Cold treatment for kernel germination while fighting fungus

Question

I try to germinate stone fruits often in the fridge, inside a bag of peat moss. When I prepare the peat medium I wet it with rain water, but often the seeds/kernels rotten. I was wondering if I could soak the seeds in 10% bleach solution or even use the same solution to wet the peat moss instead of rain water. Could the bleach at that concentration hurt the germination?

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 22 '20 at 16:22

0

Peat and rain water are not sterile, so anything which can grow at the fridge temperature (including moulds) will do so.

While the seeds/kernels are cold they are dormant, so they don't need water. Try just sealing them "dry" in a plastic bag.

answered Dec 22 '20 at 16:22

alephzero

11,339
1
14
22

1

I believe he is trying to sprout them in the refrigerator. – blacksmith37 Dec 22 '20 at 19:58
Indeed @blacksmith37, I'm trying to germinate seeds that require some cold stratification. – ammoun Jan 09 '21 at 19:57

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered May 21 '21 at 20:27

The amount of water in the sealed bag is critical; very little is needed. Also peat might be a poor choice for the packing material - peat is good at holding quite a lot of water, but what is needed is just a light spritzing which would cover the exterior surface of an inert material like perlite or sand. Using bleach could be counter productive - if it is used make sure to allow the chlorine gas to fully escape before sealing the bag.

Cold treatment for kernel germination while fighting fungus

2 Answers2