Soaking Seed Question

[kimberley breeder]

HI All- I have a batch of seed soaking to sprout. I am using Virkon S. The directions I have olny say to drain the seed after 2-3 hours. Am I right in assuming I dont rinse the seed with clean water at anytime in the sprouting process. The Virkon S will not harm my birds when they eat the chitted seed?? First time I am doing this so any advise would be great!!

[GregH]

Well I've just switched over to the Fidler method of sprouting about 2 months ago and my birds have n't died so I guess it's safe but then again they didn't die fefore when I germinated on damp filter paper for 3 days and they really got fed love sprouts then. If you read Mike's method you'll see that there is a difference between seed mixes for how long it takes for them to germinate. His black seed mix takes only 24h to sprout but his white mix needs another day. I did bring back some black miz and it chited in the alloted time but I had to germinate my white seeds separately as they all took different times. Over here canary was the slowest (3d) White millet and Panicum (2d) and Japanese millet the fastest (1d). I'ts worth experimenting with small quantaties before you get ready to freeze a larger amount.

[gomer]

I soak for two hours,Then pour the virkon over the seed,One last time before draining and then wait for it to chit. I do not at any time rinse with water,Only turn the seed a few times, to keep the moisture content the same through out. Rinsing I think would only wash the Virkon off, And you want the Virkon still on it, while its sitting in the aviary to keep it from turning.

[E Orix]

I have been soaking seed for 2 hours with Virkon S in the water over the last 2+years and my birds breed reasonably well.
I must admit it took a fair amount of discussion from Mike Fidler to convince me that the seed should not soak over night.
What really convinced me was that I could drain it then freeze and it still remained crumbly not a solid block.
If I wanted it to chit then it was allowed to do so then frozen.

[chillired]

Thank you for sharing