Germinating squashes

[Mike Vogel]

Has anyone been having the same trouble as I have had in germinating pumpkins and green courgettes? My Gold Bush and Butternut Squash seeds have germinated well and so have the cucumbers from T&M, but the Nero di Milano from the OGC and the Parthenon courgettes from T&M have been the devil's own job to get going. Ditto Tom Fox pumpkins. The Parthenon all died in the compost, although it was kept in doors on a sunny windowsill, and I've had only one Tom Fox..

Germinating on wet kitchen roll? Tell me another. I've carefully cut them as Johnboy suggested somewhere else in the forum, but they absolutely refuse to acknowledge the TLC they're getting and just lie there like a set of lobotomised bricks.

I've now just put all my remaining seeds diractly into the ground, which is quite warma and moist and hope such cavalier treatment will startle them into action. But I'll need to buy courgettes or get some more seed.

I know I'm not the only one having this problem, especially with green courgettes.

All the best

mike

[Colin_M]

I don't have the same varieties as you, but have been able to get Butternut Sprinter, Bon Bon and Crown Prince squashes to germinate this spring.

What I've noticed is that, having germinated, some of them have then grown much more quickly than the others. A few have just "sat & sulked" as small plants, whereas the others are over 10cm high with several leaves.

Like you, I followed JB's advice on cutting the edge of the seed shell on some and it seems to have done no harm. I was using a mixture of seeds: some brand new, some saved from last year and some from friends.

Colin

[Primrose]

Mike - yes I've had the same problem with courgettes and squashes. Amazingly my best germination results have been some accidentally tossed Crown Prince seeds which somehow missed the compost heap a few weeks ago and strayed onto a flower border. They quickly germinated and I have several healthy looking plants which may not grow true to type, whereas my Sweet Dumpling seeds just rotted in the pots, despite being sown on sides. Maybe the age of the seed is part of the problem?

[Colin_M]

my Sweet Dumpling seeds just rotted in the pots, despite being sown on sides.

Hi Primrose, can you explain "being sown on sides"? I've seen it before & never understood the meaning (the side of the seed, or the side of the pot???)


Confused of Bristol

[peter]

Like shoving a plate into the soil, rather than placing it flat on the soil.

[Primrose]

Colin, I believe the theory is that if you place the squash seed flat on the compost it's more likely to retain any surplus moisture on its surface and rot, whereas if you dib the pointed end of the seed into the compost and sow it "upright" it will be less vulnerable to rotting since surplus moist on it can more easily drain away. I've no idea whether this is true or not. As none of my seeds germinated anyway, I can't prove or disprove the theory.

[Johnboy]

Hi Primrose,
In order to totally confuse the whole thread I always sow my seeds scar down as I do with Beans and Sweet corn.
I feel the rotting is due to an incorrect watering regime.
On big Squash seeds I nick the top end opposite the scar place them on kitchen paper ridged into my plastic petrie dish suspended the seeds in the ridges of the paper and place another piece of folded kitchen paper over the top then wet the entire lot and drain off all the surplus then pop onto the top of my solid fuel CH boiler and have yet to ever have any real problems. They generally germinate so fast that they do not ever need watering in the petrie dish. Too much water is bad news and the seed only needs enough water to initiate germination and let the seed do the rest on its own. Nature programmed them that way it seems.
JB.

[Primrose]

Johnboy, I'll have to try your method next year. It obviously works better than mine and you appear to get a much faster germination rate too, which is good, as you then don't have so long to wait if you have to start the whole process again because of germination failure.

[Mike Vogel]

Oh! Pointed bit down? I've usually done it the other way up. Since the posting I have had 2 pumpkin seeds germinate on kitchen towel. Yes, JB, I also used to put them on top of the central heating boiler and I will try to do the equivalent next year. Our ch boiler now is attached high up and affords little space for that.

Thanks for your suggestions and comments.

mike

[Johnboy]

Hi Mike,
It sounds like a high output gas boiler to me and if so the temperature may well be too high. The old solid fuel boiler is insulated and gives off a constant 72F which is just right.
JB.

[Mike Vogel]

When we lived in a 1970's 4-bedroom box we had a floor-mounted Potterton gas boiler on which I would stand my courgette seeds and get them to germinate pretty quickly. Now that we have a Victorian semi, our wall-mounted combination boiler is too small and too high up for us to do this. But following your instructions I did get 2 more pumpkin seeds to germinate, so I'll have lots of squashes tis year, especially Butternuts. But I haven't ever before found germinating courgettes to be a problem. I'll go back to the good old "defender" variety next year, which germinated with no trouble.

mike