Making Seed Sowing Easy
Saturday, April 13, 2013 @ 3:45 AM
If you start your own plants from seed, you may have experienced how frustrating it can be to handle small sized seeds such as lettuce, carrots etc. The seeds are tiny and irregularly shaped, making it hard to space the seeds when sowing them. This results in having to thin and space the young seedlings later.
These hard to handle seeds have been made easier to plant as some companies are pelleting the seeds.
Pelleted seeds are larger, rounder and more uniform, so that it is easier to plant them. A pelleted seed, is a seed that is coated with an inert material/s such as diatomaceous earth which makes the seed larger and even shaped.
Diatomaceous earth is all natural, made up of fossilized hard shelled algae and is also used as a natural insecticide in the garden. Seeds are pelleted by placing the seeds in a tumbler along with the coating material and then moisture is added so the coating material adheres to the seed. When the process is done, the pelleted seeds are dried. The coating material is often coloured with a natural food colouring making the seed very easy to see.
The pelleted seeds are planted the same way as you would plant any seed following the planting directions given on the seed package. For the best success, it is important to keep the soil moist during the germination process as the water will dissolve the pelleted coating, giving the seed oxygen for germination. If the soil is allowed to go dry the seed will not receive enough moisture and the germination can be hampered.
Pelleted seeds can also be primed. .jpg)
Priming seeds, speeds up the germination process and improves germination vigour of the seeds. The seed has been pre-germinated by exposing it to water, allowing it to start to swell, and then it is pelleted which stops the germination, until the seed is planted. Priming the seed does not harm the seed as it is safe and natural. The disadvantage to a primed seed is that they must be planted for the season it was packaged. Primed seeds can not be stored from one season to the next.
‘Livingston Seeds’ is a seed company that has a good selection of pelleted and primed seeds called “Sow Easy” ( photo at right, courtesy Livingston Seeds). You can choose from vegetables, flowers and herbs. The packaging is also nice on Livingston seeds as each package has good information including how many seeds per package, on it and the package has a clear, see through window allowing the consumer to see the seeds. The pelleted seeds come in bright colours making it easy to plant them in the soil as they are very visible.
Over the past few years we have used some pelleted seeds at home in the garden. They have worked very well. It is easier to plant them, and the plants are evenly spaced, which saves time and seed as we don’t have to go back and thin out the plants that are too close to each other.
-Jos
Jos Van Hage owns and operates two Art Knapp Home and Garden Centres in Prince George:
· Highway 16 West at Kimball Road
· Highway 97 north at Northwood Pulpmill Road.
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