Seed sowing - sprouting seeds in starch gel

[bupster]

Sure I've come across this before but just in case:

Heat one pint of water to the boiling point. Dissolve in 2 to 3
tablespoons of ordinary cornstarch. Place the mixture in the
refrigerator to cool. Soon the liquid will become a soupy gel.
Gently mix this cool starch gel with sprouting seeds, making
sure the seeds are uniformly blended. Pour the mixture into a
1-quart plastic zipper bag and, scissors in hand, go out to the
garden. After a furrow has been
prepared, cut a small hole in one lower corner of the plastic bag.
The hole size should be under 1/4 inch in diameter. Walk quickly
down the row, dribbling a mixture of gel and seeds into the furrow.
Then cover. You may have to experiment a few times with cooled gel
minus seeds until you divine the proper hole size, walking speed and
amount of gel needed per length of furrow. Not only will presprouted
seeds come up days sooner, and not only will the root be penetrating
moist soil long before the shoot emerges, but the stand of seedlings
will be very uniformly spaced and easier to thin. After fluid
drilling a few times you'll realize that one needs quite a bit less
seed per length of row than you previously thought.

It's from Gardening Without Irrigation: or without much, anyway
by Steve Solomon. The idea is to get seeds established without having to water them in, but I don't see why it wouldn't work in our rather soggier climate. Apologies if this has been posted before, I do have a vague recollection of it.

[bupster]

[windygale]

Hi Bupster, you are correct, The RHS say in a small booklet called Growing from seed, page 55, fluid sowing of pregerminated seeds, seeds of some crops, such as beetroot, parsnips, can be pregerminated and then fluid-sown.
Sow when the seeds roots are no longer than 1/4" (5cm) long. Mix the seeds with a clear gel (about 250ml(8fl oz) for every 100 seeds, such as wallpaper paste:do not use a paste containing fungicide.Tap the seeds into the jar and stir gently to distribute them. Pour the paste into a plastic bag and knot the open end. Snip off corner and gently squeeze a line of paste into the drill. The Gel helps to keep seeds moist, but  may still need watering. Cover seeds with soil and lable.
I only know about this way as i was doing an assignment on the germination of seeds for my RHS course work.
all the best
windy

[scumpy]

Sounds like a great idea
I could get my Parsnips going this way as last year was a complete disaster.

Do you germinate the seeds in the 'gel' or before adding too the mix?
If before how is this achieved?

Scumpy

[Curryandchips]

It sounds like fun anyway !!!

[windygale]

Hi all , Pergerminate or chitting of the seeds on wet blotting / paper towel first, in a warm , dark enviroment.
When the seeds roots get to no longer than 5cm (1/4") rinse the seeds from the moist paper into a very fine wire mesh sieve with warm water, then gently mix with gel.
hope this helps
windy

[supersprout]

Bupster, this is brilliant, do you know how to put it into the wiki? (I don't - yet ??? :-[)

[myrtle]

Sounds good to me, I'm going to try it for my parsnips too. thanks for the info Bupster and Windy. :)