3 or 4 pounds next season I think I'll be getting them from different dealers.I tried PM'ing a few people here about seed dealers but never got reply's.Maybe I was screwing up the Pm's!

I can grow anything under the sun in my veggie garden.Seng can't be that dang hard.My biggest worry is the amount of light.Making the beds with companion plants in the area I'm hope'n that the light is correct.Live and learn..

Thanks again....Frank

FTB

Floaters are a sign of the seed drying out or decay from disease within the seeds.

I usually have about 40 floaters per pound of seed. But as mentioned in Scott's book, seed dealers float their seeds after they come out of stratification. They could remove thousands of floaters(and you would never know it) before they package the seeds to be sold.

Seeds that are floaters have a high probability of being diseased. So you need to remove them and throw them away or if you do plant them, they need to be planted in an area far away from the the good seeds. With only about 40 floaters per lb, it's much safer to just throw them away then to take a chance of introducing disease into your woods.

Good Luck!

classicfur

FTB

Your dealer claimed that they had 92% germination rate from that batch?

If those seeds just came out of the stratification, ther is no way to know what the germination rate is for that batch.

Hmmm

classicfur

classicfur wrote:

FTB

Your dealer claimed that they had 92% germination rate from that batch?

If those seeds just came out of the stratification, ther is no way to know what the germination rate is for that batch.

Hmmm

classicfur

Jeff

That 92% is what he e-mailed back to me.Where and how he got that I don't know.I'm confused LOL....

Thanks Frank.....

FTB

All I'm saying is: Stratified seeds that are being sold right now have been statified for aprox 12 months. It will take an additional 7-9 months for the embryo to grow and develope so that these seeds can germinate in the spring. Seeds that are being sold right now will not germinate until spring.

For someone to claim that they know what the germination rate will be on seeds before they actually germinate, that just came out of the stratification is a just a wild guess.

Perhaps he means that he has had 92% germination rate on previous batches.

classicfur