Beautiful Scarlet Runner Bean Seeds!
General rule of thumb for summer planting is to start your seeds 6 weeks before the last frost date – eggplant, limas, melons, okra, peppers, pumpkins and tomatoes! Start another round later for succession planting!
When you start them, for your sanity, label your seedlings with their name and date! Additionally, the # of days to germinate helps a lot to track their progress.
Hmph. How hard could it be, soaking seeds?! It isn’t, but it turns out there are lots of options and some specifics for better results!
Whether you only soak your seeds, or go on to presprouting, is your choice. For me, I found once they started sprouting, growth was rapid! At that stage, they can’t dry out or be too wet and rot, so you have to be ready to plant! Also, it is more difficult to very carefully plant sprouted seeds. They are delicate! So if you are at all bull-in-the-China-shop like I am, it may pay to only presoak!
The main arguments for seed soaking are not only for a speedier garden, but also for more complete germination of all seeds planted. You can get germination results in 3 to 4 days, while without pre-soaking it may take 2 weeks of unfavorable germinating conditions, and you may get none. Plus, sprouted seed will grow in soils too cool for germination. YES! Whether you plant directly in the ground, or for those of you planning on using a greenhouse, here is some very useful info on seed soaking!
Soaking seeds, and preSprouting makes a lot of sense. Advantages of seed soaking are you don’t have to water so many days daily until germination, and with some plants that can mean weeks sooner! Your seeds germinate more quickly. PreSprouting, your plants have already germinated and you plant only the good ones! There is no waiting and guessing if you will get any. Add worm castings to your soil for faster germination, improved nutrient uptake and seedling growth rate, to boost immunity and for additional water holding capacity! Be sure your seed is fresh to get a high % of germination! Some seeds are hard, so if you don’t at least presoak, figure on extra days of keeping them moist in the garden before and if they germinate.
PreSoaking is easy. Pop the number of seeds you want to grow, with a few extra for whatever might happen to them, in a cup of warm water, soak overnight. On a raised edge plate, lay them on one side of half a folded paper towel. Lay the other half over and pat dry. Easy peasy! Weather tip: Don’t soak your seeds the night before a rain is expected. Wait for good planting conditions. Rain compacts the soil, making it harder for tiny sprouts to break through, and seeds might be washed away or covered too deeply with soil. Tiny sprouts may be broken if sprouting seeds are shifted in wet soil. After the rain, get your three pronged mini fork and rough up, fluff the soil that got compacted. A finer texture is easier for seedlings to break through.
PreSprouting is devilishly clever! Sprouted seed will grow in soils too cool for germination! You take only the sprouted seed to plant into the garden – that’s a form of 100% germination! Grab a raised edge plate, lay a paper towel on it. Depending on size, spread your seeds out a 1/2 to an inch apart, so there is room for their sprouts. Spritz them with good water. Lay another paper towel over them and dampen it too. Put the plate in a clear plastic bag, tie it, keep moist until they germinate! I don’t use the plastic bag. I like being able to easily peek under the paper towel. Germination time will vary per moisture and ambient temperature where they are kept and what kind of seeds they are.
Just before planting time, put them on a dry paper towel and let them drain if needed. Grab some tweezers and plant very carefully immediately. The sprout is the root, so it goes down. Not to worry if they just plop in the planting hole any which way. They know what to do and will find their way, but the seed itself needs to be at the right planting depth so the little leaves can get up. Since some seeds are tiny, this reduces waste of your seeds, and no time is lost later thinning these tiny plants! If there are failures, presprout immediately again and replant in the empty spaces.
From The Harrowsmith Country Life Book of Garden Secrets, by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent & Diane E. Bilberback, April 1 1991:
The seed coat that surrounds the living seed sometimes does more than just protect it. The seed coats of many plants contain chemicals that inhibit germination of the seeds. This keeps them from germinating too early or when only briefly exposed to moisture. Some gardeners who are interested in rapid germination soak and wash their seeds to get around these germination inhibitors.
Some types of peppers, such as jalapenos, may germinate more rapidly if soaked in a couple of changes of lukewarm water before planting.
Beet and chard seeds also have a germination inhibitor; these strange-looking lumpy “seeds” are not really seeds at all but dried-up fruits of the plant, each of which contains several seeds. (That’s why beets and chard always need to be thinned.) The hard fruit covering contains a germination inhibitor, but if you soak the seed (fruit) overnight, it will absorb too much water, and you will still have poor germination. [An answer at an online thread says: ‘Growing Swiss chard from seed is very easy and germination rates are usually fairly high. You can get your seeds to perform even better, however, by soaking them in water for 15 minutes [in warm water for 10 min] immediately before sowing in rich, loosened, moist soil.’] Seed coats play other important roles in the lives of plants. They regulate how much oxygen, water, and light the seeds receive.
You may have planted beans or corn in soil that was very moist but cool and were dismayed by subsequent poor germination. The seed coats of these crops can allow water to rush into the seeds too quickly, as with beets. This rapid water uptake can damage the tender cell membranes, permanently harming a young seedling so it grows slowly or preventing germination altogether. This process has been termed imbibitional shock, or soaking injury. Soaking injury can occur at any time with some crops, but cold temperatures make it worse. To avoid soaking injury, you can allow the seeds of sensitive crops such as beans, beets, and corn to soak up water gradually before planting them in the garden. This method is called seed moisturization.
One way to do this is to place them in moist vermiculite for eight to sixteen hours before planting. An easier method for most home gardeners is to place damp paper towels on a sheet of wax paper, sprinkle on the seeds you want to hydrate, and roll up the towels with the wax paper on the outside. Leave the seeds inside the paper for eight to sixteen hours at room temperature. Don’t let them sit for more than nineteen hours, or the delicate seedling root may begin to penetrate the seed coat, and you could damage it during planting.
Things to know plucked from the web….
Start with viable seed. Check the date on the seed pack to see when it was packaged for.
TEMPERATURES! It won’t do you a bit of good, for example, to presoak lettuce seeds and expect them to germinate in a soil temp of 87 degrees, as they prefer a cooler temperature. So start your pre-soaked seeds at the temperature and time you generally plant. Pre-soaking just gives you faster performance under normal conditions.
There are huge variations in the length of time people soak their seeds!
- Tomato and Pepper seeds are soaked 6 hours, no more than that because they can suffocate from lack of air.
- …overnight in tepid water. That is water that is warm, but not hot. I make sure that the seeds are covered at least twice their size with water. I don’t add anything to the water, but when planting them, I do water them in with manure tea.
- Soak them for 12 hours in compost tea, then rinse & drain. Rinse & drain each day, keeps the seeds moist until you have roots. With beans, the roots emerge from the scar. Plant the seed end wise, the root pointing down. Plant roots and shoots at the soil surface, the bulk of the seed below the soil mix surface. Keep moist.
- Soaked in tepid well water for six hours. The water was then poured off and the seeds were rinsed a couple times a day with some misting in between. The seeds were planted once they had visible roots.
- 12 hours in water, then drain and leave for 12 hours, then keep repeating the process until they split their skins and start showing a root. It normally only takes 2 or 3 days and then I plant out.
- Bean seeds may split if soaked for more than an hour or two. However, even this short soak will speed up germination
- When legume (peas/beans) seed coats split, the seeds may lose vital nutrients and fall prey to disease fungi when planted. Drain them after they have been submerged for an hour.
- I do think I’ve oversoaked bean and pea seeds in the past, almost to the point where they are falling apart, and that it has weakened them. The soak time would depend on the size of the seed I would think, but never more than a few hours.
- I let them soak ‘til they are big and full, or ‘til they start to sprout a small root. Corn, beans, peas, squash (some) and pumpkins. Then I gently place them in the ground. [Tweezers, please?!]
- OKRA !!!! (48 hours) Or… I presoak my okra seed in 1 pint of warm water containing 1 tablespoon of household bleach to pre-soften the seed for 24 hours before planting. [Okra must vary a LOT! I soaked some less than 12 hours and they had already started sprouting!!!]
- Cucurbita (cukes, luffas, melons, squash) seeds only needs to be soaked to loosen up the shell. Gourd seeds in particular are very tough and some people even scratch the sides of tips (scarify) to make it easier to germinate. I soaked them a little and also wrap them in wet toilet tissue before planting. This will help to keep them moist.
The soaking solution varies…see compost tea, manure tea above. And what about worm tea?!
- Last year I soaked my bean seeds in a kelp solution before planting and they sprouted in about 2 days.
- I would never use bleach in the soaking solution. If you are worried about contamination, try soaking in chamomile tea or 3% hydrogen peroxide instead. If the seed is purchased, I wouldn’t bother.
- Hydrogen peroxide, both in soak and rinse solutions:1 oz. of 3% H²O² to 1 pint of water. Sprouts come up faster. Some people have reported 3/4″ sprouts in 24 hours.
When you plant the seedlings dig the hole and spray it with peroxide. Wet it good and then wet the roots of the seedlings or small plant.
The vegetable that gave me a problem was the cabbage. I was determined to conquer the cabbageworm. Years ago I sprayed the cabbage plants with peroxide to no avail. This year I soaked the cabbage seeds before planting them. There were no signs of the bug until the cabbage plants were almost full grown, then I poured about a quarter of cup of 8% peroxide over the cabbage, letting it flow down into the layers of the leaves. That stopped the cabbage bugs.
Please see more tips… Part 2! Scarifying your seed, how to plant wet seed, better hot weather germination, water tricks! See also Cold Stratification for Some of Your Seeds Important tips about when to plant your seeds: Short Day, Long Day, Day Neutral Plants – Photoperiodism!
Here’s to speedy harvests and healthy eating!
Updated 3.25.23
Love your Mother! Plant bird & pollinator food! Think grey water! Grow organic! Bless you for being such a wonderful Earth Steward!
The Green Bean Connection started as correspondence for the Santa Barbara CA USA Pilgrim Terrace Community Garden. Both of Santa Barbara City’s remaining community gardens are very coastal. During late spring/summer we are often in a fog belt/marine layer most years, locally referred to as the May grays, June glooms and August fogusts. Keep that in mind compared to the microclimate niche where your veggie garden is. Bless you for being such a wonderful Earth Steward!
This post is Useful Because……
Well, I usually write myself but I think this post does justice to the topic……
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Thanks! I’m so delighted it is a useful post for you! I’m a presoak fan, and though it is an exercise in careful physical discipline, I even let a few of them sprout, then ever so carefully plant the little guys! Hugs to you and your garden!
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I soaked my green beans now some split in half is this ok, and to I plant the half too?
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Oh, Amanda, Honey, I think it’s all over. Soaked them a little too long. Try just wrapping your seeds in a damp paper towel only overnight. Beans seeds are acutally quite delicate. Hugs, and don’t give up. Naturally too, some seeds are more delicate than others.
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This is great news. Thank you.
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LOVE your email! Happy planting!
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