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

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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On Fri, 16 Mar 2018 10:12:32 +0000, Michael Bell wrote:

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

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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First thing, have you tried growing them without sterilising them or the
soil?

Growing to the two cotyledon stage then dying suggests that they are
living on the energy stored in the seed but failing to gain nutrients from
the soil, either due to poor root formation or poor soil. Or both.

In real life the seeds will germinate without being sterilised and in soil
that hasn't been sterilised. This should be your baseline before trying
other ways.

Cheers



Dave R


--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

On Friday, March 16, 2018 at 11:54:53 AM UTC, David wrote:
On Fri, 16 Mar 2018 10:12:32 +0000, Michael Bell wrote:

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

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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First thing, have you tried growing them without sterilising them or the
soil?

Growing to the two cotyledon stage then dying suggests that they are
living on the energy stored in the seed but failing to gain nutrients from
the soil, either due to poor root formation or poor soil. Or both.

In real life the seeds will germinate without being sterilised and in soil
that hasn't been sterilised. This should be your baseline before trying
other ways.

Cheers



Dave R


--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

If in doubt about the soil, start them in vermiculite or perlite?

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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I kept them at 30 degrees for 16 hours and 20 overnight.

Why? At what time of year do alder seedlings naturally germinate and
grow in the uk? What temperature is it normally at that time of year?

You've been trying this for a long time, so you must have found this
page for example: https://treegrowing.tcv.org.uk/grow/tree-recipes/alder

From the picture it looks like they have no trouble germinating
thousands outside. I imagine they would give you advice if you asked
them.

Peter

On 25/03/2018 10:10, Peter Robinson wrote:
I kept them at 30 degrees for 16 hours and 20 overnight.

Why? At what time of year do alder seedlings naturally germinate and
grow in the uk? What temperature is it normally at that time of year?

You've been trying this for a long time, so you must have found this
page for example: https://treegrowing.tcv.org.uk/grow/tree-recipes/alder

From the picture it looks like they have no trouble germinating
thousands outside. I imagine they would give you advice if you asked
them.

Peter


My advice would be to stop ready books and the internet and start using
common sense, those sort of ridiculous temperatures would kill most
hardy tree seeds. Just sow them in the ground outside in the autumn.

--
Charlie Pridham
Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk