Experiment for germination 

What is an inhibitor?  It can be a variety of substances made by plants that keep the seeds from germinating until everything in perfect for the plant to grow and develop. These inhibitors help guarantee that the plant will live.  This sometimes happens by limiting how many plants grow at the same time so they will have enough space, light, water, etc.  This gives them a better start and will ensure they can grow to their full potential.

Some chemicals make by plants keep the seeds from germinating until the condition is right for their development. These substances are there so that other plants can survive and thrive and gives each plant time to prosper on its own without being overpopulated by many other types of plants.  A lot of fruit have these growth inhibitors and they cause the seed to wait until it can germinate and survive.  Some seeds are limited by other seeds and plants inhibitors.  They don’t let other seeds come up until they are completed their their life cycle.  Sometimes this happens when the flesh area of fruit has decayed and the inhibitor leaks into the soil.

SO HERE IS YOUR EXPERIMENT:

Do you know that the seed pods of some grasses have these chemicals that stop the growth off other seeds.  This can be removed by soaking the seeds in water overnight.  Then you pour off the water and keep it in a refrigerator to keep it from going bad.  Use this water to water pots with seeds that were just planted.

You don’t want algae, mold or fungus to affect the procedure so you need to put the seeds in sand that has been boiled to remove any bacteria or fungi.

Put the same amount of seeds in each pot and water half with the water with the seed inhibitor and half the pots with normal water.

You will want to test different kinds of seeds because some have different inhibitors.

Here are some know fruits that have inhibitors in it.  Try these and see if they reduce seed germination: tomatoes or tomato juice, lemon peel (you may want to soak this in water to get the effect, onion juice, apple juice or cider, and the water that you have cooked spinach or carrots.

Use a good lined or graph paper to keep logs.