Starting Seeds in Gelatin

[sildanani]

I've been desperately trying to germinate some passiflora and other difficult to germinate seeds. Plastic Baggie method grows mold really quickly and they get lost in the soil. I like the ability to check on their progress, so I found this blog post that used gelatin in Petri dishes. I couldn't find a lot on it other than the post, but it sounded successful! Cinnamon was used as an antifungal. The nitrogen in the agar is helpful in seed starting so that's a plus. The agar is a great way to prevent seedling damage. You can plant the seedlings with some of the agar intact and it will "feed" the seedlings for some time. Now that I'm not broke lol, I will try this method sometime this summer!
Blog link: http://medusasgarden.blogspot.com/2011/02/tips-for-these-hard-to-germinate-seeds.html?m=1

[DimplesLee]

You can buy premixed agar (with plant nutrients included) from hydroponics or tissue culture shops. You only need to boil the agar powder when you get home, pour into sterilised containers and pop in seeds in the jello once it cools then you're set.

[HIfarm]

This is the first time I have heard of gelatin being used for starting seeds.  They have been using agar for decades for media for starting various kinds of plants.  As Dimples mentions, these prepared mixes contain various minerals & nutrients for the developing plants.  Gelatin & agar act similarly -- they both form gels.  However, gelatin is a protein while agar is a polysaccharide (basically a sugar polymer).  It is interesting that gelatin can be used for this purpose -- and its certainly a lot easier to find gelatin locally.  Thanks for posting.  I can't think of anything I would want to try it on but good to know about.

[sildanani]

This is the first time I have heard of gelatin being used for starting seeds.  They have been using agar for decades for media for starting various kinds of plants.  As Dimples mentions, these prepared mixes contain various minerals & nutrients for the developing plants.  Gelatin & agar act similarly -- they both form gels.  However, gelatin is a protein while agar is a polysaccharide (basically a sugar polymer).  It is interesting that gelatin can be used for this purpose -- and its certainly a lot easier to find gelatin locally.  Thanks for posting.  I can't think of anything I would want to try it on but good to know about.

Ah, I thought the terms gelatin and agar could be used interchangeably! Thanks for that HIfarm!