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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] solanum germination problems

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  • From: Etienne Goyer <etienne.goyer AT outlands.ca>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] solanum germination problems
  • Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:34:17 -0500

Road's End Farm wrote:
Are you using home made compost? If it's not finished enough, it might be inhibiting germination; if it didn't get hot enough during the composting process, it might have some organism living in it that is inhibiting germination. (If you're using a purchased compost, check with the manufacturer whether it's recommended for seed starting use.) Oh yes -- was any ingredient of the compost straw or hay from sources that might have applied herbicide to the fields? There's a long lasting herbicide that survives the composting process and has caused problems in potting soil or mulches -- I can't think of the name right now, and don't know whether it got pulled of the market.


That actually happened to me last summer: home-made compost, not very well finished, inhibiting germination. Apparently, a way to test compost for phytotoxicity is to try to germinate cress (Lepidium sativum) in a 50-50 mix of the compost. Cress seeds usually germinate very quickly, but are very sensitive to various phytotoxicity factors. It is a pretty standard test procedure for compost, you can search Google and will get plenty of literature on the procedure.

Another thing to do is a seed germination test. You put a few seeds on a moist paper towel in a ziplock bag, and leave for about 10 days somewhere warm. You then open the bag, and count how many have germinated. If you get less than 50% germination, the seed lot is probably bad. Again, this is pretty standard procedure and well documented; check, for example:
http://gardening.wsu.edu/library/vege004/vege004.htm

Cheers,

Etienne




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