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Be the Seed
 You
can go without water for a time, or without food for a time, and
even survive colder or hotter weather for a time, but the one thing
you need constantly, is oxygen. Both humans and germinating seed use
a biochemical process called respiration to survive and grow. During
respiration, both humans and germinating seed take in oxygen, and
then release carbon dioxide. Without oxygen to drive the respiration
process, you would die or quickly be damaged. Just like you, a
germinating seed will also die or quickly be damaged if it does not
have available oxygen.
Avoid Death and Damage
As a seed pellet takes in soil moisture, water fills the pore spaces
in the pellet and pushes out the available air. Under drier,
non-saturated soil conditions, oxygen is not totally pushed out of
the pellet, so oxygen is usually available to the seed. When the
pellet is fully saturated for a short period of time, as might be
the case during irrigation, available oxygen may be lacking.
Germination problems may arise in this situation, especially if the
seed is additionally stressed by other environmental conditions such
as hot or cold temperatures. So…how do you make a seed pellet that
provides maximum amounts of oxygen, even when the soil environment
is not perfect?
What “Pelleting Nerds” Know
Three things;
-
Select
pelleting materials that come together to form a pellet with a
lot of pore space (60% is good).
-
Include a
water repelling or “hydrophobic” material in the pellet
materials mix. When a pellet is saturated with water, a particle
of water repelling material will form something like an “air
bubble” around itself. The air inside this “bubble” can be used
by the seed when saturation occurs.
-
A pellet that
splits open like an egg is always good. When a pellet splits
apart, it opens the pellet up to oxygen, but also eliminates any
physical obstruction to root growth. A root may be able to more
easily move into soil because it doesn’t have to push through
the pelleting material.
Harris Moran’s New OptiCoat
Pellets
Harris Moran has three new pellets in their new
OptiCoat pellet series:
-
a light
density pellet with a weight increase of about 18 to 1,
-
a medium
density pellet with a weight increase of about 27 to 1, and
-
a heavy
density pellet with a weight increase of about 35 to 1.
These pellets have high porosity,
hydrophobic particles mixed in, and all split open for optimum
performance under most environmental conditions.
Click
HERE to learn more about the new OptiCoat pellet series
Well, that’s all for now.
See you next time, when we talk about “Seed Pathology and
Disinfection…Keeping it Clean”.
Talk to you soon
Keith
k.kubik@hmclause.com |
