Time flies fast, spring is just around the corner. Before you know it, it’s time to start thinking about the new gardening season. As you know, the future crop is laid at the stage of growing seedlings and even earlier – during the preparation of seeds.
The technology of pre-sowing processing is one of the most important techniques in agricultural technology that improves the quality of seed material. Increased seed germination, plant resistance to adverse conditions. Stimulant medications are added to the seedlings of vital energy, disinfectants effectively fight diseases and pests.
But they often give advice about homegrown products that are easily found in a home medicine Cabinet, kitchen Cabinet or on the windowsill: potassium permanganate, hydrogen peroxide, aloe juice, mushroom powder solution, and the like. Now I suggest that we talk about the best industrial preparations specially created for pre-sowing seed treatment.
What are we processing for?
First, let’s define our goals and objectives. When processing seeds before sowing, there are usually 3 goals.
1. To increase the germination energy
To do this, the seeds are treated with growth stimulants and trace elements. Stimulants, first of all, increase the immunity and resistance of seedlings to adverse factors. These preparations are most often used as a solution for soaking the seed material.
Stimulation is very important for those seeds that may have problems with their own germination energy, for example, with an expired shelf life. Fresh seed material, as a rule, does not need this. If your Arsenal contains seeds of unknown origin, and even more so with an unknown date of collection, but you really want to plant them, then processing will be required.
Spraying the surface of seeds with a powder of trace elements (boron, molybdenum, copper, zinc, manganese, cobalt, iodine) is an effective way to apply top dressing at the earliest stage of plant development. Also, scientists have found that micro-fertilizers improve the process of seed swelling, which means that germination is accelerated. By concentrating in the embryo, they stimulate its development and the appearance of roots.
2. Protect future plants from pests
Processing of seed material allows you to protect future seedlings from pests that live in the soil: wireworm, gnawing scoops, root aphids, as well as nematodes, which are not actually insects, but the damage to plants can cause significant. Naturally, seed treatment with insecticides will not protect against pests that will attack the plantings later, for example, from the caterpillars of the cabbage moth.
3. To get rid of the infection or minimize their
Many bacterial, viral, and fungal plant infections persist as spores, endospores, or capsids directly on the surface of the seeds. Other harmful representatives of the microbiological world are waiting for their victims in the soil. When the seed swells and the embryo develops, the plant becomes infected.
Treatment of the seed material with pesticides will help to suppress the infection at the very beginning, to do with a “small dose”, because the pathogens stay on the seed shell in a state of rest. This is especially important for early crops, when the swollen seed is not in a hurry to germinate due to the low soil temperature and turns out to be an easy prey for pathogenic microorganisms. Often, treatment products have a complex effect, protecting against pests and delivering the necessary trace elements and stimulants at the same time.
Do you really need this?
Before you stock up on drugs, determine whether you really need to perform the treatment. After all, if you use purchased seeds, the manufacturer is likely to have already processed them. Have you noticed that they often have unnatural colors-red, turquoise? So the manufacturer clearly demonstrates that the seeds have been prepared.
Although the color of processed seeds is an optional requirement, not all agricultural firms do so. The seed material of the usual color before being Packed in beautiful bags, probably also processed.
Therefore, even if you bought seeds of natural color, it is not necessary to carry out any additional manipulations with them. You need to process seeds that are harvested in a non-industrial way: collected independently, bought on the market from your grandmother, received as a gift from a neighbor in the country.
What to buy?
Most of the preparations for pre-sowing treatment for diseases and pests are produced for large enterprises, for example, the same seed producers. However, for the cottager, there are also means: for supporters of the blitzkrieg, who believe that it is better to use “chemistry” once, but effectively, in the fight against enemies, and for adherents of natural methods of influencing the enemy.
Perhaps the greatest headache for the gardener is plant diseases caused by fungi. As a prevention and treatment, fungicides are used-substances of chemical or biological origin to suppress the growth of fungi.
Choose a remedy for the scourge that oppresses your plants. It is not necessary to process the planting material just in case. Good harvests to you!