Comparisons of the use of pre-germinated,dry and pelleted seeds for block-raising of glasshouse lettuce

The use of pre-germinated seeds for establishing glasshouse lettuce in peat blocks was compared with dry and pelleted seeds. Sowing pre-germinated seeds gave between 1 and 6% higher seedling emergence than from pelleted seeds and between 1 and 3% higher emergence than from dry seeds. Seedling emergence was reduced from 100% to 56% when the seeds were covered with 5 mm of silver sand compared with no cover. Seedling emergence from seeds covered with Agrigel (sodium alginate) was reduced by 24% at a concentration of 0.25% and by 62% at 0.7% compared with no cover.Guar (a natural gum) and Laponite (a synthetic clay) gels also reduced emergence on certain occasions but not by as much as Agrigel. Satisfactory levels of emergence were obtained when seeds were sown into blocks having an inverted, cone-shaped depression for locating the seeds, but the seedlings showed poor root-hair development and had elongated hypocotyls. Normal seedling growth and high levels of emergence were obtained from the seeds sown into blocks having cylindrical holes 10 mm in depth and 5 or 10 mm in diameter. Pre-germinated seeds invariably emerged earlier than pelleted or dry seeds. At low propagating-temperatures (12.0°C maximum and 5.0°C minimum), emergence was 4 days earlier from pre-germinated than from dry or pelleted seeds and 2–3 days earlier at high temperatures (21.0°C maximum and 9.0°C minimum). Coefficients of variation of seedling weight at planting were lower from sowing pre-germinated than pelleted or dry seeds, but these differences were not evident at harvest.