I bought this thing a while back with the idea of starting seeds with it. It came with no instructions and although it looks very simple I’ve had no success. The picture isn’t great, but it’s 4 glass containers, in a plexiglas stand.
I’ve tried filling the 4 containers about 2/3 full of water, then immersing a seed in each one. 3 of the seeds sunk to the bottom and haven’t done anything at all. One seed seemed to open & “sprout” but then soon afterwards (a day or two) the sprout separated from the seed.
I’m trying to start herb seeds (rosemary and basil) for our herb garden.
Does this only work for certain types of seeds? What am I doing wrong?
Any help is appreciated. It’s driving me crazy that I can’t figure out something so simple …
I did an experiment back in high school trying to germinate bean sprouts in wet paper towels. As I rememeber, the brand of paper towel wasn’t as important as was how much water they had. Too little water is obviously bad, but too much also just made them rot, which is what probably happened to the one seed you had sprout.
If you think about it, plants are evolved such that the seed falls on dirt, after which it sprouts and puts down roots. The seed contains the genetic stuff (a very small section) and a little bit of food. When the seed germinates, it uses the food as energy to create roots, and then uses the nutrients in the soil to keep growing. If the seedling runs out of food it’ll die.
Look around online for information on the particular herbs that you’re growing - there should be tips somewhere on how to germinate them from a seed. I would suspect the seed starter gets you through the first step (germinating the seed) after which you’re supposed to transplant them to actual soil. I kill every green thing I own, though, so take this for what it’s worth.
It looks to me like it is intended for larger seeds like peach pits, avocado seeds and the like. It appears to be designed to suspend the pit in the narrow neck of the vial half in and half out of water.
I agree that your seeds probably rotted. They need both water and air to start, and to survive. (A few kinds need to be frozen first to break the dormancy. Others need to be partly digested to soften the seed coat - here’s an example. Basil certainly doesn’t need either treatment, and I doubt that rosemary does.
I’ve had pretty good results starting in soil. Cover the seeds with just enough moist (not soggy!) soil to match their diameter, cover the pot with a plastic bag, and keep it away from direct sun. When the first true leaves appear, remove the bag for an hour or so every day to give the plant some fresh air, and increase the open-air time over a week or so until you aren’t covering the plant at all.
If you want to use those starters, make sure to change the water every day, and move the plants to soil as soon as the roots are well formed.
I remember in Grade 2 we did something with a bean, using the paper towel trick, to make it open up and sprout … so it makes sense that this is for larger “pits”, not seeds per se.
Or it could be used for rooting plant cuttings. It won’t be much good for herb seeds.
Get a bag of decent potting soil, not top soil, potting soil which has some vermiculite mixed in. Put the soil in a pot or seedling tray, and soak it till it’s good and wet. Let the water run out ~overnight, so things are just nice and damp. Add the seeds. Stir around the top quarter inch of soil to get the seeds covered. Put it in a temperate, light place and wait, keeping the soil from getting dry. Don’t soak it again, you’ll encourage mold, just keep the soil from getting dry. In a week or so (for Basil, other herbs vary) you’ll get a bunch of seedlings. Don’t overwater, and don’t let them get too dry, either will kill your tiny plants.
That thing is for cuttings, like Squink said. I had one exactly like it. It isn’t useful for starting seeds, but it’s great for rooting houseplant cuttings, and it looks cool.
