Quote:
Originally Posted by rxkeith
i don't soak my beans.
i mighta read, that if you soak them, only do it for two to four hours,
something like that. i direct seeded some provider beans that came into
my possession from someone local that was no longer gardening. i have
a one pound package of seeds, several years old. i can't say every seed
came up, but a whole bunch did. old, old beans might be good to soak, and
keep moist till you see a tail, to speed things up, and eliminate the need to replant.
watch out for mold development on any beans you soak. mold may be good on cheese,
but not beans.
keith
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When you see mold on a seed that's a sure indication that the seed is dead. Saprophytic fungi only consume dead organic matter, they are not pathogens so they will leave the viable living seeds alone.
I don't actually soak the seed in a bowl of water, you can hydrate the seed in a closed container or bag on a wet paper tower or bed of DE and just let the seed absorb the water like many of us may do with tomato, pepper or other seed to pre-sprout them. You need air and water to germinate a seed so this method works where just soaking a seed in water alone for days won't cause a seed to germinate. If there are any dead seed, they generally will have visible mold growing on them within a week and live seed that germinated right next to them with no mold.