Rules for soaking pumpkin seeds before planting
To get a good harvest, it is important to carry out the correct, and most importantly timely, preparation. It is not only about digging up the land, fertilizing it and buying planting material. Every gardener knows that the key to successful fruit growing is soaking pumpkin seeds before planting.
Rules for soaking pumpkin seeds before planting
Soaking seeds of other crops
Before planting in the ground, not only pumpkin seeds, but also other plants are subjected to this procedure. These include melon, watermelon, tomato, cucumber, dill, celery, peas.
To properly soak them, filter paper is laid on the bottom of disposable cups, and several seeds are placed on top. It should be remembered that the optimum liquid temperature is 40 ° C. Compliance with this condition helps to improve germination.
The peculiarity of cucumbers is that, before soaking, you need to warm up their seeds on a battery - this contributes to faster germination.
Training
To get a generous harvest, the first step is to figure out how professional gardeners are soaking seeds. There are stages of preparation for this procedure, the order of which must be followed. Let's take a look at each stage:
- selection of material for planting in the ground. Planting material can be purchased at a specialized store or harvested from last year's harvest. If you buy seeds, you can do without the process of additional processing, because this manipulation has already been carried out at the factory. It is important to place the seeds collected on your own in a solution of table salt. Some of them will fall to the bottom - it is they who are needed for further work, and hollow bodies will float from above;
- antiseptic treatment. It is necessary to prepare a weak solution of potassium permanganate, which is an excellent disinfectant, and immerse the selected pumpkin seeds in it. After a while (no longer than 1-2 hours), they are dried and germination begins.
Germination technique
Soaking the seeds will speed up the ripening process
In order for the seedlings to reach a certain stage before planting, it is important to start the procedure a few days before transferring them to the ground. The germination technique is a simple process:
- prepare dishes and hot water, in which the seeds are subsequently soaked for several hours;
- the water is drained and the contents are dried.
- you need to take cheesecloth, fold it in several layers and place it in a saucer. For proper germination, it is important to moisten the fabric, and cover the saucer with a plastic bag;
- every few days (or better every day), it is important to open the bag and ventilate the contents;
- soaking is successful if the gauze is constantly damp, but not wet. It is also forbidden to allow it to dry out;
- it will take only a few days, the pumpkin seeds will sprout, and the shoots will be visible. The plant is now ready to be transplanted into the ground.
These measures (soaking and sprouting) help to increase the rate of ripening of the crop and its quality.
Additional activities
Many people want not only to speed up the germination process by using soaking, but also to make the emerging sprouts more resistant to adverse conditions. To do this, use a solution prepared from wood ash (1 tbsp. L. Diluted in 1 liter of water). Soaking should continue for at least 6 hours.
In addition to folk remedies, there are also special ones that can be purchased at the store.
While the soaking process is taking place, you need to prepare the site. Before planting, it is important to loosen the soil and remove weeds. The soil temperature also plays an important role - it should be at least 15 ° C.
The bed must be loosened and fertilized with organic fertilizing. The hole is made no more than 5 cm deep and placed very carefully one at a time so as not to damage anything. After that, the plant is covered with a substrate and watered with warm water.
Important! If everything goes perfectly, then after 7 days the first shoots appear. At this time, you need to thin out the rows of pumpkin from weak sprouts.
If pumpkin seeds are properly soaked, their germination can be significantly increased. Any of the options stimulates the process of culture development and promotes the emergence of strong, healthy seedlings, from which strong seedlings are formed in the future.
Each gardener selects a germination method based on personal experience. It is important to understand that not everything can work out the first time. Do not give up, because the result of hard work will be a wonderful autumn harvest.