Manually cracking Seeds that won't Germinate ?

I have 20 odd random seeds that weren't germinating after 2 weeks, figuring they were all just dead I decided to crack one open and have a look see whats going on. Sure enough it seemed healthy inside so I put it back in and sure enough 2 days later she sprouted.

After having a read of a 2011 thread I figured might as well try the next 10 seeds and so far so good. They all seem to still be alive so I'm going to crack 10, leave the other 9 as they are and just see what happens. The below is 2 of the ones I just cracked today.

There have been some posts on "disinfecting the seeds" with Hydrogen peroxide, killing harmful bacteria on the outer shell that may inhibit or stunt seed growth.

Other information on sugar soaking them as well to "revitalize" old stock.

Scarifying is another method people use to help the stubborn seeds crack.

A container lined with 150/180g sand paper
Will scuff up the seeds n make them easier to pop.

Cheers guys, yes I did read a comment about Scarifying in the original posts from here https://www.rollitup.org/t/cracking-seed-shell-with-pliers.424654/
as well as not touching them at all with your hands due to the oils on your fingers. It's probably not very likely that these will sprout but you never know, its always good to learn and try new things.

The fella that gave them too me said he tried to germinate one 6 months ago and it took a month to sprout so I was under the assumption they were all probably dead to start off with

NICE!

I usually freeze seeds that don't pop, then use a clean metal nail file to grind down the callus lip / protruding edge. Full moons have more gravitational pull as well.

DonTesla said:

I usually freeze seeds that don't pop,

Click to expand...

Do you soak beforehand?
I would think freezing them after soaking would be damaging....
How's the results? Does it break dormancy?

I crack seeds manually pretty regularly. My typical method is to let the seeds float on water for 24 hrs, fresh seeds will usually sprout while floating. Then I transfer to a moist paper towel. If I dont see any action in a couple of days I split the shell manually by squeezing them on the pointy end until the shell just slightly separates. Works pretty well, especially on seeds with extra thick shells.

My favorite breeder told me to crack them between my teeth like a sunflower seed and re plant if old and stubborn.

Miyagismokes said:

Do you soak beforehand?
I would think freezing them after soaking would be damaging....
How's the results? Does it break dormancy?

Click to expand...

It can mimic a wintering, and help them activate or so I read somewhere.. but yes very important to dry them out thoroughly first ... I've never put a wet seed in the freezer or anything. Totally hate shitty seeds and only mess with super fast and agile beans, but every once in a while you just gotta pop an heirloom from the 80s or 90s or you wanna check some interesting free shit out, and I find that with non organic seeds, the viability drops faster, so you gotta get aggressive with the tactics if you wanna see whats in there.. I do the mouth soak too. And always control temps and air flow in the taproot room. We experimented with soil and soilless germination, and there are advantages to both.

Well the bad news that none of those ones cracked ever sprouted, but also the one that did sprout never got passed a few mm above the soil so I think the seeds were rubbish and none salvageable. I'll throw them in a large pot and leave them outside and see if anything ever grows but I doubt they will. So I reckon if a seed is good it will pretty much sprout within a week or 2 no matter what you do, but if it's dead its dead.

iknownothink said:

Well the bad news that none of those ones cracked ever sprouted, but also the one that did sprout never got passed a few mm above the soil so I think the seeds were rubbish and none salvageable. I'll throw them in a large pot and leave them outside and see if anything ever grows but I doubt they will. So I reckon if a seed is good it will pretty much sprout within a week or 2 no matter what you do, but if it's dead its dead.

Click to expand...

Oh for sure..

Germ times of like:

10-12 hours on extremely vigourous seed stock,

within

24-36 for regular vigour,

and

36 hours to a week and a half for extremely old, aged heirloom, or poor vigour seed stock.

The temps and humidities the seeds face, number of swings, as well as whether organic or not, fridged or frozen or not, as well as (gravitational) moon timing, will all have impacts as well.

I find late poppers have much higher chance of deleterious mutations, too.

No no no, theres two schools of thought on this one.
1. You must be super nice and loving to them. Say nice things, share a romantic dinner, maybe a hot oil massage... make her want to open.
2. Threaten them. Be real mean. Physical, verbal, and mental abuse. Smash one with a hammer in front of the others to prove you aint fucking around, and wont take no shit from a seed.

Sithlord88 said:

No no no, theres two schools of thought on this one.
1. You must be super nice and loving to them. Say nice things, share a romantic dinner, maybe a hot oil massage... make her want to open.
2. Threaten them. Be real mean. Physical, verbal, and mental abuse. Smash one with a hammer in front of the others to prove you aint fucking around, and wont take no shit from a seed.

Click to expand...

Sithlord...where does eating them...then shitting them out before planting fit in. Is that enough romance?
JD

If the lighting is right and you have candles and some "mood" music, then i suppose that could suffice. Ill tell the boys in r&d to get on it to confirm

I have seeds around 25 years old always kept in dark cool place. Took around 10 and 1 sprouted. Will be interesting to see what i get, because I only saved seeds if the pot was real good.

MichiganMedGrower said:

My favorite breeder told me to crack them between my teeth like a sunflower seed and re plant if old and stubborn.

Click to expand...

Done this and it works! Rarely lose seeds

MichiganMedGrower said:

My favorite breeder told me to crack them between my teeth like a sunflower seed and re plant if old and stubborn.

Click to expand...

hi how are you

PeteCh9 said:

hi how are you

Click to expand...

I see the RIU bots are hard at work.