In article ,
says...

I'm a newbie, every year I try to do better, but I seem to be getting
worse.

Some newbie, you've been posting here for at least a decade, always
about your alder-hybridisation efforts :-)



I used to sterilise the seeds by putting them in bleach for 30 minutes
and then washing them really well. They germinated, and grew two
cotyledons + 1 "miniature" leaf, then died. Overtaken by infection in
the soil? I thought so.

So this year I also sterilised the soil by heating it in plastic bowls
for 5 minutes in a microwave. It smouldered. I let the soil cool
overnight and wetted it really well, and put my seeds on and sprinkled
vermiculite on them and they grew to the 2 cotyledon stage, and I
thought "aha, success" and then they died.

What am I doing wrong? I thought I was doing super-good by sterilisng
the soil by microwwave. Is this wrong?

The pots are 8 cms diameter, weighed about 150 gms with fresh soil, when
wetted, 250 gms, and hardly lost weight over the period. I kept them at
30 degrees for 16 hours and 20 overnight.

I once used to grow seeds without trouble! What am I doing wrong?

Michael

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Alders don't want sterile compost; they need natural soil which
contains alder-friendly bacteria. Mature alders are growing in
the right stuff.

I used to use some soil from underneath mature alders; be sure to
scrape off some of the nitrogen nodules you'll see on the roots and
include them in the compost.

Janet.

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