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Growing from Seed

pelleted seeds not dissolving?

Elizabeth White

17 years ago

My pelleted begoina seeds still have visible yellow from their pellets, even though they have to be pretty darn wet in their moist soil covered in plastic. In past years I have carefully misted each pellet until it disappeared. Now I'm wondering if it's necessary. Not that it's a lot of work to mist each one, but I'm just curious. I realize that they need light to germinate, so I wonder if any of the pellet stuff would prevent light reaching the seed. Or perhaps the seed itself isn't really moist enough. I've got several other begonia seeds that were not in pellets, perhaps I'll compare...

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Comments (5)

rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
17 years ago
I suspect that you aren't keeping the pellets moist enough. They should be misted with warmish water several times a day and you will soon see the pellet begin to break up. At that point, misting won't be so critical.

The pellet material is permeable and water will be absorbed into it, causing it to swell and crumble.

I've also covered my flats after sowing so that the jungle like humidity was enough to cause them to break down.
karyn1
17 years ago
My pelleted lisianthus germinated with some of the coating still on the seeds. They look like tiny yellow balls rising up from the soil. Once the leaves start unfurling the treated seed coat drops off.
Karyn
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Is the clay coating (or inert materials) generally ok to be considered "organic". What coating would not meet this requirement (to be organic.) If you are a certified organic grower - the only instance where it would matter - then you'd have to contact your local certification agent to double check. But in most states yes, pelleted seed are approved for organic certification. While there are some fungicide-treated/coated seeds that are not approved for certified organic growers to use, that is quite different from pelleted seeds. I can't think of any pelletized seed coating that wouldn't be considered "organic". The issue is not the coating but if your particular state approves their use for certified growers. Dave
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I beg to differ. Some of my pelleted petunias came up with the coating still sitting in a perfect ball on top of their seed leaves. With 100% germination, they are now about 3" by 3" seedlings and doing quite well. I just mositened the soil and dropped them on top (no top watering or misting). In 3-4 days they all had germinated, still with evidence of the coating on them. I did have them covered so the humidity helped, but the coating was still there after germination. This also worked on my begonias and impatients. Keriann~
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I am new to flower propagation of any sort--my habit has been vegetables, so this flower thing is new to me. As such, I decided to try my hand at begonias from seed (got some pelleted seeds from a fantastic seller on ebay--there, now I'm on topic!), but have read some pretty scary stories about how difficult they are to grow from seed--damping off, never germinating and/or rotting, or taking as much as 60 days(!!!) to germinate. As such, I didn't start them in peat pots due to some of the research I did, but I do have them just on top of some moist seed starting mix and a seedling mat, which keeps the temp right at 80 during the day and about 75 at night. I have read that 80 is the top of the temp range... I have tried venting the top of the mini greenhouse by turning it a bit sideways during the day, and the temp does seem to come down a bit, but I am concerned that it will dry out too fast. In wanting to avoid killing them with tap-water chlorine, I have "boiled & cooled" some tap water and am misting with that daily to keep the top of the soil moist. The pellets haven't even dissolved yet, though. Any advice on what I can do differently, besides give it some more time? It's only been a couple of days, but patience is a virtue I am still learning. I only planted about half of the seeds, but I am starting to think that I should probably not expect any begonia blooms in my garden this year unless I locate some tubers somewhere...
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The "clay", for want of something to call it, that is avaible has so much salt or "alkali" or boron or something that precious little will grow in or near it. Local stuff is out. I once got refered to a lipidary shop on line but they would never answer the question "Do you have dry red clay?" Does anyone have any links?
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petunia2
17 years ago
Karyn,
What conditions did you use to germinate your lisianthus? Obviously you didn't cover with soil...but what type of light, temperature? How long did they take?
gardenfanatic2003
17 years ago
Elizabeth -

Did your begonias ever germinate? I've got some pelleted begonias that have gone for 2 weeks without germinating, so I was wondering what ever happened with yours.

Deanna
prairie_northrose (3b north of Calgary AB, Canada)
5 years ago
Hello, I know this is an old thread, but I'm bringing this up as I have the same issue with coated / pelleted seeds not dissolving.

They are the BIG begonias from Stokes. I've had them planted in cell packs for three days now, and the coating is clearly still visible. I've now been using a dropper to drop water directly on the coating, as well as keeping the cell packs in a zip lock bag.

Has anyone else had this happen & what were your results? I planted pelleted petunias and other coated seeds last year and they dissolved immediately.

I too hear begonias need light to germinate...

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