Last night I got bored and while I was digging in my fridge for nep seeds that I put in there, I found the Devil's Claw seeds that I had put in there last year and I was bored so I took two of them and put em in a cup of bleach. I watched em for 30 minutes and the only thing I noticed was the bleach turning a little darker shade of yellow, so I started to ignore it. Fast forward a couple hours, I look in the cup and there's two white seeds inside. The bleach ate right through in a matter of hours. So now I've sown them and put em under lights to see if they'll actually grow. The only reason I think they may not grow is because they were definitely in the bleach for too long. I had only intended to have them in there until the white was STARTING to show. Really it doesn't seem like there is any damage to the seeds except there is a weird brown spot in the center of the seeds, like the white is opaque and in the center is something brown. I dunno what that is but I'm really looking forward to seeing the results.
Also, the reason I decided to do this experiment is because I recently got 80% germination rate with some Byblis seeds by squirting 'em a bit with diluted bleach before sowing them, and I know that Devil's Claw seeds have thick seed coats. If it doesn't work this time I may try again but I will more closely monitor the bleaching period. I almost fell asleep without checking them. x_x;
Bleach is starting to look like a really good thing to keep around the house if you grow plants by seed a lot. (As I do.)
Also, the reason I decided to do this experiment is because I recently got 80% germination rate with some Byblis seeds by squirting 'em a bit with diluted bleach before sowing them, and I know that Devil's Claw seeds have thick seed coats. If it doesn't work this time I may try again but I will more closely monitor the bleaching period. I almost fell asleep without checking them. x_x;
Bleach is starting to look like a really good thing to keep around the house if you grow plants by seed a lot. (As I do.)