One way to make sure your seedlings are in tip top shape and ready to go right on schedule is to boost your germination rate and the speed of germination by giving seeds a head start as you go.

Most seeds (excepting lettuce) require no light to germinate. But did you know they also require no fertilizers, plant food or other nutrients? Seeds have everything they need packed right into them to germinate. The trigger that gets them started is moisture. Once they get wet, the signal is sent and the seed gets to work getting ready to send out a sprout.

What most people don’t know is that seeds actually do something pretty amazing when they start this process: they breathe!  They respirate in the moist soil and use up the nutrients stored in their outer layer, as well as splitting open that layer, so they can spout.  That’s why if you sow your seed in a soil mix that is too wet they won’t germinate: they can’t breathe and they will rot. Same thing happens if you get super rainy weather outside after planting – the seeds can’t breathe and they die.

So here’s a trick for giving your seeds an extra boost to get them off to a healthy start, especially those indoor seeds that need to get growing in a tight time-frame in order to get into the garden on time…

1. Make up a solution of .05 to 1% hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle. [Dilution: Using 3% H2O2: add 2 parts filtered or distilled water for each part 3% H2O2. Using 35% FoodGradeH2O2 add 1 to 2 TBS to 1 quart (32 ounces) of filtered or distilled water.] Note: when possible do not use chlorinated water, as it inhibits seed growth; if necessary, fill a pitcher with tap water and let stand for 24 hours to allow the chlorine to dissipate; otherwise use filtered or distilled water. (Rain water works fine too!)

2. Saturate a paper towel with the spray and carefully fold the seeds into the center of the towel, keeping them in a single layer if possible.

3. Place the little packet you’ve made on a clean plate or in a clean bowl overnight, or, if you wish, until you see the tiny sprouts start to emerge.

4. Keep the towel moist with the H2O2 solution, but not soaking wet. And DO NOT let it dry out!

5. Plant your seeds, in pots, flats, or right out in the garden, according to the seed and the timing of your sprouting.

This method will cut at least a week off most larger seeds (peas, corn, squash, cucumber, melons, sunflowers etc.) and can cut as much as two weeks off germination time for those finicky folk like celery, peppers, eggplants and spring flowers.

If you’re not sure you’ll have time or patience to keep them in the towel and moist until they sprout just plant them after at least 24 hours of this treatment, they’ll still come up faster. Why? Because the H2O2 oxygenates the seeds and gives them a kick start.

So, next time you’re fretting that you’re late getting those vegetable starts into flats, don’t fret. Just follow these instructions and you’ll get caught up for planting time in a jiffy.

Oh – and one more tip:  once you start them in the flats, you can continue to spray them with a mist of 1% peroxide as they grow – they’ll grow faster and stronger too.

And don’t forget, once they sprout they will absolutely need to be kept moist, and will be ready for a little compost tea or other nutrient rich meal – they have enough stored energy to sprout all by themselves, but once they sprout, they will be hungry!

If you’re not sure how tender the seed is, just use the lesser dilution and experiment. A 1% or less solution seems to be safe for just about any seed, but test it out for yourself and determine the dilution rate that works best for you.  We’ve used .05 and 1% with equal success.

Our lilies and stalk flowers are now towering overhead – never seen anything like it… and the herb garden is literally twice the height and volume it achieved last year – lemon balm is four feet tall – oregano, lavender, penny royal, marjoram, thyme and spearmint are all topping 2 and half feet – Gargantua Herbs! We started the basil late, but even it is catching up quickly.

Tomatoes, eggplants and squashes all thriving and producing nicely.

So what was the secret? Well… of COURSE it includes our best buddy hydrogen peroxide – but it also must be attributed to a rock dust infusion.

This year, as Spring was just springing, we took a good supply of last year’s rock dust – which, after sitting out in its outdoor bin over winter had become large soft rocklike clods, and literally just broke them up and tossed them into the gardens until we’d used them all up – and put a nice fat layer of this soft smeary mushy wet “slip” over everything – we didn’t even bother to work it into the soil – after all it was wet enough to seep in on its own.

Then we routinely sprayed with a 1 ounce to 1 quart solution of 3% hyrdogen peroxide in the early weeks – when fog was thick and moisture and damp were the norm (hence the snail explosion!).

After that we continued to water at least once a week with this solution – right into the soil – helps to give those roots the oxygen they need when they’re busy doing serious growing – and voila! HUGE results!

If you need to find the rock dust, look for agrowinn - they make the best rock dust of any we’ve ever found – oh – and we can’t forget the last ingredient – our own home grown worm castings! First batch was ready this Spring as well…

We didn’t have huge amounts, but a little worked into the top soil around new young plants gives them real staying power…

We’ve been watering the Aloe Vera in the window sill with the hydrogen peroxide as well and it’s so big we need to get new pots for it! (Promise we’ll post pictures of all of this in the next few days!)

Happy Gardening! Keep it Green and keep it Healthy!

Seems there was a farmer in Iowa who was having a rather serious weevil problem in their alfalfa fields.

Now, if someone had asked, most likely I’d have suggested they start with a 3 percent solution to test if there was any improvement…

But no one asked.

I’ve used hydrogen peroxide to heal all kinds of plants for many years, but I have to tell you, I never use stronger than 3 percent solutions. Usually half that is adequate to do the job for most house plant pests and diseases. I often use a 50/50 dilution in the garden outdoors as well. (50 percent 3 percent solution and 50 percent water. That’s pretty mild.

Turns out, this farmer was pretty serious about solving the problem, and went at it in a way we never would have expected. They used 35% Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide straight on a 10 by 10 foot section of the crop.

I was sure the next thing I’d hear was that the crop had just given up and died in that 10 foot square patch. But that is not what happened.

Instead, the crop was fine, and the weevils were gone. Gone, not only from that 10 foot square, but for a major distance…as in, no weevils in that field at all after the application. And the alfalfa? Seems the 35% hydrogen peroxide didn’t bother it one bit.

Now, I have to find out if they sprayed the area down with water after application… and how long after application, if they did… because this just seems remarkable to me.

I’m working on tracking down the rest of the story and will be sure to post an update when I can get more information on this one…

I won’t go so far as to recommend using straight 35% hydrogen peroxide on any plants myself just yet; but this story came from a very reliable source, so I’ll just have to keep after the details and follow up until I can get more information.

You might want to try using a spray bottle of 3 percent hydrogen peroxide to combat the problem. You can apply the hydrogen peroxide directly to plant leaves, bark and buds where the blight or disease is visible.

The hydrogen peroxide is a great bacteria killer, and will not harm most flowering shrubs and fruit trees. (Some extremely tender plants can become slightly “burned” but this is rare.)

Howard Garrett of the Dallas News includes this little snippet about using hydrogen peroxide in his columne today:

It soon will be time for my fruit trees to bloom. I have two ‘Moonglow’ pears that suffered from fire blight last year.

I bought copper soap fungicide for use during dormancy. The directions for this spray indicate that it also can be used on blossoms. Is that a good idea?

R.S., Mount Pleasant

I’m not a fan of copper products.

Try this: Spray 3 percent hydrogen peroxide now and again when the trees are in bloom. Hydrogen peroxide is very effective on other bacterial diseases and should work in this case. Let me know how it turns out.

Seems hydrogen peroxide has a lot more ways of being useful in the garden or around the house than most of us thought!

In the home garden, a 3 percent solution in a mister works well to combat black spot leaf disease on roses, gardenias and other susceptible plants. Simply mist the leaves one to two times a week between or just after waterings.

It is also an excellent soil oxygenator, and can be applied in a dilute solution of one half cup 3 percent hydrogen peroxide to one gallon of water. This application will often restore damaged or injured plants within weeks, particularly drought stricken plants.

In stronger concentrations, hydrogen peroxide makes a great weed killer. Rather than spreading toxic chemicals over your garden to kill unwanted plants, use commercial agricultural grade sodium percarbonate, the dry form of hydrogen peroxide and dilute to a strength of 10 percent solution. (Approximately twice as much water in the dilution as a straight application of the dry concentrate). Apply directly to the unwanted plant or plants.

When using higher concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (over 3 percent) always wear protective rubber or latex gloves. Nornal gardening gloves are not waterproof and higher concentrations of hydrogen peroxide will burn your skin as easily as they will burn the weeds you want to eliminate with them.

But when those waters become green and filled with slime and algae, the effect is not only no longer beautiful to look at, it can become a source of foul odors, mosquito and other insect breeding and a potential health hazard.

To keep outdoor fountains sparkling and clean, treat them to a regular draining, cleaning and refilling with fresh water. To kill slimey algae and overabundant growth in the fountain an application of sodium percarbonate in the cleaning process is recommended.

Sodium percarbonate is a dry form of hydrogen peroxide used in cleaning and agriculture. It is generally available in a 27 percent dilution strength powder. This is a high strength solution and should be handled and applied with care. Use rubber or latex gloves when applying the sodium percarbonate to the drained fountain surfaces for cleaning.

Between cleanings, keep the fountain water fresh and clean by adding 1 to 2 cups of 3 percent hydrogen peroxide for every ten gallons of fountain water. This will keep the bacteria and algae growth to a minimum without harming the fountain or any creatures in the environment who might drink the water it contains.