Under the Choko Tree By Nevin Sweeney

Conducting a Seed Germination Test

OK, so you have your seed, how embarrassed would you be if you were counting on it for your next year’s produce and for some reason it wasn’t fertile? To prevent such embarrassment you may wish to test the viability of your seed with a seed germination test.

The idea is to take a known number of seeds, keep them warm and moist for the required time, then take note of how many actually germinate. Expressing the number of seeds which germinated as a percentage of the total number of seed tested will give you the germination rate for that batch of seed.

Coffee Filters

I used to use paper towel to place the seeds on and keep them wet, but recently I have found that coffee filter papers keep their shape better and are tougher when wet and so are all ‘round easier to work with. I use size 4, designed for 10-12 cups of coffee, you can pick up a box of 40 filters for around $2.00 and they will last you quite a while.

Carrying out the Test

  1. Give the seed a good mix and select a representative sample.
  2. Write the name and variety of the seed, date and number of seed on your coffee filter (or paper towel or whatever) in pencil before you dampen it.
  3. Dampen the filter and place the measured number of seed into the filter in a single layer, with some separation between the seeds where possible.
  4. Fold the filter up and place it in a screw topped jar and place the lid on, to keep the moisture in. If the weather is cold place the jar in a warm place in the house, preferably around 25°C.
  5. If you have a number of different types or batches of seed to test, you can repeat this procedure and place them all in the same jar if there is room.
  6. Leave them in the warm place and check them every few days. Some seeds like peas and beans will germinate quickly but others like celery may take two weeks or more to germinate.
  7. Once some seeds have germinated, make a note of how many and remove the germinated seeds from the paper and replace it in the jar.
  8. Check again every day or two until no more seeds germinate.
  9. To calculate divide the number of seeds which germinated by the total number of seeds originally placed in the jar and multiply the result by 100. This will give you the germination rate for your seeds, expressed as a percentage.

Labelled and ready to go!

Dampened down and in the jar

Checking the results

The germination rate, apart from alerting you to an infertile batch of seed will also enable you to work out exactly how much seed of a particular variety you need to plant to get the harvest you are looking for. So in general terms -

  • If the germination rate is less than 10% – chuck them out
  • If the germination rate is around 50 % then plant them thickly.
  • If the germination rate is over 75% plant them normally.
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