Pre-germinating pumpkin seeds helps you increase the chances of successfully turning the seeds into seedlings when you start your planting project. This is useful when you started a bit late into the season and want to catch up. Sometimes when you do the sowing of seeds, some of the seeds do not grow and just rot in the soil. Pre-germination eliminates that risk. Here’s how you can do that in your own home.
Table of Contents
Gather your materials
For this project, you will need packs of pumpkin seeds, which you can get in your regular grocery store or landscape shops. You also need a pot or a bed of soil for your pumpkins to grow into. Prepare a small bowl of warm, but not boiling water for the pre-germination process.
Prepare your soil
Get rid of garbage on the soil by picking out stray pieces of leaves and other unwanted debris. Check if the container or the bed of soil has proper drainage and is essentially ready to serve your pumpkin seeds. Mix the compost material into the soil if you haven’t done so already.
Prepare the seeds in warm water
In a small bowl, pour some warm water. The water should still be warm to the touch, but definitely not boiling or else you will end up cooking the seeds. The seeds should comfortably fit inside the bowl with the water inside.
Soak the seeds
Pour your seeds into the bowl of warm water and let them soak for around 3 hours. This gives each seed some time to warm up and open up a bit, ready to be planted into the prepared soil. If you are planting the giant variety of pumpkins, soak them a bit longer since it takes a bit more time for the seeds to warm up. Drain the seeds from the water when you are ready to plant. Do not soak the seeds for too long or else the seeds will rot once placed in the soil.
Follow the seeds’ package instructions
Each packet of pumpkin seeds has a set of instructions that you must follow. Place the seeds in small holes drilled by a pencil or any similar instrument and cover the seed loosely with soil. Soil that is way too compacted will be too heavy for the seedling to push through when it starts to grow. Make sure you leave enough space between each seedling, at least 3 inches, so that they do not grow on top of each other.
Position your pot in a well-lit area
If you planted the pumpkin seeds in a pot, make sure you save them a spot where there is lots of sunlight. Keep it away from drafts and artificial sources of heat such as ovens or heaters.
In a few days time you should see some seedlings sprouting out to the surface. Follow up your seed germination with lots of loving care. Soon you will have a patch of pumpkin growth crawling its way around the pot or the bed of soil. Pumpkins grow in crawling vines. Make sure you replant your seedlings from the pot into a bed of soil to give them enough room for growth.