Technique question...

[TimN]

I planted some seeds yesterday and it brought up a couple of issues. I'd like to get some best practices from the experienced growers.

Issue 1 - after soaking the seeds, how do you then get them to the soil? I had a couple of species where I could just pour the water off, dump the seeds into my hand and put them where I wanted them. Most, however, we tiny and I had a hard time coaxing them out of the cup into the soil. I was thinking of using an eyedropper, but couldn't find one. Most of the stuff I've read mentions sprinkling seeds, which would work great if the seeds weren't wet.

This all assumes that the soaking the seed is a valuable and necessary step. If there isn't any soaking, I think I can manage. When they are wet and floating/sinking in water, not so much....

Suggestions? Experiences?

I'll leave the queries at that for now.

Thanks,

Tim

[peterb]

Hi Tim- Various large scale commercial growers and hobbyists basically just remove the seed from the fruit, let it dry and then store it or sow it fresh. Many cactus fruits are annoyingly sticky and full of mucilaginous, aggravating goop.

I've only soaked Opuntia, Agave and Yucca seeds and those are easy to handle wet or dry. Most seed is sown dry a couple months or more after having been removed from the fruit and cleaned (either mechanically by rolling it around or by rinsing).

Gathering small wet seeds from a rinse seems to go okay by pouring the water and seeds out onto paper towels and letting the mess dry.

peterb

[hob]

small seeds seem to be ok without soaking, i never soak mine

[iann]

I haven't seen any benefits from soaking cactus seed, so I don't do it. Some of the very large ones do need some encouragement to get water through tough seed coats, but soaking for a few hours doesn't seem to cut it. Of course anything you might want to soak is going to be big enough to handle very easily.

One handy technique for getting microscopic mesemb seeds out of a wet capsule is to extract them onto a paper towel. Shortly afterwards they will be dry enough to handle easily.

[Loph]

i dont soak either, but i do use water to help clean away the flesh form teh seed when picking the fruits (ie hylocereus)

[Chicago Cactus]

Hi, I don't soak my seeds anymore also. I tried some experiments with soaking or not soaking a few months ago and the better results were with not soaking. Opuntias on the other hand...

[Buck Hemenway]

We use a cheese shaker, like the one you see in the pizza restaurant. We put a little coarse sand in the shaker, add the seed we are sewing and just shake it out into the sewing area. Works like a charm and you can use the seed wet or dry as long as you stir them up well in the shaker with the sand.

[TimN]

I'm so glad I asked this question. I should have asked it before I soaked all my seeds. DOH!

The cheese shaker idea seems to have merit for both wet or dry seeds.

Thanks all.

Tim