Ipomoea batatas - breeding of Sweet Potato - Camote - New Zealand

[reed]

I bet a nickel if you do that more will sprout. I have set unsprouted ones aside and basically forgot them a lot of times. I've noticed more than once that after a period of completely drying out more will sprout the next time it rains.

[Richard Watson]

might try that, dry it out then stick em outside in the rain.

[reed]

Only problem is they just keep sprouting a few at a time. Here if they aren't up by late July they don't have to time to make much roots but even those sprouting into August still bloom some. If they sprout in September or later just forget it.

[whwoz]

Reading all this about tough seed coats is making me wonder how they would cope with the old hot water poured over them treatment we use here in Oz for our native pea and wattle seed.  might give it a go on some Kang Kong, I.aquatica, which has the same erratic germination.

[Chris Morrison]

Hows about complete immersion? We know SP love water. I am thinking to dig some unsprouted seed out, and place in jar, in clean water , in my hot water cupboard. Check each day and transplant any sprouters out to soil pots. Change water regularly. Any thoughts?

[Richard Watson]

Worth a go

[Chris Morrison]

Righto. I picked thru 17 jiffy pots, and recovered 9 rock hard native EFR seed, that had been planted 2 months ago. I found one squishy rotten seed, and the rest must either have rotted out, or I simply could not find them amongst the potting mix. The 9 goodies have gone in the HWC on a well wetting napkin. See what happens. I really want these to strike, as had so few EFR for a start.

[Richard Watson]

I have had a dig around but man they are hard to find, I'm using compost so that makes it harder to see em.

[Chris Morrison]

All that time and DNA wasted ... when we thought the hard-bit was over.
Scarifying
Tip
""Morning glories, wild indigo, bluebonnet, hollyhock, lupine, sweet pea and legumes are some of the many kinds of seeds that you must scarify prior to planting.

https://www.gardenguides.com/86284-scarify-seeds.html   

[reed]

That method of soaking like your doing sounds to me like it might work. Are they showing any signs that they might sprout?

[Chris Morrison]

Not yet. Added 25% ACV for 24 hours, then put back in soil. Should know in a week hopefully.

[reed]

I never tried it but soaking in warm or even hot water is the only thing I ever considered to increase germination.

I have on occasion when looking for ones that hadn't sprouted found one that was just getting ready to. They looked like tiny little brains. Swelled up to about twice the size and covered with what looked like the beginnings of little cracks in the seed coat.

I've wondered if that might be a sign to look for if using the soaking method, when they start to swell up, time to get them in the dirt.

The other thing I think might work is heat. Steady heat, 26 - 30 degrees might do the trick. I haven't done that either though, cause I want to select for a line that doesn't need it.

What is ACV?

[Chris Morrison]

ACV = Apple Cider Vinegar. Just following advice from the link I posted last week re Scarifying. Fingers crossed, really need my native seed (at least) to fire, if at all poss. I would theorize that the best DNA is contained within the hardest seed coats, just as many edible plants, grown 'hard' or even stressed, produce the best eating and keeping qualities. A longshot theory but the other way to look at this, is , maximizing  germ via scarifying may be a very simple hack vs all the hours foraging for seed over 3 months? Thanks for the info on seed-swell, that is helpful. Now I wish I left them on the wet napkin to imbibe, haha, more trials to come. Should have several thousand seed from the coming season, have to do better than 5% germ.

[reed]

ACV = Apple Cider Vinegar. Just following advice from the link I posted last week re Scarifying. Fingers crossed, really need my native seed (at least) to fire, if at all poss. I would theorize that the best DNA is contained within the hardest seed coats, just as many edible plants, grown 'hard' or even stressed, produce the best eating and keeping qualities.

That's an interesting notion, maybe I'll find evidence of it in my back garden. I call it the survival garden where I plant and forget, just leave it to the weeds and drought and then keep what seeds I do get.

Why do you think the best DNA is in the harder seed coats?

A longshot theory but the other way to look at this, is , maximizing  germ via scarifying may be a very simple hack vs all the hours foraging for seed over 3 months? Thanks for the info on seed-swell, that is helpful. Now I wish I left them on the wet napkin to imbibe, haha, more trials to come. Should have several thousand seed from the coming season, have to do better than 5% germ.

If you get thousands of seeds and plant say 1000, and 5% sprouted easy that would give you 50 plants. Do you think they might not be as good as those that would have sprouted with scarification?  I hope that isn't the case as that is the path I've taken with mine. I don't think it is though cause mine are just getting better in production, flavor as well more easy to sprout.

I think the more seed to seed generations that go by it easier and easier. Well except for the work and commitment part. Also think cause of their very complicated genetics we will never run out of new experiments to run and new things to learn.

[Chris Morrison]

They keep on a comin. After 3 weeks of nothing, another 4 pop up in last few days.
10 weeks since planting. These are not from my scaify trial - nothing doing there, yet.
Note the water dropper pointing to a stuck seed pod.