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chilliwin

Seeds Dormancy, Germination and Treatments

chilliwin
10 years ago

Some of you might have known these Info:

"DORMANCY AND GERMINATION
Freshly harvested seeds of Capsicum can exhibit dormancy. It is recommended that an after-ripening period of about 6 weeks is required at room temperature to remove dormancy (Randle and Homna, 1981). However. the authors have taken seed directly from red ripe New Mexican and jalapeno fruits from the field and planted them directly in the greenhouse with excellent success in germination.

When temperature effects were examined with non-dormant seeds. all Capsicum species germinated well when tested over a constant temperature range of 15C and 30C. while C. baccatum non-dormant seeds germinated fully at 10C and l3C (Randle and Homna, 1980). Alternating temperature regimes 15/27C or 15/30C promoted the germination of dormant seeds of C. annuum. C. baccatum, C. chinense, C. frutescens and C. pubescens quite substantially (Gerson and Homna, 1978). The best temperature regime for dormant seeds is 30/15C (16 h/8 h) for 14 days.

It appears that no special requirements for light are necessary for pepper seed germination. Fluorescent light sources used in germination cabinets do not inhibit Capsicum seed germination. However. they do not promote germination either. Therefore. the presence or absence of light is not a factor in Capsicum seed germination.

Peppers have a prolonged germination period and an optimum germination temperature of about 30C. The rate of germination and emergence is markedly reduced at temperatures in the range of 15-20C. Hastening the germination and emergence of pepper seed, especially at suboptimal temperatures, would be of significant value in the production of greenhouse-raised plants. Various seed treatments have been suggested to improve seed germination and seedling emergence in pepper.

SEED TREATMENTS

Successful dormancy-breaking treatments have included potassium nitrate and gibberellic acid (GA3). A solution of 2 gl-1 of potassium nitrate was successful in eliminating dormancy of C. annuum seeds. Seeds are soaked for 4 h before planting. GA3 solutions of 100 ppm and 1000 ppm were also successful in overcoming dormancy (Watkins et aI., 1985). The solutions can be used daily with watering until the seeds germinate.

Treatment of seeds with sodium hypochlorite is a well established procedure to disinfect seeds of pathogen contamination (Goldberg, 1995). Sodium hypochlorite has been reported to promote germination (Fieldhouse and Sasser, 1975). The effect of sodium hypochlorite on seed germination is dependent on seed age, treatment time and temperature (Khah and Passam, 1992). Fresh seeds are more sensitive to the treatment than seed stored for 10 months at ambient temperature. Khah and Passam (1992) recommended that pepper seeds be treated with a 3% solution at 10-25C for up to 20 min. This treatment should surface sterilize the seeds without inhibiting germination."

Source: NMSU

Caelian

This post was edited by chilliwin on Tue, Dec 17, 13 at 8:50

Comments (6)

  • maple_grove_gw
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I remember reading about the bleach treatment to disinfect seeds, and wondering about that. Do folks here do anything similar before germinating your pepper seeds?

    Alex

  • DMForcier
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nope. I will use 3% hydrogen peroxide to keep down the mold and fungus in germination and early in the growing period - doesn't seem to make any difference to the peppers - but you could do very well without anything. Biggest external threat in early life is damping off, which wouldn't be affected by disinfecting the seeds anyway. Just be sure you keep them dry.

    Dennis

  • seysonn
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have taken seed out of the pod which had been dried on the counter for several weeks and have germinated it in 6 days in paper towel. The pod originally was mostly green with a slight hint of turning color.
    The pepper in question was SHISHITO, that I bought some from Asian market for pickling. I have done the same with habanero (store bought) it also germinated in 6 days ... no treatment. I have also germinated seeds from some ornamental fresh pod and has germinated in 6 days.
    I think fresher seeds germinate more readily. I bough some pequin(dry pods in bag, (product of Mexico) from spice section of store and I am trying to germinated. It has been 10 days without any signs of germination YET.

    I think light does not matter. I have seen on You Tube, this lady started seeds by 3 method : (i) in starter mix (2) in paper towel (3) in a glass jar( with a few drops of water ,maybe a tea spoon. stuffed the mouth with some plastic, made into the shape of ball ). The seeds in the jar germinated first, then in the paper towel, then in the starter mix.

  • chilliwin
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Dennis, how would you do that, is it OK to soak the seeds in 3% hydrogen peroxide without any dilution?

    Once I had problems of black fungus on the seeds since then I started to soak the seeds in Camellia tea to prevent fungus. It is very simple and very effective.

    I have two things in my mind about germination, 1, healthy germination and 2, unhealthy germination. Unhealthy germinated seeds have potential problems in the future to the plants, that's I am very much concerned.

    If we would like to grow a lot then it should be very useful to take some preventive measure to grow successfully. The NMSU's guideline of growing chilies is very informative.

    The camellia tea soaked Carolina Reaper seeds are germinated (two seeds):

    {{gwi:1242685}}

    Seysonn, fresh seeds are fast germinated for me too. Pequin is a kind of domesticated wild pepper I think, I heard it takes a bit longer time. I hope it'll be germinated soon, good luck.

    Caelian

  • DMForcier
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The hydrogen peroxide I load into a syringe. Put some into the initial soak. Then use it to add to the moisture of the germinating towel, and inject it directly into the soil in the starter cell. I haven't used it as the 100% wetting agent though I suspect it might work.

    Just in general, don't worry about disinfecting the seeds. Some fungus in the general area of the seed doesn't hurt anything anyway. Just think of the environment that the seed will be growing in - lots and lots of wild bibbits. Plants have immune systems too that were developed over millions of years without our help.

    seysonn, the commercially dried pods were probably heated, killing the germs. I have tried to germinate commercially dried seeds with zero success.

    Dennis

  • chilliwin
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Cleanness/sterile is very important beside heating for germination.

    Our environment has been changed a lot, air pollution, water pollution and soil contamination are today's common problems. So it affects a lot to our plants' life and health too. Many plants are getting extinct due to our environmental changed.

    The reason of good success rate in paper towel is cleanness I consider. Whenever we use sterile seedling soil then the germination rate could be the same as PT and the plants could be healthier.

    Thanks, I stay with camellia tea :-)
    Caelian

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