Article 417 of triangle.gardens:
Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!acpub.duke.edu!pdrh
From: pdrh@acpub.duke.edu (Peter Doyle Higgins)
Newsgroups: triangle.gardens
Subject: seed starting by presprouting
Date: 2 Apr 1994 12:59:08 GMT
Organization: Duke University; Durham, NC; USA
Lines: 24
Sender: pdrh@acpub.duke.edu
Distribution: triangle
Message-ID: <2njq6s$im8@news.duke.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: raphael.acpub.duke.edu
Keywords: seeds, germination, presprouting


I'm experimenting with presprouting, a method I read about in *Square Foot
Gardening*, by Mel Bartholomew.  So far, I seem to be having excellent success.
The idea is that it is difficult to put seeds directly into the ground and
maintain the appropriate temperature and moisture to achieve germination,
yet many plants' root systems don't tolerate transplanting very well. This
method is supposed to produce maximum germination under controlled conditions
before transferring sprouts to the ground.
	You start by wetting a paper towel and wringing it out to dampness,
then folding it to a size that will fit into your ziplock bag. Slide the paper
towel into the bag, spread your seeds on top of it, seal the bag ad put it in a
warm place - top of a refrigerator or a hot water heater. On my hot water
heater, I'm getting 90-100% germination, and I've just moved these sprouts to
the outdoors, where I've spaced them for their eventual size (no thinning)
three seed widths below the surface in some moist seed starting mix.
According to Mel, these sprouts should push through to the surface in just a
few days, and be off and running.  
	I've always hated low germination rates and thinning perfectly good
plants - what a waste of seed! This seems to be an excellent solution. As
Mel would say (it really is a good book to get from the library), why use 
high volume commercial methods for your low volume home garden?
	I just hope we've seen our last frost - last night, April 1 in Durham,
we saw Frosty again!



