I TESTED Fermenting Seeds Before Germinating Them - here's what happened!
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- Опубликовано: 13 янв 2025
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Welcome back to the Mind & Soil Test Garden! Does fermenting seeds before planting actually improve their germination rates? It's a technique I've seen online by many gardeners but I've wondered, how big of a difference does it actually make?
To get to the bottom of this question, I fermented 4 different types of seeds: Strawberries, Cucumbers, Peppers, and Tomatoes and then started all 4 sets versus seeds that had simply been dried on the paper towel. A few weeks later I had the results, and there were 2 things that really surprised me! Hope you enjoy today's video and subscribe so you don't miss any gardening experiments through the season!
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Cucumbers if I'm not mistaken need to be fully ripe, turned yellow, for viable seed, however, allowing a cucumber to fully ripen will send a signal to the plant that it is time to die. So you'd have to sacrifice a cucumber plant to get viable seed.
Also, I noticed that the pepper plants grown from the fermented seed did appear slightly bigger and more evenly developed than the unfermented ones.
We do cucumber farming and harvest our own seeds.
You have to leave a cucumber to ripe fully , the cucumber turn yellow and bulky , when the skin of ripe cucumber feels woody( like bark )
That's the right time to harvest it for seeds.
You put in A LOT of work for this video ….well done !!!
Your cucumber wasn't ripe (turned yellow), so maybe the seeds weren't viable yet. Similarly, planting seeds from a green pepper (the unripened stage) may not work either.
That is my understanding … I save my cucumber seeds every year with success. But I use a ripe yellow cucumber …. And it takes forever for that to happen.
This is exactly what I was thinking. I only save seeds from yellow overripe cucumbers. Can’t believe he didn’t know this.
Agree, to get viable seeds the vegetable needs to be overripe.
Agreed 💯. Seeds from young cucumber will not grow
You have to use a cucumber that is overgrown and turning yellow.
Great experiment! I don't ferment tomato or pepper seeds. With tomatoes, I do an apple cider vinegar wash to take off the gelatinous parts and then dry them on a paper plate or towel. And I just scrape the seeds out of a pepper and dry them the same way as the tomatoes. Been working for years for me. 👍🏾👍🏾
Thanks for doing this. I have been wondering about this method.
what i've seen on the channel i follow the most for gardening, is that fermenting the seeds would extend the conservation time of your seeds, they said that they once tried 12 y o fermented tomato seeds and they germinated well. That is the main reason to ferment them imo.
also i found this googling some studies about this topic : "Seed germination and vigor were better when fermentation was conducted in anaerobic, darkness, and at low temperature."
I enjoy your garden experiments very much, Thanks.
I watched a lady on RUclips, sorry I don't remember her name. She is into the science aspect of gardening. She said floating seeds have trapped air under them, and are still visible. Don't throw out your floating seeds people 😊
Thanks again, looking forward to seeing more of you interesting videos.
@Fulkersons I just saw that video! It's Gardening in Canada. Her name is Ashley :).
Very interesting experiment, didn't know about fermentation for seeds. I'd like to grow beets indoors, my preference is for hydroponic. Maybe an idea for an experiment. Right now I am growing french fingerling potatoes in a tub with perlite and cococoir mix watered with hydroponic nutrients and water. So far results are encouraging. Good 3 week old growth.
Interesting experiment. I was taught to simply dry tomato seeds on a paper towel after wiping off most of the coating (rinse in a strainer as you demonstrate , then wipe the gooiest bits on paper towel, shifting the relatively cleans ones to a new paper towel). I store that in a plastic bag or jar in a cupboard and, anecdotally, I get approximately 90% germination on year old seeds. I plan to do the same with hot pepper seeds this year as they are expensive!
Exactly which hot pepper seed are you referring to, habanero or cayenne?
Where do you buy you hot pepper seeds?
Can you provide a link to the store?
M&S: Normally I don't comment on these experiments, but I am compelled with this video: 1. I never liked the 'usual' fermentation method just because I hate to see/handle that fungi foam floating on top. Some people cut slices of tomatoes on paper towel and let them dry then store. But I prefer to store them cleaned. So, I put a whole bunch of seeds, any seeds, in a strainer, and run them under tap water, at the same time, rubbing them gently with my fingers to break the gelatinous sacs. I do this for several minutes until all the sac shells are washed away and I am left with just clean seeds. I lay them on a towel to dry completely. With squash seeds there is still a paper-thin coating. When that is dry, I also remove those coatings. 2. Then I visually examine each seed. With squash seeds it is easy. With tomatoes /peppers/cukes it's a bit harder, but I still examine them one by one, by eye and by feel, and I SELECT the biggest, plumpest, and heaviest ones. In this process it's easy to see some seeds are 'empty' or immature. They are not viable. (In my opinion the seeds that floated on top of your fermented seeds are of less quality thus poor germination rate.) I put them in a clean container or envelope. I go through the remainder seeds again and select the next best ones. They are useful as backups in case I need to start more seeds. Then I store them in a dry/cool environment. 3. I prefer to germinate seeds using the coffee filter method. Very reliable. Usually I get 100% germination and really fast. Instead of the usual 7-10 days, they germinate in 2-3 days. Or instead of the usual 10-14 days, they might germinate in 5-7 days. This is my standard method for all seeds with gelatinous coatings.
Now let me comment on your cuke seeds: This is a wild guess, but quite plausible. When I collect cuke seeds, I select 1 or 2 cukes and let them mature on the vine until they are yellow. After harvesting the cuke I still let it sit on the counter for several weeks. If the cuke is rotting, I process the seeds. But the cuke can be kept on the counter for a long time. Purpose: to let the seeds inside get fully mature. When you harvest a cuke that is tender, all the seeds are immature, and not viable for germination. I am not sure what kind of cuke you used, whether heirloom or hybrid, etc.. There are so many types out there. I am not sure if that had any effect on germination.
Very informative comment, thank you for sharing!
coffee filter germination? is that the same as folding into a damp paper towel?
@@NaughtiusMaximu5 Yes. Much cheaper, seed roots don't get caught in paper. More efficient.
Thanks so much. Great video. Appreciate the time and effort you put into your videos. I have learned something from every one of your video's. Keep them coming.
I love these experiments. Hi from Australia.
This is an awesome seed experiment 🤩 TFS!
Store bought vegetables are sometimes irradiated to give a viable shelf life so to speak.
ORGANIC home grown is the ultimate in fresh produce...
(Why I subscribed!)
I've been fermenting tomato seeds for a long time. I found it by accident because I left the old tomato in some water to avoid attracting gnats into the kitchen.
Straining and placing on strips of kitchen paper was just a no brainer.
Awesome video...
AWESOME CHANNEL!
Cheers 💜👍
Universal Sovereign Citizen
Woah some of your best work so far! Much appreciated friend. K but whats with the floaters they arent leggy like the others. Didnt grow as much or just grew more sturdy?
I noticed that as well! I'm not 100% sure to be honest. I actually wouldn't be surprised if they just took an extra 2-3 days to germinate and are actually growing very similarly but are just a few days behind. But yeah, that's a 100% guess on my end!
Thanks a million for the kind words and if you or any of your gardening friends ever are needing my support with your garden then check out GROUNDED - think you might like it :). Here's where you can check it out: mindandsoil.com/pages/grounded
@MindandSoil ok maybe just a bit behind the others 🤔. Would you let me know if they fall over in 2-3 days like the others ? Grounded I'll check it out!
Some of the floaters may not have been true floaters. They may have been floating simply because they still had the gelatinous material attached to them causing them to float. Without the gelatinous material attached, they probably would have sunk.
You are def accurate w the Cucumber seeds. You have to let the fruit over mature, they will get very large and turn yellow or brown. This will halt all production on that particular vine (as all gardeners know).
I would like to see if there is a difference in the health and vitality of the plants over the whole growing season.
Would love to see an experiment on the influence of electroculture on wide variety of vegetable crops.
Dig the channel bro good luck to you!
Fermenting tomato seeds prevents some of tomato diseases.
I guess it could be worth doing with crops that already have a low germination rate? Like some of the mint that I had last year. Need a ton of seeds to get enough.
What about if Group A: seeds are dried vs Group 2: seeds are 'fermented' then dried and then store seeds for several months, then test germination rate? (if fermentation washes away some coating, maybe that negatively impacts viability of seeds stored over time)
I tried both for the first time last year and haven't done any germination test yet... But what I am curious about is if they got over fermented. 🙈 I tend to forget about them snd several yars have been standing for like two weeks 😂 Gonna test them and see how they turned out. 😂
Gracias por la traducción en español.
I've always let mine overripe just a little bit while the fruit is still on the vine then take the seeds out and dry or plant them. 🌱🌱🌱
All gelatinous seed coatings start fermenting immediately upon contact with the appropriate soil bacteria that will later be taken in by the roots of the plant and enzyme digested for their nutrients.
Don't add the juice and pulp from the fruit to the water jar, Use chlorine free water, and gently shake the jar daily to prevent the mold and help dissolve the seed gel.
Never put the the drying seeds on paper towel, they could stick. Use a paper plate or plastic or glass.
You should collect seeds from overgrown or yellow cukes, same goes for all the seed donors.
Variant of your cucumber was it a hybrid seed ?
Cucumbers do best when they are fully ripe (green isnt ripe) let one or 2 Go to yellow at the end of the season. Thats important cos cucumber's stop growing fruit when they start getting ripe yellow ones on the vine. You'll also get more seeds in a cuke that way if you sAve seeds at the end of the season a couple of them should be plenty to keep your line going next year
Take seeds from a ripe fully cucumber/ soak seeds in water helps / temperature of 20°C is to low for cucumbers , try 25 to 30°C
I think that gelatin protects the seeds (for longer storage).
If they were parthenocarpic cucumbers then the seeds wouldn't be viable anyway... but I don't know if parthenocarpic varieties actually produce significant seed numbers for your experiment, since I've never grown them. Seems like them not being mature enough is not unlikely... in fact I think you're supposed to harvest seeds from the big, blown out, over mature cukes, now that I think about it. Haven't saved my own cucumber seeds yet, as I'm just looking to get into seed saving and hopefully creating some local land races.
1. Cucumber needs to ripen more, Yellow and Fibrous
2. Fermentation can lead fungal infection in seeds
3. Not all Floater seeds are bad
4. Soaking seeds overnight works best
to collect cucumber seeds the cucumber must turn yellow before harvesting... this of course will tell the cucumber vine to die as it did it job in finally making seeds.
Estás tomando en cuenta sola la germinación, habría que ver cómo se comportan en el desarrollo, fructificación producción y sabor
For seeds saving cucumber must be a bit over ripe let it turn yellow and then the seeds will be mature
Green cucumbers are unripe and immature and therefore the seeds are immature. You need yellow or ripe cucumbers.
Interesting video. When you try to concentrate on what is said , the background music is so annoying however ...
Have you8 tried onion seed?
I tried it, i fermented tomatoes seeds for about 5 days then it started sprouting
Your cucumber wasn't ripe. When I save cucumber seeds I let one or two cucumbers get big and turn yellow. They usually will be a couple pounds when they turn yellow. Then I'll harvest the seeds and I've never had a problem. I started out with heirloom straight 8's and have been using seeds I saved for probably 7 or 8 years now.
I'd like to watch this video, but the music is too annoying 😢 Makes it hard to listen to you. And with earphones your voice only comes through on one side.
Why don't you just clip the end of the seed to allow the dirt and water in?
At least to me the pepper seedlings from the ferment looked bigger and healthier......
Fermenting the seeds is like a little bit of bokashi. They are the same bacteria......
cucumber not ripe, only ripe cucumber produce good seed , wait until cucumber turn color to brownish orange
Bro are doing silly things with the unripened cucumber seeds, the cucumbers seeds only fully DNA encoded when it getting ripened