Reasons and solutions for improper flower seed treatment

What should you do if flower seeds are not treated properly.

Flower seeds that germinate easily can be treated by soaking. For example, salvia seeds can be soaked in warm water at room temperature of 40°C for a full day and night, rinsed clean, and then sown. For hard seeds, such as asparagus fern, tree peony, orange jessamine, crape myrtle, and winter daphne, it is best to first soak them in hot water at 40°C for about 48 hours before sowing them into potting soil; after 20 to 30 days, they will sprout and grow.

For species with a short dormant period that germinate easily, such as pearl bush and redbud, soaking the seeds in warm water at 40°C-60°C for 24-48 hours allows direct sowing. Some flower seeds need a certain period of low-temperature treatment to promote after-ripening, break embryo dormancy, and germinate, such as lilac, wintersweet, and some herbaceous flowers sown in autumn. Some flowers have the characteristic of double dormancy of the radicle and hypocotyl, meaning their radicles must go through a high-temperature stage of 25°C-32°C for 1 to 2 months or longer to break dormancy, such as the seeds of fringetree, viburnum, and Chinese peony.

1. Seeds that germinate easily. Marigold, cypress vine, and some cactus seeds all germinate very easily and can be sown directly, or treated with cold water or warm water. Soak seeds in cold water (0-30°C) for 12-24 hours, or in warm water (31-40°C) for 6-12 hours, to shorten the seed swelling time and speed up emergence.

2. Seeds that are difficult to germinate. Generally, large seeds are difficult to germinate, such as canna, bird of paradise, and lotus. Their seed coats are relatively thick and hard, making water absorption difficult. For these seeds, you can scarify or abrade the seed coat with a knife before soaking. When treating seeds in large quantities, dilute sulfuric acid can be used for soaking. Before use, be sure to do a test and control the time well. As soon as the seed coat softens, immediately rinse the sulfuric acid off the seed coat with clean water to prevent the acid from burning the embryo.

3. Seeds that germinate slowly. Some flower seeds, such as asparagus fern, clivia, and honeysuckle, emerge very slowly, so they should be pregerminated before sowing. Before pregermination, soak the seeds in warm water first. After the seeds swell, spread them flat on gauze, then cover with moist gauze, place in a constant-temperature incubator, and maintain a temperature of 25-30°C. Rinse once a day with warm water together with the gauze. Once the seeds begin to sprout, sow them immediately.

4. Seeds that need dormancy breaking. Some seeds cannot germinate normally during dormancy even when given suitable moisture, temperature, oxygen, and other conditions. They must pass through a vernalization stage under low temperature before they can germinate, bloom, and bear fruit, such as peach, apricot, lotus, Chinese rose, rhododendron, and white magnolia.

For dormant seeds, low-temperature stratification can be used. Bury the flower seeds in layers in moist plain sand, then place them in an environment of 0-7°C for stratification. The stratification time varies by species. For example, rhododendron and flowering almond need 30-40 days, crabapple 50-60 days, peach, plum, and Japanese apricot 70-90 days, wintersweet and white magnolia more than 3 months, and Korean pine more than 6 months. After stratification, they can be taken out, the sand sifted off, and either sown directly or pregerminated before sowing.