Topic: Wallpaper paste

[KeithR]

Hi All,

I have not posted anything for a couple of months as I have been digging hard. I am now seeing some of the benefits such as a trimmer waistline as well as lots of young shoots.
I would like to know if anyone out there has mixed fine seed with wallpaper paste to make a more even sowing. I am sure that I once heard it on a gardeners question time years ago. Also would the stuff with fungicide be good protection for the seed or the exact opposite. I thought that I might try very dry, fine sand as a less messy alternative.

Any views or alternatives would be much appreciated.

KeithR

[Palustris]

Used it many eons ago to germinate and sow parsnips . The specific advice given then (GQA? possibly) was NOT to use the paste which contained a fungicide. It worked and we were thinking of doing it again this year if the parsnips failed to germinate again.
Not so sure about very fine seed, if the depth of paste was too much then, in the length of time it took to dissolve, the seeds may have rotted.  Worth giving it a try though.
I put the paste and seeds into a plastic bag and cut off one corner to sow in a drill. (Rather like icing a cake)
Dry fine sand is an old trick used very successfully by many people.

[tim]

I still use the moist finger technique - it even worked with celery today. One seed at a time.

[Roy Bham UK]

I went up the lottie today to sow some seeds but discovered it was blowing like a gale on the flat land and decided against it. ::)

I am now wondering if the paste idea would have worked on a windy day ???.

Tim I was put off touching seeds after reading a post not long ago about failure to germinate carrots, can't remember who wrote it but it was convincing text. :)

A few tips for growing carrots:
Never sow carrots in soil that has been manured in the last three seasons.
Never sow any deeper than half an inch.
If you have stony ground, try to remove as many as possible.
The biggest tip of all is to wear rubber/latex gloves when handling seeds as oil from the hands will contaminate the seeds, this is the most common problem with people who cant grow carrots.
My dad cant grow carrots if he has handled the seeds with bare hands. I on the otherhand can. It really is down to the individual. But if in doubt try wearing gloves and see how you get on. I know it sounds stupid but it is true.

[Moggle]

KeithR, I have been reading in the HDRA Encyclopedia of organic gardening about using wallpaper paste for what they call 'fluid sowing'. They describe the technique for use with difficult to germinate seeds like carrots and parsnips. You soak the seeds in warm water (in an airing cupboard?) until they start to sprout, then mix them in to half-strength wallpaper paste, put the whole lot in an plastic bag and then squeeze the paste in to a drill. They stressed using fungicide free wallpaper paste for this.

[Bionic Wellies]

I saw a proggy in tele that used gelatin to achieve the same thing.  Mix the seeds, water and gelatin crystals, I guess that it had to be periodically stirred until it set to ensure that the  seed was evenly distributed.  When the seeds had started to germinate they whisked the lot to break it up and then poured it into the grove.

__ I have no idea if it worked :)