I am a first-time gardener and would like to plant morning glory seeds near my fence... the back of the seed packet recommends that before planting, you should "nick each seed with a file" first. Next it says to soak them overnight in warm water, then place in a warm place on damp paper towels for 24 hours.

All this makes sense to me except the nicking with a file thing, and I can't seem to find any better explanation online. Can someone help me? Does this mean to use something like a metal nail file? Can I just nick it with a razor blade?

Thanks in advance!

 

Hi jb23

The seeds of the Morning Glory, Moon Flower etc, have a very thick hull. A nail file or some thing, that will thin the hull is what you need.

Trying to cut the hard smooth seed may get you cut. I just take a $1.00 Xastard File X=B. I got at Wal-Mart & rub the seed back and forth until I can see a light color in a small spot.

You could just plant them but they may take a Month to come up. You are using a Gardeners trick, with thinning the hull & soaking in water.

Hope I helped you.

 

Thanks so much! That makes much more sense.

 

I am going to plant Morning Glory, too, so it can trail along the fence a bit. However, these seeds are tiny! How do you manage to hold them while you file the seed to thin the hull?

 

I have a flower bed that is about 14 ft long and 2 ft wide. The previous owner planted daffodils for about 10 ft of the 14 ft length. While these white daffs are nice, the leaves are driving me crazy! They are all over the place! The blooms will die shortly and then the leaves sort of wilt and droop and then die all through the summer, making a very untidy flowerbed.

How are you supposed to keep daffodils tidy and what do you do with the leaves once the blooms have gone?

 

Hi rlrcstrs

Yes, I know that many Gardeners try to grow an all season garden, with Spring, Summer & Fall color in the same area.

You could let them die back & transplant them all somewhere else this Fall. All Spring Bulbs must go through the browning ugly phase, in order to bloom again next season.

Lin is into MorningGlorys more than I & she said that only the large seeded Moon Flowers need the hull thinned & to just soak the MorningGlory seeds for 24 hours.

After that, they will start within a week. So now you know the truth I grow things to eat, & Lin brings all the colors to the team. UGH! I guess it is a Man thing, however she does sell a heck of a lot of Flowers.

I do enjoy Flowers, but my real love is growing Fruits & Vegetables, that drives me to work so hard. So we grow everything we can find a space for, & that's how we compromise.