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Rick: Here is the tutorial on seed germination. I have a number of pages for SAAD Farms that have not yet been installed, but will work on it to provide an archive.

I have a box of germinating trays, heat mats, light timer, Captan (fungicide), seed transfer spoon, and whatever else I find to send to you for your tasks ahead. I really suspect I will be back there before you will need to start transferring seeds to the peat pots.

To get started with the seeds, you will need to soak them in water at room temperature for 36-48hrs. It would be good if you had some way to keep them in motion for the soaking to simulate the seeds being tumbled down a stream bed (a rock polishing machine would be good).

When you first put the seeds into the water bath a number of the seeds will float. these should be removed and discarded. A small screen kitchen strainer works well for this, especially if you use a wide mouth jar for the soaking. When you remove the seeds from the water bath spread about 250 per pre prepared tray. I generally saturate the toweling top and bottom and then pour off the excess, separate the layers and spray lightly both sides of the toweling with Captan [the solution in the spray bottle is right], spread the seeds and then lightly spray the top of the seeds with Captan. Cover the seeds with the toweling. The towel should be pretty wet in the beginning and kept moist. Put foil over the top of the germination tray and place in a black bag. You can stack the trays until the embryonic roots start to appear. If you remove the germinating seeds as the roots appear it would be OK to continue to stack the trays.

When the embryonic root appears (1/4 inch or so is good), transplant the seedling with the chemical spoon to the peat pot that has been pre-poked with about a 3/8inch depression with the rootlet down into the open space. Gently use the chemical spoon to push the peat material in around the root and seedling.

I like to keep the cover on the peat pot tray to hold the moisture. Until the top growth starts I like to keep the pots moist. It would be a good idea before and after you transplant a seedling to a peat pot that the pot get a light spray of Captan.

Once the seedlings reach 6-8 inches they can be put outside in the shade if the night temperatures are not too low. I would suggest that if the seedlings are 8-10 inches or more they be transplanted to the larger pots. We need to talk about this phase when we get together. I really don't think you want to haul 1000 or more 2.5gal pots to Inyokern.

01_Setup germination tray                                                   05_Germinating Seeds                         09_Growing seedlings
02_Germination Tray                                                            06_Seed coat                                         10_GermTraysCover
03_12-25 days embryonic root                                              07_Keep surface damp                        11_Bench Top
04_Bench setup                                                                     08_Seedlings
                                                       

Germination tray with presoaked seeds spread out, sprayed with Captan and ready to be
covered with soaked toweling and foil and/or placed in dark plastic bag.
Seeds should be kept at 78-88 degrees to facilitate germination.

I like to mark each day with toothpicks to keep track of rate of germination.

Actually the transplants from the germination tray took about

12-25 days to show the embryonic root.