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A few years ago, I worked as a seed broker at a wholesale seed company, I loved almost every minute of it. Every winter we verified germination rates from every lot of every seed variety in the warehouse. We counted out 100 seeds from every lot and tested them in petri dishes, it was basically the paper towel method in sterile conditions. If we attained the minimum germination rate within time set by the State for each seed variety, they would pass and we could confidently sell the seed, otherwise that lot would be thrown out. Some seed pass rates were shockingly low. This is why I am drawn to your video's and especially this one. I am wondering what the certified germ rate of that lettuce was, it appears you were stuck with bad seed to begin with.
@@jamesduncan3673 So for one, the dude in the video saying "lettuce" doesn't mean anything does it? He didn't say what kind. Did he give the growing temp? There isn't a single temp that's good for what he planted. If you set the temp at a VERY specific range of 72 - 74F that would be good for the cooler weather lettuce and the other seeds should still grow, but for the warm weather plants they really want something in the range of 75 - 78F In other words without information about the test and specific types, I don't know WHAT to make of this test. The TLDR: The test is meaningless without knowing the growing characteristics of the lettuce or for that matter any other plant, so the OP and your statement are meaningless. Also, the test results are meaningless without knowing ALL the data about how the plants were grown. Did he have lights over the plants? If so something like lettuce planted very shallow or dropped on the surface can dry out quickly which means a TOTALLY different watering scheme would need to be used. For instance I would bottom water for the pots with seeds 1" and deeper, and I would top water more often anything near the surface and if the room is fairly warm AND you have lighting over the pots then you may need to water 2X/day for anything on the surface, or at least the smallest seeds like lettuce. Since the OP is about germination using paper towels, I'll give data that I believe CLEARLY shows this: With a paper towel method that I've devised for controlled temps or more specifically in a certain range, I have sprouted LOTS of lettuce seed. The variety is probably somewhere between 15 - 20 types of lettuce. I do this with some plants. For the most part I soak seeds for a certain time period and then plant in 1020 trays, typically 72 cell trays. It's only seeds that have given me problems sprouting that I put into paper towels, and while I don't have an issue with some lettuce, other varieties are more difficult. Here is what I find. I'm going to use the term "rooting" because I want to pull the lot of seed once lettuce gets to where 50% have put out the root because if you wait much longer some lettuce will start to put out their main shoot pretty quickly and if you wait that long to plant, you can get a weak base since part of it will be buried as it's too time consuming to make a tiny hole and try to thread a root down into it. So this is the general rule, around 50% rooting and then I plant that lettuce type. Next, each lettuce type is in its own bag. HOWEVER, if seeds take 3+ days to root, then I give them one more day in the paper towel once they get to around 50% rooted. I find these are the slowest sprouting types and will take longer to put out the main shoot. Next, I use two half sheets of paper towel, both folded in half. I stack the two. The bottom one is simply to hold water. This makes it easier to have water in the bag but the seed isn't saturated which would basically do the same thing as soaking the seeds in water which for some seeds will drown them. The top paper towel is of course folded in half, with the seeds in the middle. It's not exactly in half because I want the top layer of the towel to be easy to grab, so the bottom half is a little longer than the top half. Next, because any type of lettuce will sprout easily in the temp range of 60 - 70F but different types will shut down 75F and above, I keep the temp in the range of 60 - 70F. The avg. is probably around 64 - 65F. Next, they get indirect light. Not a lot, but enough to match what different growers and seed companies say which is lettuce needs to receive light. I haven't bothered testing what happens in complete darkness because I don't need to and what I do is INCREDIBLY effective. Next, I check them the first time at 36 hours because my experience is that's when the first seeds have not only put out root but I have at least 50% rooting and if I wait any longer they will have put out their main shoot. It only takes 24 hours for some, or at least 50% of the types I grow to start rooting. After each time I check, if they go bag I dry the inside of the bag with a paper towel and then give a few squirts of hydrogen peroxide and rub the bag around to make sure the entire inside of the bag got hydrogen peroxide on it at some point. I then run cold water through the paper towel stack to flush out the water that was there, and this is refrigerated, distilled water. I then mist the top and bottom of the paper towel stack with hydrogen peroxide and then put back into the plastic bag and back into the controlled environment. After this 36 hour check, I then check at 24 hour periods. If I feel something isn't quite ready but I think 24 hours is too long to wait I'll plant that after another 12 - 16 hours. I have very high success rate at not only germination by doing this but getting plants to grow in a 72 cell 1020 tray and then transferring them out to the garden. So the point is, this system works well. I typically have 75 - 80% sprouting in 3 days from the trays planted with the seeds that rooted in 36 hours, and around 100% in 4 days. Add on a day or two for the seeds I remove on the 2nd check, but then for seeds that are in paper towels for 4 - 5 days which is the longest I leave lettuce seed, it's spotty. The reason why the test is flawed is there are WAY too many variables he didn't eliminate or if he did, didn't explain how. The reason that both the OP and your statement have no validity is without knowing exact procedures for this test you can't derive anything. Different lettuces have different needs, different growth rates including time for sprouting, and without knowing all the details about the type of lettuce and the growing conditions used it's too hard to say anything about what happened and unlike both your statements, I'd be more inclined to say he introduced a problem or multiple problems into the test, and I find that likely because he mixed cool/cold weather plants with warm weather plants into a single test, and you can't treat deeply planted seeds the same way as shallow/surface planting.
@@johndoh5182 Sorry, that's a nonsense comment. He has already admitted we learned nothing from the lettuce, so we do not need to be told again & again as if it were a new thought. Trying to cast doubt on the whole thing based on the lettuce failure is incorrect. Plenty to learn to here on the other seed. Casting doubt based on vague unknowns is also weak logic and just fails. Sowing doubt through pedantry is really just a claim to say one imagines themself smarter than everyone else, but in this case there is a complete failure to articulate those doubts into specifically how the test could be meaningless as claimed. Since growing conditions were identical for each depth, and they do show successful germinations, there is certainly plenty to be learned like he says about opening up the range of depths to larger than is commonly taught. All other unknown factors are irrelevant since successes were achieved, showing that it is possible.
Love this experiment. Sometime in the future, you might want to do the same experiment and wash away the material on the roots. I would be interesting in seeing what the roots look like. What we see on top of the ground is not always the whole story.
Fascinating! I tend to think that the deeper you plant the seed (within reason), the more energy it has to use to reach the surface, which in turn would strengthen the stem and give you a sturdier seedling.
If you just surface sow you will get earlier sprouting and can start to build up the soil around the stem for more rooting surface area on tomatoes so the plant will get bigger earlier and produce fruiting longer for the season
This was a really good experiment! I've been gardening for over 20yrs and learned something new! The peas and squash were very interesting. Planting them deeper when direct sowing would be good to keep critters from attacking them outright. Planting tomatoes deeper is a good thing for root development. Too bad the lettuce seeds were bad - that would have been cool to watch the progress for them. Overall, this was one of many good videos you're done! 👍🏾👍🏾
What a great experiment. I would have liked to see the root development at the end to see if the deeper seeds had better root development, especially in the squash and cucumbers that were ready to put into the ground.
This is huge!!! I always fuss and worry about depth at planting - THANK YOU!! I do think the peas did so good at deeper because they were cooler down there🤔
I don't normally comment on anything on the internet but I have to say, I love your channel. New to your channel as of today but quickly becoming my favorite content creator in this space. I can nerd out on some Charles Dowding content but your content is engaging, thought provoking, methodical and down right fun to consume. So thanks man. Looking forward to indulging the rest of your videos. Cheers.
With carrots you definitely want to sprinkle sow and keep very moist. I usually cover with cardboard and wet it. Check daily and as soon as you see a few start germinating remove cardboard and continue keeping them moist
Thanks for this helpful test. Love your other test as well, and I have changed some of my methods accordingly. Really helpful and much appreciated. Kind regards from the Netherlands
That was a great experiment! Planting at those deeper depths will stop the soil from drying out at the roots. I'll for sure be planting my Peas,Tomatoes, Squash and Cucumbers at 2 " this year
It would have been helpful to know the suggested planting depth from the seed packet, as well as the estimated # of days for germination stated on the packet.
I absolutely enjoyed this experiment. I have been gardening for years and I love learning from other gardeners. I can't wait to see what you do next. New subscriber.
What was the environment they were in when you waited for seedlings? Were they outdoors or in a greenhouse? Was it dry or humid? What was the ambient temperature? Thanks for this extremely helpful experiment!
Why would the results shock you? It's common knowledge. The bigger the seed, the deeper you sow it. Beans can be sown 5 cm deep with 15 cm of mulch over it. The size of the seed is proportionnal to the energy stores inside to grow through deep soil. So stuff like basil or bee balm is surface sown.
The arugula looked like they were growing as well but further behind at the deeper depth. An extra inch of soil may count as say a week delay. If you were planting in early spring you might try seeing if this gives them time to develop roots before braving the surface and the hazards there. Frost, moisture, mulch can all be variables. Slugs. I suggested in another comment that squashes in the wild might germinate inside the fruit, and I have found theses fruits sometimes, full of seedlings growing in the remains. Look at how an untended plant spreads its seeds (although it has a strategy of over production and high losses).
Thanks for the test. My take is generally smaller seeds need planted with metric system measurements. Larger seeds use imperialistic measuring system.😊
I would be curious to see you experiment over the course of a season on how seed depth would affect tomatoes. When transplanting tomato plants into the garden I was always taught to bury it deep because anywhere the stem touched dirt it would produce more roots. What if you germinated the seeds at the deeper depth of 2-3" and buried the transplant deep when placing in their permanent location? Would the plants have even more healthy roots than ones grown at the traditional centimeter deep germination depth?
Ah thank you so much for these words! It honestly means a ton to me you taking the time to share that, appreciate you and stay tuned for the next exciting video coming out this weekend!!
Interesting results - especially the snap peas. I would like to see the root development on all those seedlings, i.e. do the seedlings planted deeper in the soil have more roots, or are those roots the same mass as the shallow planted seeds, but they're deeper in soil so can support the plant better?
planting deeper helps to pull the husk of the seed off because the soil provides resistance and moisture. if you plant too shallow, it ends up drying and hardening around the seedling more easily.
Ive literally dug up seeds that had germinated several inches under soil. Tomatoes for one. Also had passionfruit grow despite having given up on them and reused composted and mixed their soil up for other plants
Great experiment especially at those deep depths. I always go by twice the depth of the widest part of the seed. This season, I will go deeper on Peas and Squash.
Think about it: have you ever left a pumpkin or swish lying in the garden over winter? I think their seeds do well germinating in a decaying squash carcass, or spilling out of one that animals trampled or opened. The fruit is a seed pod. California poppies fling their seeds as soon as they are dry and wait for rain, but many seeds come in fruit containers that it seems like makes them delay germination. I don’t know if it is darkness or temperature or nutrients that the fruit provides (and it causes animals to spread the seed when eaten), but a squash or watermelon develops a tough shell that can survive into spring.
Thank you for this excellent video! as a 1st time viewer of your channel, (and already a subscriber 👍), I find the conclusions from this experiment to be very valuable. And don't worry about the lettuce failing to germinate, any one of us can experiment specifically with lettuce if we think it's necessary ;) If I may make a small suggestion: Since some seeds will germinate "next year", and some of them might be bad to begin with, you may want to go with a bit more than 5 seeds per test category. One of five seeds is 20%, which makes for a big difference in our results if one or two don't germinate during the experiment itself. As @AlanHiatt mentioned, a sample size of 100 seeds is a good number... but even 50 or 20 would be better than 5. As long as you keep all the other parameters equal throughout the experiment, (water, lighting, etc...), you should be ok. Thanks again, and keep up the good work :) 🌱
The tomatoes were a surprise, pushing through so much mix. When direct seeding you have to consider how loose the soil is and how fast it dries. I will be planting deeper when direct seeding.
Try chilling the lettuce seeds over night in your fridge first. I've had to do that several times to get them to do their thing. Also on top on the soil or with a very thin layer covering them and use glow lights to get them to germinate. The guy from No-Till Growers Podcast did a video showing how he does lettuce. He does up a tray of seeds and puts them over night into the fridge and then the next day under grow lights or into his greenhouse.
You don't have to chill lettuce seeds, and I don't think that's what Jessie from No-Till Growers did. He keeps the starts chilled. Various lettuce will shut down in the germination process if temps get above 75F but will easily handle low temps though it slows lettuce germination. I can easily sprout lettuce that has very little soil on it by keeping temps in the 60 - 70F range which that won't slow lettuce one bit. However that temp range is a bit cool for some of the warm temp plants he used. That suggests to me he was at a temp range that was good for the warm temp plants because of the speed at which they germinated and had a lot of growth in 1 week. He didn't name the type of lettuce he used anywhere near the beginning and there's a pretty large variation in temps and time to germinate, but almost any if not any kind will handle germination in the 60 - 70F range, and this means soil temp. There are WAY too many things that could have gone wrong with his mixing warm temp crops with cool/cold temp crops along with small vs. large seeds. An example, if he watered all the pots the same way. Lettuce seeds are small, and being planted on the surface could have dried out if he had lights hitting it. I mean that's a take of a broadcasting of seed type of planting if you simply lay seed on the surface in a pot, right? So, did he water it 1 - 2X/day depending on the light/heat conditions? Broadcasting seed isn't a good growing method. I didn't get past the 6 minute mark because I was mulling over all the things that could go wrong with this test and since he didn't explain how he was going to mitigate the probably 5 - 6 different problems he was going to introduce into this test, the results are useless to me.
Planting a little deeper help to avoid drying out the seeds. This especially a thing in a less controlled environent. Directly out in the garden it also makes a difference with the temperature: deeper can be colder and this way slow germination additionally.
wow great video thank yu i dontt have to try myself. i was wondering if deeper meant stronger plants but learning from the the small the seed the smaller depth. thanks.
My takeaway, 1 to 2 knuckles deep will do for pretty much anything that doesn't require light to germinate. Definitely interesting about the peas, though!
Getting back to original hypothesis that shallowest seeds are planted shallower and deeper seeds deeper, in addition to the great termination you got from the large seeds Is it reasonable to think the reason the seeds are large is they need more seed energy to get through more soil to the surface while also putting down an appropriate amount of roots to balance the plant? A fast growing tall plant like peas and squash needs a good root structure. So while they will germinate it apparently almost any depth, it probably remains true that the directions on the seed packet are accurate.
I don't like using heat pads. I put a small space heater in my seed starting area and keep it around 75F/23C. That has given me the best results for germination and growth!
@@MindandSoilso you can't expect your results for 2"and 3" depths to be valid for planting seeds in the actual ground since the ground temperature is much colder than your room.
You have to think in terms of nature, it doesn't matter that much the depth overall because in nature that's entirely random depending weather, incline, rain, wind. If seeds were that choosy we wouldn't have plants. I think you'll find temperature changes and stuff like that have a far greater result, freezing them before germination etc will produce a far more interesting study. Tomatoes will always grow, they are a naturally wild plant with weed genetics and they will grow in any conditions you give them to grow in.
I started strawberry from seed for the first time last year. The instructions were to not bury them, so I buried a few and all the rest were on the surface of the starting soil. None of the buried ones germinated, and all the surface ones germinated and produced healthy plants.
I think my compost experience also proves that tomatoes and squash can be quite deep and still sprout. Also, both tomatoes and squash will sprout inside of the fruit.
In 2005, scientists planted a 2,000-year-old date palm seed that germinated. On the other hand carrot seeds can be disappointing. Try soaking overnight with a pinch of sugar/cinnamon before planting. Much higher germination rate on low germination rate seeds.
Thanks! Such dedication. You don't mention other variables in your experiment. What were the light conditions for the lettuce seeds? As I'm sure you know, they require light to germinate and most of the others do not. How about soil temperature?
mind you that some plant seeds need light to germinate "light germinators". In my experience on average seeds should be planted the double of the seeds hight. Execp for the light germinators such as lattice, celery, basil, shives,rucula, carrot,..
This was a great experiment, but you didn't account for one variable. Seed germination for each type is dependent on temperature also. Lettuce germinates best at around 70 while the others are up 75-80. At the higher temperatures, lettuce is much more likely to dry out (similar to carrots and herbs). Ultimately it comes down to two things... staying moist vs the seed having enough energy for the plant to make it to the surface. You want to plant seeds as deep as possible so the moisture stays consistent, but not so deep that small seeds don't have enough energy to get to the surface. That is the basic premise behind the whole ' plant stuff twice as deep as the seed is big'... which is a really good basic guide. Finally, just a technical point. Germination is the point where the seed 'hatches'... So for things like the Arugula at 3 inches... The arugula did germinate, it just ran out of energy before it could get to the surface. The big takeaway for me is that I can go much deeper with tomatoes than I thought I could. The stem that is below the surface will develop roots, and make the plant much more drought resistant at 2-3 inches than a tomato planted at 1/2 inch.
Don’t your seeds come with planting depth recommendations in US or Canada? Makes life pretty easy. That information comes on packets in Australia or you can just google if you’re swapping seeds.
Happy Saturday y'all!! I would LOVE to help you have your best gardening season ever. Click here to join GROUNDED and let's make this an amazing season! 2ly.link/1xWPX
A few years ago, I worked as a seed broker at a wholesale seed company, I loved almost every minute of it. Every winter we verified germination rates from every lot of every seed variety in the warehouse. We counted out 100 seeds from every lot and tested them in petri dishes, it was basically the paper towel method in sterile conditions. If we attained the minimum germination rate within time set by the State for each seed variety, they would pass and we could confidently sell the seed, otherwise that lot would be thrown out. Some seed pass rates were shockingly low. This is why I am drawn to your video's and especially this one. I am wondering what the certified germ rate of that lettuce was, it appears you were stuck with bad seed to begin with.
@@jamesduncan3673 So for one, the dude in the video saying "lettuce" doesn't mean anything does it? He didn't say what kind. Did he give the growing temp? There isn't a single temp that's good for what he planted. If you set the temp at a VERY specific range of 72 - 74F that would be good for the cooler weather lettuce and the other seeds should still grow, but for the warm weather plants they really want something in the range of 75 - 78F
In other words without information about the test and specific types, I don't know WHAT to make of this test.
The TLDR: The test is meaningless without knowing the growing characteristics of the lettuce or for that matter any other plant, so the OP and your statement are meaningless. Also, the test results are meaningless without knowing ALL the data about how the plants were grown. Did he have lights over the plants? If so something like lettuce planted very shallow or dropped on the surface can dry out quickly which means a TOTALLY different watering scheme would need to be used. For instance I would bottom water for the pots with seeds 1" and deeper, and I would top water more often anything near the surface and if the room is fairly warm AND you have lighting over the pots then you may need to water 2X/day for anything on the surface, or at least the smallest seeds like lettuce.
Since the OP is about germination using paper towels, I'll give data that I believe CLEARLY shows this:
With a paper towel method that I've devised for controlled temps or more specifically in a certain range, I have sprouted LOTS of lettuce seed. The variety is probably somewhere between 15 - 20 types of lettuce.
I do this with some plants. For the most part I soak seeds for a certain time period and then plant in 1020 trays, typically 72 cell trays. It's only seeds that have given me problems sprouting that I put into paper towels, and while I don't have an issue with some lettuce, other varieties are more difficult.
Here is what I find. I'm going to use the term "rooting" because I want to pull the lot of seed once lettuce gets to where 50% have put out the root because if you wait much longer some lettuce will start to put out their main shoot pretty quickly and if you wait that long to plant, you can get a weak base since part of it will be buried as it's too time consuming to make a tiny hole and try to thread a root down into it. So this is the general rule, around 50% rooting and then I plant that lettuce type. Next, each lettuce type is in its own bag. HOWEVER, if seeds take 3+ days to root, then I give them one more day in the paper towel once they get to around 50% rooted. I find these are the slowest sprouting types and will take longer to put out the main shoot.
Next, I use two half sheets of paper towel, both folded in half. I stack the two. The bottom one is simply to hold water. This makes it easier to have water in the bag but the seed isn't saturated which would basically do the same thing as soaking the seeds in water which for some seeds will drown them. The top paper towel is of course folded in half, with the seeds in the middle. It's not exactly in half because I want the top layer of the towel to be easy to grab, so the bottom half is a little longer than the top half.
Next, because any type of lettuce will sprout easily in the temp range of 60 - 70F but different types will shut down 75F and above, I keep the temp in the range of 60 - 70F. The avg. is probably around 64 - 65F.
Next, they get indirect light. Not a lot, but enough to match what different growers and seed companies say which is lettuce needs to receive light. I haven't bothered testing what happens in complete darkness because I don't need to and what I do is INCREDIBLY effective.
Next, I check them the first time at 36 hours because my experience is that's when the first seeds have not only put out root but I have at least 50% rooting and if I wait any longer they will have put out their main shoot. It only takes 24 hours for some, or at least 50% of the types I grow to start rooting. After each time I check, if they go bag I dry the inside of the bag with a paper towel and then give a few squirts of hydrogen peroxide and rub the bag around to make sure the entire inside of the bag got hydrogen peroxide on it at some point. I then run cold water through the paper towel stack to flush out the water that was there, and this is refrigerated, distilled water. I then mist the top and bottom of the paper towel stack with hydrogen peroxide and then put back into the plastic bag and back into the controlled environment. After this 36 hour check, I then check at 24 hour periods. If I feel something isn't quite ready but I think 24 hours is too long to wait I'll plant that after another 12 - 16 hours.
I have very high success rate at not only germination by doing this but getting plants to grow in a 72 cell 1020 tray and then transferring them out to the garden. So the point is, this system works well. I typically have 75 - 80% sprouting in 3 days from the trays planted with the seeds that rooted in 36 hours, and around 100% in 4 days. Add on a day or two for the seeds I remove on the 2nd check, but then for seeds that are in paper towels for 4 - 5 days which is the longest I leave lettuce seed, it's spotty.
The reason why the test is flawed is there are WAY too many variables he didn't eliminate or if he did, didn't explain how. The reason that both the OP and your statement have no validity is without knowing exact procedures for this test you can't derive anything. Different lettuces have different needs, different growth rates including time for sprouting, and without knowing all the details about the type of lettuce and the growing conditions used it's too hard to say anything about what happened and unlike both your statements, I'd be more inclined to say he introduced a problem or multiple problems into the test, and I find that likely because he mixed cool/cold weather plants with warm weather plants into a single test, and you can't treat deeply planted seeds the same way as shallow/surface planting.
Wow!!@@johndoh5182
@@johndoh5182 Sorry, that's a nonsense comment. He has already admitted we learned nothing from the lettuce, so we do not need to be told again & again as if it were a new thought. Trying to cast doubt on the whole thing based on the lettuce failure is incorrect. Plenty to learn to here on the other seed. Casting doubt based on vague unknowns is also weak logic and just fails. Sowing doubt through pedantry is really just a claim to say one imagines themself smarter than everyone else, but in this case there is a complete failure to articulate those doubts into specifically how the test could be meaningless as claimed. Since growing conditions were identical for each depth, and they do show successful germinations, there is certainly plenty to be learned like he says about opening up the range of depths to larger than is commonly taught. All other unknown factors are irrelevant since successes were achieved, showing that it is possible.
Love this experiment. Sometime in the future, you might want to do the same experiment and wash away the material on the roots. I would be interesting in seeing what the roots look like. What we see on top of the ground is not always the whole story.
@@johndoh5182
Make a video
Besides depth, you must also consider light requirements, and temperature. For instance, lettuce requires cool temps below 70F, and light.
Fascinating! I tend to think that the deeper you plant the seed (within reason), the more energy it has to use to reach the surface, which in turn would strengthen the stem and give you a sturdier seedling.
If you just surface sow you will get earlier sprouting and can start to build up the soil around the stem for more rooting surface area on tomatoes so the plant will get bigger earlier and produce fruiting longer for the season
This was a really good experiment! I've been gardening for over 20yrs and learned something new! The peas and squash were very interesting. Planting them deeper when direct sowing would be good to keep critters from attacking them outright. Planting tomatoes deeper is a good thing for root development. Too bad the lettuce seeds were bad - that would have been cool to watch the progress for them. Overall, this was one of many good videos you're done! 👍🏾👍🏾
Thrilled to hear that!! THx so much!
What a great experiment. I would have liked to see the root development at the end to see if the deeper seeds had better root development, especially in the squash and cucumbers that were ready to put into the ground.
I love your tests so I didn't hesitate to watch it! ❤
Thanks so much!! 🙌🏻🙏🏻
Great little vid. Id like to see this again but with a final showing of the root base 🤷🏽👍🏾
Oh that's a really cool idea!! Thx for that, may incorporate that into some future videos!!
This is huge!!! I always fuss and worry about depth at planting - THANK YOU!! I do think the peas did so good at deeper because they were cooler down there🤔
Same here! Very happy to no longer have that angst! Haha
Absolutely some surprising results. Great experiment 😊
Life will find a way 🌱
I am loving your experiments. I am new to your channel, so glad I found you. Thank you for sharing.
Thrilled to have you!!
I don't normally comment on anything on the internet but I have to say, I love your channel. New to your channel as of today but quickly becoming my favorite content creator in this space. I can nerd out on some Charles Dowding content but your content is engaging, thought provoking, methodical and down right fun to consume. So thanks man. Looking forward to indulging the rest of your videos. Cheers.
Great test. Thank you.
Would love to see a similar test for root veggies, especially carrots 🥕
Yeah!! I think I will do another version of this experiment but directly down into the beds!
@@MindandSoil some root crop like carrot may need cooler Temps so may not sprout with heat mat
With carrots you definitely want to sprinkle sow and keep very moist. I usually cover with cardboard and wet it. Check daily and as soon as you see a few start germinating remove cardboard and continue keeping them moist
fantastic discovery! now we know we can plant a bit deep and don't need tow worry about that.
Absolutely! Might not seem like a huge deal but definitely something I know I worried about quite a bit!
Great follow through on this whole experiment. I'm definitely going to be planting some of my seeds a little deeper
Thx so much!!
I just love your experiments... sooooo helpful. Thanks so much and keep up the good work!
Thrilled to hear it Katrina! If you're ever interested in joining GROUNDED just let me know!
Thanks for this helpful test. Love your other test as well, and I have changed some of my methods accordingly. Really helpful and much appreciated. Kind regards from the Netherlands
Thanks so much Patrick! Appreciate your kind words!
That was a great experiment! Planting at those deeper depths will stop the soil from drying out at the roots. I'll for sure be planting my Peas,Tomatoes, Squash and Cucumbers at 2 " this year
Thx so much!!
This vid was verry interesting to watch. Thank you!
Thx so much!!
It would have been helpful to know the suggested planting depth from the seed packet, as well as the estimated # of days for germination stated on the packet.
Fascinating! Thank you.
Thx so much!!
I absolutely enjoyed this experiment. I have been gardening for years and I love learning from other gardeners. I can't wait to see what you do next. New subscriber.
So glad to have you Carolyn!!
19:28 that's awesome, pretty much my takeaway also. Thanks for sharing ☺️
My pleasure Zane, glad you enjoyed it!
Great experiment and so helpful to see the results! You're a great teacher!!
What was the environment they were in when you waited for seedlings? Were they outdoors or in a greenhouse? Was it dry or humid? What was the ambient temperature? Thanks for this extremely helpful experiment!
Why would the results shock you? It's common knowledge. The bigger the seed, the deeper you sow it. Beans can be sown 5 cm deep with 15 cm of mulch over it. The size of the seed is proportionnal to the energy stores inside to grow through deep soil. So stuff like basil or bee balm is surface sown.
I think it would be way more accurate, if you do 2-3 pots with 5 seeds for one thing to measure and then take the average of that.
The arugula looked like they were growing as well but further behind at the deeper depth. An extra inch of soil may count as say a week delay. If you were planting in early spring you might try seeing if this gives them time to develop roots before braving the surface and the hazards there. Frost, moisture, mulch can all be variables. Slugs. I suggested in another comment that squashes in the wild might germinate inside the fruit, and I have found theses fruits sometimes, full of seedlings growing in the remains. Look at how an untended plant spreads its seeds (although it has a strategy of over production and high losses).
Great video! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much!!
Thanks for the test. My take is generally smaller seeds need planted with metric system measurements. Larger seeds use imperialistic measuring system.😊
Haha yup!
OOOOHHHH! I love this!!!
Quite fascinating. I LOVE having data-based results to challenge my preconceptions. Thx Jordan!
Really great test. Looking forward for other experiments you are conducting 😁
Thx so much James!!
Love that you do all the hard work for us. Appreciate your work.❤
That's what I'm here for! 😉 Glad you enjoyed!
You took all my worries away. Love this channel.
Thx so much!! Thrilled to have ya!
I would be curious to see you experiment over the course of a season on how seed depth would affect tomatoes. When transplanting tomato plants into the garden I was always taught to bury it deep because anywhere the stem touched dirt it would produce more roots. What if you germinated the seeds at the deeper depth of 2-3" and buried the transplant deep when placing in their permanent location? Would the plants have even more healthy roots than ones grown at the traditional centimeter deep germination depth?
This experiment was VERY helpful. TY
THrilled to hear it!
Love your videos. Ive learned a lot from you. Very surprised by the results. Thanks.
Ah thank you so much for these words! It honestly means a ton to me you taking the time to share that, appreciate you and stay tuned for the next exciting video coming out this weekend!!
Interesting results - especially the snap peas. I would like to see the root development on all those seedlings, i.e. do the seedlings planted deeper in the soil have more roots, or are those roots the same mass as the shallow planted seeds, but they're deeper in soil so can support the plant better?
It's good to keep trying things to see what works best!
100%, always learning!
planting deeper helps to pull the husk of the seed off because the soil provides resistance and moisture.
if you plant too shallow, it ends up drying and hardening around the seedling more easily.
this experiment videos are amazing
Appreciate you Nicolas! Stay toooooned for the next one this coming weekend!
So instructive, thank you Jordan.
Thx so much!! Appreciate you! Got another great one coming out next weekend! 🥳
I always enjoy your experiments. Thank you for sharing what you find.
Love experimenting like this, thanks!
Ive literally dug up seeds that had germinated several inches under soil. Tomatoes for one. Also had passionfruit grow despite having given up on them and reused composted and mixed their soil up for other plants
Love these experiments, nice work!
Thx so much!! Appreciate you! Got another great one coming out next weekend! 🥳
I’d be interested to see what the roots look like on each of the experiments that you did.
Great experiment especially at those deep depths. I always go by twice the depth of the widest part of the seed. This season, I will go deeper on Peas and Squash.
Fabulous experiment! 👍💐❤️
Think about it: have you ever left a pumpkin or swish lying in the garden over winter? I think their seeds do well germinating in a decaying squash carcass, or spilling out of one that animals trampled or opened. The fruit is a seed pod. California poppies fling their seeds as soon as they are dry and wait for rain, but many seeds come in fruit containers that it seems like makes them delay germination. I don’t know if it is darkness or temperature or nutrients that the fruit provides (and it causes animals to spread the seed when eaten), but a squash or watermelon develops a tough shell that can survive into spring.
Love experiments!
Good stuff. Love your handle.
Awesome experiment; very informative!
Thanks so much for watching!! 🥳
Thank you for this excellent video! as a 1st time viewer of your channel, (and already a subscriber 👍), I find the conclusions from this experiment to be very valuable.
And don't worry about the lettuce failing to germinate, any one of us can experiment specifically with lettuce if we think it's necessary ;)
If I may make a small suggestion: Since some seeds will germinate "next year", and some of them might be bad to begin with, you may want to go with a bit more than 5 seeds per test category.
One of five seeds is 20%, which makes for a big difference in our results if one or two don't germinate during the experiment itself.
As @AlanHiatt mentioned, a sample size of 100 seeds is a good number... but even 50 or 20 would be better than 5.
As long as you keep all the other parameters equal throughout the experiment, (water, lighting, etc...), you should be ok.
Thanks again, and keep up the good work :)
🌱
The tomatoes were a surprise, pushing through so much mix. When direct seeding you have to consider how loose the soil is and how fast it dries. I will be planting deeper when direct seeding.
Yeah definitely was a surprise!!
lettuce requires light to germinate. What light regime did you have them in?
Enjoyed your video, with no doubt that you’re Canadian, as you are hopping fluently between metric and Imperial measurements without even thinking.
Hahaha spot on 🤣 I think it can cause a little unnecessary confusion but alas!
Thank you so much.. I know nothing so I’m learning..
Try chilling the lettuce seeds over night in your fridge first. I've had to do that several times to get them to do their thing. Also on top on the soil or with a very thin layer covering them and use glow lights to get them to germinate. The guy from No-Till Growers Podcast did a video showing how he does lettuce. He does up a tray of seeds and puts them over night into the fridge and then the next day under grow lights or into his greenhouse.
You don't have to chill lettuce seeds, and I don't think that's what Jessie from No-Till Growers did. He keeps the starts chilled.
Various lettuce will shut down in the germination process if temps get above 75F but will easily handle low temps though it slows lettuce germination. I can easily sprout lettuce that has very little soil on it by keeping temps in the 60 - 70F range which that won't slow lettuce one bit. However that temp range is a bit cool for some of the warm temp plants he used. That suggests to me he was at a temp range that was good for the warm temp plants because of the speed at which they germinated and had a lot of growth in 1 week.
He didn't name the type of lettuce he used anywhere near the beginning and there's a pretty large variation in temps and time to germinate, but almost any if not any kind will handle germination in the 60 - 70F range, and this means soil temp.
There are WAY too many things that could have gone wrong with his mixing warm temp crops with cool/cold temp crops along with small vs. large seeds. An example, if he watered all the pots the same way. Lettuce seeds are small, and being planted on the surface could have dried out if he had lights hitting it. I mean that's a take of a broadcasting of seed type of planting if you simply lay seed on the surface in a pot, right? So, did he water it 1 - 2X/day depending on the light/heat conditions? Broadcasting seed isn't a good growing method.
I didn't get past the 6 minute mark because I was mulling over all the things that could go wrong with this test and since he didn't explain how he was going to mitigate the probably 5 - 6 different problems he was going to introduce into this test, the results are useless to me.
Interesting. Thanks
Thx so much!!
Planting a little deeper help to avoid drying out the seeds. This especially a thing in a less controlled environent. Directly out in the garden it also makes a difference with the temperature: deeper can be colder and this way slow germination additionally.
I'd like to see a similar experiment using daylight only - greenhouse/window ledge perhaps.
Thank you! Well done
I love the real life experiments
Good info.
Nice , mixing-inches and centimetres. Always helpful
I'm a medical scientist, so love to see science used in other areas. I look forward to your next experiment.
Appreciate that, always so fun to see how science applies to everyday things!
wow great video thank yu i dontt have to try myself. i was wondering if deeper meant stronger plants but learning from the the small the seed the smaller depth. thanks.
cool!!!
Thx so much!
My takeaway, 1 to 2 knuckles deep will do for pretty much anything that doesn't require light to germinate. Definitely interesting about the peas, though!
Getting back to original hypothesis that shallowest seeds are planted shallower and deeper seeds deeper, in addition to the great termination you got from the large seeds Is it reasonable to think the reason the seeds are large is they need more seed energy to get through more soil to the surface while also putting down an appropriate amount of roots to balance the plant? A fast growing tall plant like peas and squash needs a good root structure. So while they will germinate it apparently almost any depth, it probably remains true that the directions on the seed packet are accurate.
The Lettuce surprised me.
Did you use light or heat pads?
I don't like using heat pads. I put a small space heater in my seed starting area and keep it around 75F/23C. That has given me the best results for germination and growth!
@@MindandSoilso you can't expect your results for 2"and 3" depths to be valid for planting seeds in the actual ground since the ground temperature is much colder than your room.
You have to think in terms of nature, it doesn't matter that much the depth overall because in nature that's entirely random depending weather, incline, rain, wind. If seeds were that choosy we wouldn't have plants. I think you'll find temperature changes and stuff like that have a far greater result, freezing them before germination etc will produce a far more interesting study. Tomatoes will always grow, they are a naturally wild plant with weed genetics and they will grow in any conditions you give them to grow in.
I started strawberry from seed for the first time last year. The instructions were to not bury them, so I buried a few and all the rest were on the surface of the starting soil. None of the buried ones germinated, and all the surface ones germinated and produced healthy plants.
I think my compost experience also proves that tomatoes and squash can be quite deep and still sprout. Also, both tomatoes and squash will sprout inside of the fruit.
Hey I have an experiment idea for you. I know you did straw vs bare soil but what about straw vs wood chips?
In 2005, scientists planted a 2,000-year-old date palm seed that germinated. On the other hand carrot seeds can be disappointing. Try soaking overnight with a pinch of sugar/cinnamon before planting. Much higher germination rate on low germination rate seeds.
Thanks! Such dedication. You don't mention other variables in your experiment. What were the light conditions for the lettuce seeds? As I'm sure you know, they require light to germinate and most of the others do not. How about soil temperature?
Were they on a heat mat? That's going to effect heat by depth and kills the small seeds too
Best depth is the size of the seed. Small seeds will be shallow, large seeds will be deeper
mind you that some plant seeds need light to germinate "light germinators".
In my experience on average seeds should be planted the double of the seeds hight. Execp for the light germinators such as lattice, celery, basil, shives,rucula, carrot,..
@@johancornelis3719 Do you believe he doesn't know this information already?
I wonder what the roots look like at the different levels...
Testing works better than just having a theory.
Some seeds need light, others need no light, some need low temperatures, others higher. All optimal conditions should be met.
I don't know🙄 I usually germinate seeds in tissue or paper towels and pick those that germinates better
Great experiment, but one crucial thing is missing - soil temperatures. Soil temp makes a HUUUGE difference.
Peas are pushers!
The Hopi plant their corn 12-18” deep
This was a great experiment, but you didn't account for one variable. Seed germination for each type is dependent on temperature also. Lettuce germinates best at around 70 while the others are up 75-80. At the higher temperatures, lettuce is much more likely to dry out (similar to carrots and herbs).
Ultimately it comes down to two things... staying moist vs the seed having enough energy for the plant to make it to the surface. You want to plant seeds as deep as possible so the moisture stays consistent, but not so deep that small seeds don't have enough energy to get to the surface. That is the basic premise behind the whole ' plant stuff twice as deep as the seed is big'... which is a really good basic guide.
Finally, just a technical point. Germination is the point where the seed 'hatches'... So for things like the Arugula at 3 inches... The arugula did germinate, it just ran out of energy before it could get to the surface.
The big takeaway for me is that I can go much deeper with tomatoes than I thought I could. The stem that is below the surface will develop roots, and make the plant much more drought resistant at 2-3 inches than a tomato planted at 1/2 inch.
Great thoughts/points and thanks tons for the words!
Maybe try light to darkness
Wonder what expression you make for something important/serious! Just plants! Relax!
I swear arugula germinates on dry aluminum foil. 😅
Hahahah amazing. Almost worth doing an experiment on just that 🤣
Never wondered since the depth is on every single package. Lol
So what you're saying is, Don't ever buy lettuce seeds" lol
Hahaha. I started some since then successfully. I think that pack was just a bit old!
Don’t your seeds come with planting depth recommendations in US or Canada? Makes life pretty easy. That information comes on packets in Australia or you can just google if you’re swapping seeds.
Great experiment. Be even better if we could see it. 👀 Turn on some lights please. 🙄
Thx so much!
Doesn't lettuce only START to germinate at 7 days?