How should flower and ornamental plant seeds be treated before sowing?

How should flower and ornamental plant seeds be treated before sowing.

Flower and ornamental plant seeds need the following treatment before sowing:

1. Water soaking to promote germination: this can be divided into 3 water temperature treatments - cold water soaking to promote germination (above 0°C), warm water soaking to promote germination (40-60°C), and hot water soaking to promote germination (70-90°C).

2. Stratification to promote germination: mix three parts moist sandy soil with one part seeds of ornamental plants and flowers, keep moist and refrigerate. In addition, for seeds of ornamental plants and flowers with long-term dormancy or seeds that sprout in alternate years, the variable temperature germination method can be used, that is, after soaking the seeds, keep them at 25-30°C during the day and 15°C at night, repeating for 10-20 days, which can promote their germination.

1. Conventional methods are as follows: sunning the seeds. Most seeds have a relatively long storage period from harvest to sowing, during which the seeds remain in a dormant state. If they are exposed to sunlight for 1-2 days before sowing, this can not only kill some pathogens and insect eggs on the seed surface, but also activate the seeds, which helps increase the germination rate.

2. Soaking method: before sowing, the seeds can be soaked in cold water or 40°C warm water. Depending on the flower species, the soaking time ranges from 2-24 h.

3. Seed coat scoring method: for some seeds with hard seed coats that are impermeable to air and water, the seed coat scoring method can be used to allow water to enter the seeds and promote water absorption and germination.

4. Chemical treatment method: use strong acids or strong bases, among which concentrated sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide are the most commonly used; treatment can soften hard seed coats. The treatment time can be determined by the hardness of the seed coat. It ranges from a few minutes to several hours.

5. Cold storage or low-temperature stratification method: storing seeds at a low temperature of 2-5°C for 2-3 weeks, or treating seeds in autumn by the moist sand stratification method, can both break seed dormancy earlier and promote germination.