Plumeria Q & A by Florida Colors NurseryHow do you soak Plumeria seeds?
Why Soak Plumeria Seeds before Planting?
Soaking seeds before planting is an old-time gardener’s trick that many new gardeners are not aware of. When you soak seeds before planting, you can test the viability and significantly decrease the amount of time it takes for a seed to germinate.
Reasons for Soaking Plumeria SeedsWhat happens to plumeria seeds when you soak them? Why should you soak plumeria seeds?
In the wild, a seed can expect to encounter harsh heat and cold, very wet or dry conditions and may even need to survive. Plumeria seeds have developed over millions of years with defenses to survive awful conditions. But in your modern day garden, a plumeria seed is pampered. Soaking seeds before planting helps you to break down the seed’s natural defenses against what it expects from Mother Nature, which then allows it to germinate faster.
Another reason is that while Mother Nature actively assaults seeds, she also gave those seeds an internal gauge to help them know when they should grow. For most seeds, moisture levels play a big role in alerting a seed to optimal grow times. By soaking the seeds, you can quickly boost the moisture content around the seeds, which signals to the seed that it is now safe to grow.
And lastly, soaking a plumeria is a good way to test the viability. If the seed plumps up after several hours you know it is a good chance that it is still viable. In nature with natural rainfall, this process can take some time. But when you soak your seeds, this process is sped up and only take a few hours or overnight.
Seed soaking, at a basic level needs two things: seeds and water.
Some methods for seed soaking may substitute the water for a solutions with Super Thrive or B1. The addition of vitamins to the solution are meant to enhance the germination process and give the seed a stronger start. But these solutions are not necessary in most cases. For most seeds, water will work just fine.
Take a small bowl and fill it with water from your tap, as hot as your tap will allow.
Once your bowl is filled with hot water, place your seeds inside the bowl, then allow the seeds to stay in the water as it cools down. Common questions at this point include “How long should seeds be soaked?” and “Can you over soak seeds?” Yes, you can over soak seeds. Too much soaking in water and a seed will drown. It is recommended that you only soak most seeds for 8 to 12 hours and no more than 18 hours. The seeds of some species of plants can survive longer soakings, but you should only do this if the specific instructions for this species recommend so.
There are things you can do to improve how well your seeds react to soaking. Large seeds or seeds with particularly hard coats can benefit from scarification before soaking. Scarification means to damage the seed coat in some way so that the water is better able to penetrate the seed. Scarification can be done through several methods. These include rubbing the seed on fine grain sand paper or nicking the seed coat with a knife.
After soaking your seeds, they can be planted as directed. The benefit of soaking seeds before planting is that your germination time will be reduced and you can see which one are most likely to germinate, which means you can have happy, growing plants faster.
