Pre-chitting seeds

[vixylix]

Hi all,

Quick question... a few of my seeds are quite old and I'm struggling with germination. So I intend to try the damp kitchen paper / warm place trick to get them to chit.

There is a wealth of information available on how to do this, but I'm struggling to find any detail on what to do once they have chitted... how do I pot them on?

Do I need to get the root in the soil, do I bury the whole thing, do I leave it on top and let it sort itself out?

Help please!

Thanks

[Thelma Sanders]

I make a small depression in the compost and put the seed, root down, into that and then sprinkle over some more compost. Obviously this is easier with larger seeds..........

[WendyC]

I have only pre chitted parsnip seeds which I potted up as Thelma described. I must admit I had always thought chitting to check for viability meant that the resulting sprouted seeds were sacrificial seeds, just to see if is worth going on to sow them in the usual way.

[Lisasbolt]

it is really quite easy, usually the root comes out first, handle with care and make a little hole in you compost, put it in root downwards and it will soon grow and find its way to the surface. I actually chit quite a lot of my seeds. Be careful removing from the kitchen roll if they have grow a bit they can often snap the root.

[Thelma Sanders]

Besides being useful to check viability before sowing old seeds - I have had such poor germination with white runner bean seeds, and one year sweetcorn was the same, that I always chit them first nowadays.
It saves wasting compost on seeds that aren't going to grow.

[Lisasbolt]

It´s the dryness over here and unless i am out watering several times a day i lose a lot, but if they are pre chitted they often survive and find their way to the water.

[Mr Bones]

Sometimes if the root looks delicate I snip the kitchen roll round the seed and plant it still fastened to the paper.

[vixylix]

Thanks all - I'll give it a go as soon as I have space to pot them on if they do make it

[Nicos]

I've placed my espelette seeds on 1cm squares of kitchen roll on top of the large piece of kitchen paper.
As soon as there is a fuzzy root I pick up ( with tweezers) the paper and place it vertically( root pointing downish) in the potting compost so the seed is at it's proper depth under the soil.
(The paper breaks up quite quickly, but I have to say it's not a thick quilted type which mops up without disintegrating )

[Nicos]

Oh...and that's something I made up is it just seeded logical!.
Never read about anyone else doing that...does anyone?