Presowing Seed Treatment. Part 4

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Despite the importance of pre-sowing seed treatment, one should not forget that the human biofield is also a rather effective means for activating the seed. So it will be useful to take the seeds in your hands before sowing and hold them a little, giving them a mental setting for excellent growth and a rich harvest

Seed pelleting

This is the name of the enveloping of the seed with nutrient mixtures. Pelleting is quite suitable for any seed, and especially for those with an uneven surface.

The seed, previously soaked in a mullein solution (to which the addition of heteroauxin is allowed), is placed in a glass jar (in a ratio of 1:10). To prepare the nutrient mixture, you need: superphosphate (powder) - 15 g, 100 g of dry mullein, 300 g of humus and 600 g of peat. In small portions, the resulting mixture is gradually added to a jar with seed and everything is shaken well so that the mixture envelops the seeds better. Dragees brought up to 3 - 4 mm in size should be dried, and just before sowing - slightly moistened.

Disinfection of seeds

Disinfection is an excellent obstacle to the spread of various bacterial and fungal diseases. For example, in order to prevent attacks of garlic and onion mites, the seeds are either irradiated with an ultraviolet lamp, or kept in the sun for 2 - 3 days.

Seeds are often disinfected in a 1% solution of potassium permanganate: cucumber seeds are placed in it for 20 minutes, and eggplant, pepper and tomato seeds - for half an hour.

Disinfection of seed is also allowed in a 2% hydrogen peroxide solution - it is carried out for 5 to 10 minutes at a temperature of 45 degrees.

Treating seeds with aloe juice will help protect seeds from bacterial diseases. From an aloe leaf, kept for five days at a temperature of 2 degrees in a dark place, juice is squeezed out, which is subsequently mixed with water in a 1: 1 ratio. The seed is immersed in this solution for 24 hours.

Treatment with a garlic solution will serve well in the fight against vascular bacteriosis of radish, turnip, radish and cabbage seeds. To prepare the salvage solution, 25 g of minced garlic is mixed with 100 ml of water. The seeds are treated with this composition for an hour, and then washed thoroughly and dried thoroughly.

As for viral infections, heating (heat treatment) is more suitable to combat them.

Gluing seeds to tape (sowing on paper)

At the end of the pre-sowing treatment, the seeds are considered ready for sowing. You can make it easier for yourself by sowing them on paper. This technique is good in that it will allow in the future to avoid the need to thin out crops, sow cold-resistant crops at an earlier date, and also to a certain extent reduce the consumption of seeds.

The disinfected full-weight seed, treated with biologically active substances, is glued to paper tapes, which get wet easily. Strips of paste for their subsequent gluing on paper are made from potato or wheat flour, casein or office glue. The seed is laid out on such strips using a match.

Depending on the type of crops, the following distances between the rows are observed: for black onions for greens and spinach - 3 cm and 5 - 8 cm for onions; 2 cm for lettuce and 20 cm for head lettuce; 1 cm - for dill; 13 cm - for winter radish and 6 cm - for summer; for turnips with beetroot - 10 cm; for radishes, parsley and carrots - 5 cm.

In order to quickly cope with the work, it is better to pre-apply small marks on the paper with a pencil in accordance with the required distances. The ribbons with the seeding material pasted on them are dried, and then, after inscribing the names of crops and their varieties, they are carefully folded into loose rolls and tied with threads. Until the moment of sowing, such blanks are stored in dry rooms.