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Fermenting seeds in winter

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    Fermenting seeds in winter

    I think I made a newbie mistake. Given its been cold, I started putting first newly harvested micro seeds in their water cups under my lights. My thinking was it would warm things so the mold/guck could rise to the top. I have tried to germinate these seeds. No luck at all despite three tries. This has never happened to me before. It finally occurred to me the lights could have cooked them. Any thoughts?

    #2
    I've just put my hand under my lights, both fluorescent and T5 LED ones, and they are not at all hot, so couldn't damage any plants or seeds.

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      #3
      What type of lights? UV light will stop mold growth. UV light is used in mold remediation. Here is an article that says Fluorescent Light Bulbs Emit High Levels Of UV Radiation. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012...-uv-radiation/ I don't know how accurate it is or if those levels are high enough to stop the mold you wanted to grow. But perhaps.....

      I use Oxyclean. Perhaps you could take those seeds and try that with them.

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        #4
        Thank you for your info! I think they are old T5 lights where these went. They aren't hot, but there is some warmth emitted. I tried the seeds in question several times, then 2 days ago I put some seeds in directly from a tomato I had just eaten. In another thread it was confirmed this could work. Voila-2 are already up! I am just glad this was an experiment from the first tomatoes of the plant rather than the last!

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          #5
          It wouldn't be the heat from the light, but the UV radiation that stopped the mold growth (I don't know that for sure, but it makes sense.)

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            #6
            I know there's published research on heat treating dry seeds to kill TMV; the seeds can apparently survive 186 F for 18 days and maintain 90% viability. I would guess viability goes down if the seeds are in liquid like you were doing, but it doesn't seem like it would have been hot enough to cook the seeds. My guess is that something else was wrong with them unrelated to placing them under the lights. Did you wait a while to collect seeds after the fruit was ripe? I have issues, especially with my MicroToms, of the seeds germinating after just trying to ferment overnight; that mostly happens when I leave the fruit on the plant for two or more weeks after they turn red, but it can also be a genetic mutation (precocious germination) where the seeds basically skip their natural dormancy and want to sprout immediately. If they've just started to sprout and it was subtle enough that you didn't notice, then drying them would kill them and none would germinate. I just had a set of F4 seeds where none of them came up, but the other F4 lines did; I'm pretty sure that's what happened to them.

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              #7
              The fruit in question was picked ripe and it was quite firm. I wanted to test shelf life before eating and saving seeds , so it stood on the windowsill for 9 days before I decided to cave and eat. Maybe the waiting was the problem! Even after 9 days fruit was yummy and really not overly soft or mushy after that period. The seeds were in the water ( under the grow lights) for 4 days then dried on a coffee filter as I always do. So I guess from what you and Diane are saying, the heat played no factor. Not sure it's a genetics thing though because fresh seeds planted the day the tomato was eaten from the same plant did germinate in spades. Sounds like the extended waiting/ripening could be the issue?

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                #8
                Try and experiment to figure it out. If there are enough fruits left on the plant, save some seeds right away from a few you pick and let some others sit a few days and then try them.

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