If you’re new to gardening, you may be wondering why even bother with soaking your seeds. The idea is to speed up the seed’s germination rate.
When seeds are in nature, they’re designed to be tough because the elements can be rough on a small seed.
Plus, seeds were designed to hold off on germination until the time is right. When soaking your seeds before planting, you’re doing many things:
Boosting Moisture Rate
Seeds know when it’s safe to germinate and when it isn’t. When you soak the seeds in water (or any liquid) it signals the moisture around them has increased
Moisture is an indication which the seed needs, to know it’s okay to germinate, and they have a safe area to begin growing.
2. Removing the Protective Coating
Certain seeds have a protective coating around them. This coating is to stop the seeds from germinating when they live in the moist climate of the parent fruit.
When soaking the seeds, it gently removes this protective coating, and sends signals to the seed it’s outside of the parent fruit and free to start growing.
3. Softening the Seed
You soak your seeds because as the seed absorbs water, it begins to break down the outermost shell of the seed
The shell is the hardest part of seeds because it’s meant to protect it. By soaking the seed, it enables the new growth from the inside to push through the hard shell and grow.
4. It’s Natural
In nature, seeds are frequently consumed by animals. Some of the best plants grow from animal scat. When soaking seeds, some people choose more acidic liquids
Acidic fluids, as you would find with digestion, again aids in softening the shell. The seeds experience something similar to digestion and are encouraged to germinate and grow wonderfully
Peoplesmind