Welcome back to another episode of
Lost In The Farmer’s Market, where we take a look into varied topics regarding
sustainability, horticulture and organic practices. This will be the first of
many episodes where I take a scientific look certain aspects of gardening which
brings LITFM back to it’s literal roots as a scientific-oriented garden blog.
This week I’m going to talk mainly about the study I did comparing two seed
germination methods and one of the big myths of the season. Now that myth I mentioned before is a pretty
prevalent one, I’ve said in this blog that I have several allergies and part of
the day of this episode was due to symptoms of said allergies manifesting much
to my misery in a period where I had to spend considerable amounts of time
outside. When others notice I’m having the usual trifecta of allergic
side-effects I get an equally standard array of ‘you should do this’ kind of responses.
For note I typically use a histamine blocker, and nothing else because I don’t want
to become reliant on a medication in general for very good reason.
With
that said aside from the patently ridiculous suggestions such as homeopathic
remedies* I hear a lot of well-intentioned individuals saying I should eat more
honey because it’s made of pollen. This suggestion is useless because the
average honey bee can travel a normal distance of four miles but up to seven on
average to forage for pollen and nectar. So of course, this means that I would
literally have to have my own hives or I would have to buy so locally that I
could not ensure a regular supply to dose my self with the potential pollen
that’s causing my problems. This is assuming honey bees are even harvesting the
specific pollen that is causing my woes because believe it or not honey bees have
a list of preferred pollen and then there are things they simply wont touch
with a ten-foot pole regardless. In short while the idea of dosing yourself
with small amount of something you are allergic to in order to build up immunity
over time is solid advice, using honey to counter allergies is not legitimate
advice. But anyone is welcome to respond to this blog if they have scientific
evidence to the contrary, but me and the gang I just joined below won’t hold
our breath.
So taking it back to the origin is
where LITFM needed to be for a while as over the last two years less and less
studies were being posted here in lieu of softer more palatable information
that made this blog more socially homogenized. As of this post I will be
discussing the first of our studies, which is a comparative analysis of a
conventional seed germination method versus a non-conventional method using pepper
seeds with a range of packing dates since peppers are already temperamental in
the germination department. Now what I
did was I set up for three series of germinations two using the
non-conventional method and one using the conventional method, the same number
of seeds was used in each series and five different varieties were tested in
each run. The non-conventional method consisted of twenty seeds of an individual
pepper variety placed in a moistened paper towel which was then place din a
one-gallon zip lock bag. All seeds received 24-hour bottom heat by way of a
professional grade seedling germination mat producing 68-degree temperatures.
All seedling trials were also conducted under growing lights set to mimic a 14-hour
day period. The conventional method used
two growing trays with low height humidity domes and one-hundred peat pellets
broken into groups of twenty so that the five varieties in the trial could be
compared accurately. The conventional method seedling received the same light
and heat as the non-conventional bagged seedlings. The first stage of the study
began on February 12th with the first rows of seed being laced in
their moistened towels and then being bagged. The first series was abandoned on
March 26th. The second series of unconventional seeds were started
on February 26th and were abandoned on April 9th. The
third series of seedlings were started March 5th and were not
abandoned because the germination rates were sufficient to be called a success.
Trial
Series 1- Non-Conventional (25 seeds each)
Banana
Pepper, Hungarian Black / Packed 2013 - 0.0% germination
Cayenne
Type, Pascila Bajio / Packed 2013 – 0.0% germination
Aji
Limon, Lemon Drop Pepper / Packed 2013 – 2.5% germination (saved seed)
Tobago
Seasoning Pepper / Packed 2012 – 0.0% germination (saved seed)
Trial
Series 2 – Non-Conventional (20 seeds each)
Bell
Type, Carolina Wonder / Packed 2015 – 1.0% germination
Aji
Limon, Lemon Drop Pepper / Packed 2013 – 3.0% germination (saved seed)
Cayenne
Type, Pascila Bajio / Packed 2013 – 0.0% germination
Purple
Cayenne Pepper / Packed 2014 – 2.0% germination
Tobago
Seasoning Pepper / Packed 2015 – 0.0% germination (saved seed)
Trial
Series 3 - Conventional (20 seeds each)
Bhut
Jolokia, Ghost Pepper / Packed 2015 – 100% germination
Cayenne
Type, Pascila Bajio / Packed 2013 – 0.0% germination
Bhut
Jolokia, Black Naga / Packed 2017 – 95% germination (saved seed)
Pepperoncini
Peppers / Packed 2015 – 55% germination (seed packet unopened until trial)
Aji Limon,
Lemon Drop Pepper / Packed 2014 – 80% germination (saved seed)
The numbers above indicate that
fairly uniformly the traditional sowing of seed in cell trays or peat pellets
tens to have a noticeably better result when quality pepper seed is involved.
For note I included the Pascila Bajio in all three-trial series and it failed
to germinate regardless of method so I have to chalk it up to expired or bad
seed stock. Ironically her Aji limon or lemon drop peppers in all three trials germinated
all three times but germinated the most under conventional growing conditions. the
rest of the seeds demonstrated an interesting variety of successes and failures
but overall, the conventional method using humidity domes/trays and peat
pellets has produce more viable seedlings than the moist paper towel method.
This of course means that I may repeat the experiment using seeds with a
packing date no later than 2018 to see if the disparity holds up. In the meanwhile,
since its very late spring it’s warm enough to direct sow things in the garden
so the end of the trial means the end of needing to use humidity domes for
seedlings anyway.
For
note this is where the advertising starts because it keeps the Test Garden’s
supplied and running tests so you don’t have to. If you want to get some
GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the
Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between
he Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Barring bad weather, I’ll be
there selling the following spring offerings while supplies last.
Plants
Available Now:
Peppers,
Sweet Banana - $3.00
Peppers,
Giant Marconi - $3.00
Peppers,
Red Peter - $3.00
Peppers,
Furious Sunset - $3.00
Peppers,
Tobasco - $3.00
Peppers,
Ghost - $3.00
Tomato,
White Wonder - $3.00
Tomato,
Carolina Golden - $3.00
Tomato,
Radiator Charlie - $3.00
Tomato,
Brandywine - $3.00
Tomato,
Black Krim - $3.00
Tomato,
Golden Jubilee - $3.00
Tomato,
Glacier - $3.00
Tomato,
Mountain Spring - $3.00
Tomato,
Sungold - $3.00
Tomato,
Sweet 100 - $3.00
Basil,
Genovese - $3.00
Basil,
Thai - $3.00
Burnet,
Salad - $3.00
Chives
- $3.00
Lemon
Grass - $3.00
Lavender,
English - $3.00
Oregano,
Italian - $3.00
Parsley,
Italian - $3.00
Rue
- $3.00
Tansy
- $3.00
Thyme,
English - $3.00
Raspberry,
Heritage (2 gal pot) - $15.00
Hops,
Zeus, 6” pot – $10.00
Coming
Soon:
Santolina
(aka Lavender-Cotton)
Coneflower,
Pow Wow Mix
Milkweed
If
the market isn’t your thing or your schedule does not allow you to go there my
premium exotic house plants can be purchased in attractive clay pots with
unique embellishments at LeClair’s General Store. LeClair’s General Store is
located on 1212 Fort Bragg Road in Fayetteville North Carolina.
This
is their Facebook Page:
The
Visit NC page’s Listing:
Most recent deliveries to Leclairs:
4x 5”
rimless pot – Jade Plant, Crassula ovata
3x 5”
rimless pot – Lemon Bean Bush, Senecio barbetonicus
2x 4”
standard pot – Jade Vine, Senecio macroglossus
‘variegatus’
2x 4”
standard pot – Bunny Cactus, Opuntia
microdasys
These
days I am generally at the store once a week, maintaining stock and/or
delivering new materials so if you go to visit the store there is a fair chance
I’ll be present to answer your questions. If not, you can always send me
questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market or pay attention to
what Sustainable Neighbors is doing at the link below.
This brings to a close the ninth
LITFM post of the new year, stay tuned the next episode which should be posted
roughly around the 23rd of May.
