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Old 06-06-2009, 07:40 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Ophelia[_4_] Ophelia[_4_] is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Apr 2009
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Default Seeds taking too long to germinate?

Jeff Layman wrote:
Ophelia wrote:
Dave Hill wrote:
On 5 June, 19:56, "alan.holmes" wrote:
Why is it, that practically all the seeds I have sown this year
have either failed to germinate, or taken several weeks to show
themselves?

It is very annoying.

Alan

A lot of seeds are temperature sensitive, whilst most people realise
that seeds wont germinate if they are to cold, the same goes if they
are to hot, and all seeds have differeny temp. ranges.
You may well find that now it is cooling down then they may decide
to start moving.
David Hill


Much easier for me. I don't know when they are supposed to appear,
so I just wait and not worry)

Not sure what I would do if they didn't appear at all)


Keep waiting. If you have some seeds of unusual species, then don't
throw away the pots of seeds for at least 3 years. Some seeds have
double dormancy, which means they need at least 2 winters to go
through before they will germinate. Others have very persistent
germination inhibitors or very thick seed coats, which need a long
time to break down. It's all to do with nature making sure that some
seeds hang around a while before germinating, thus ensuring some
survive while those that germinated quickly may perish.


Oh my!! Thanks, Jeff! That is very interesting.

As always, your advice will be saved for future reference,