How To Sanitize Your Seeds Before Germination

H₂O₂ (Hydrogen Peroxide) offers an affordable and effective way to improve your germination rates

Looking to improve your germination rates? If you don’t use H₂O₂ in your germination process, you may be missing out on an easy boost to your germ process. In this article, we’ll look at why H₂O₂ can improve germination rates and how to apply it to your grow.

Why Does One Need To Do This?

The reality is that no one, not even us seed banks knows what the growing conditions were like in the breeder’s room. It’s extremely common for certain fungal pathogens to exist in these environments, but never show themselves to the cultivator as the environmental controls prevent them from taking off.

That doesn’t mean these pathogens don’t exist on the plant, small spores of common funguses like pythium and fusarium are abundant, but the immune system of the plant can keep them at bay.

These spores can still latch onto seeds and it’s not always possible to tell whether they were introduced by the breeder or the end grower. The fact remains that you don’t want these spores on your seeds. Especially in the germination process where high humidity and stagnant air create an environment where they can thrive.

Washing Seeds Before Germination To Reduce Risks of Pathogens

One of the most effective ways to remove these spores is with H₂O₂ (Hydrogen Peroxide), but you’ll need to make sure you use the right ratio, or you can end up damaging your seeds.

How Much Hydrogen Peroxide To Use When Soaking Cannabis Seeds

Use 3% hydrogen peroxide and mix it in a 1:15 ratio with pH-balanced water (anywhere between pH 5.5 and pH 6.2). For example, mix 5ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide with 50ml of water.

This will give you a safe mix that can be used to soak your seeds, keeping in mind this is just a pre-soak wash. So if you soak your seeds, you can do that separately, I tend to prefer slightly lower ratios of hydrogen peroxide when doing a long soak.

Swirl the seeds around in the mixture and let them sit for between 5 and 15 minutes. This is typically enough time to kill off most of the spores.

It Can Also Be Used In Your Final Soak

At this point, most growers will then plant the seeds directly into soil, or give them a soak in water for between 12 and 18 hours. You can also use your hydrogen peroxide mix here to improve your germination rates further.

A cool feature of H₂O₂ is it doesn’t just kill pathogens, it also increases the amount of oxygen in the water. This can help to prevent seeds from drowning and also reduce problems like damping off.

When I’m done with my washing mix (the 1:15 ratio one), I sometimes add a tablespoon or so into my main seed soak’s water.

If you’ve been having issues with germination rates, struggling with damping off, or other pathogenic growth, consider incorporating hydrogen peroxide into your process. There’s no harm and it only has benefits to offer.

Mixing Higher Percentage H₂O₂

Using 3% hydrogen peroxide is the easiest, but it’s also possible to use higher percentages of H₂O₂, but you’ll need to dilute it further. Making small mistakes in the ratio can create a mixture that is simply too strong.

I recommend creating a 3% solution from your higher percent H₂O₂ first, which will let you follow the rest of this guide without too much math involved.