How to Treat Spinach Seeds Before Sowing? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Methods

Spinach is a major vegetable crop in China, and its planting area in China is very large. Although spinach has a high yield, there are many points we need to pay close attention to when growing it. This is especially true of the treatment of spinach seeds before sowing, such as seed soaking and sprouting. How well this is done directly affects the yield of spinach. So how should spinach seeds be treated before sowing? Let's take a look together below!

1. Selecting seeds

Spinach seeds exist in the form of utricles, and generally each fruit contains one seed. The seed coat is leathery; although the outer layer can normally allow air and water through, its inner layer is sclerenchyma tissue. Water and air basically cannot pass through it, so seed soaking and sprouting must be done well before sowing. Before treating the seeds, we must first pick out impurities and some low-quality seeds from among them, to avoid affecting uniform and complete emergence. Keep some large, plump seeds, and then you can prepare to soak the seeds.

2. Soaking the seeds

After selecting the seeds, prepare the soaking solution, mainly using hydrogen peroxide, mixed together with water at a ratio of about 1:4, then stir it thoroughly until even. Then put the seeds directly into the solution; when adding the seeds, it is best to stir while adding. Let the seeds absorb water evenly and fully; if you do not stir, then the spinach seeds will absorb water unevenly, and when sowing, the emergence of each seed will also differ, which has a very large impact on the overall growth of the spinach, so everyone should pay close attention.

3. Soaking time

The soaking time for the seeds is determined by the temperature. If the temperature does not exceed 20 degrees, then the soaking time generally needs about two hours. If the temperature is around 25 degrees, then one and a half hours is enough. Similarly, if the temperature is above 30 degrees, then the soaking time can be shortened to about 50 minutes. This is because the higher the temperature, the greater the seed activity and the stronger the absorption capacity, so the time can be appropriately shortened. Conversely, if the temperature is too low, then the time should be appropriately extended.

4. Sprouting

When soaking the seeds, we can use not only hydrogen peroxide for soaking. The seeds can also be placed directly in clean water and soaked for about 12 hours. After soaking, place the seeds at a temperature of about 4 degrees for one day, then wrap them in a wet cloth and place them at a temperature of about 25 degrees to sprout. If you soak the seeds with agents such as hydrogen peroxide solution or hydrogen peroxide, then when the seed coat can be seen with the naked eye, it means the soaking time is about right. The seeds can be taken out directly. Then rinse them clean with water, and likewise wrap them in a wet cloth and place them in an environment at 25 degrees to sprout.

The above is a brief introduction to how to treat spinach seeds before sowing. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and we hope it can help everyone!