Soybeans for rose seed germination?

Title: Germination improvement by means of soybean extract.

Author: Bucksteeg, Wilhelm.

Published in: Nachrbl. deut. Pflanzenschutzdienst (1938), 18, pages 87-8.

Abstract: "Soybean ext. was prepd. by digesting 1 part soybeans, freed of the shell and bitter principle, with 4 parts H2O at 60

In case you are curious about what is in that soybean extract, let me give you a hint or two. If the hulls were removed but the seeds were not ground up, most of what leaches out is common sugar-sucrose, and a polyol- pinitol. There is also some complicated mixture of other sugars including those that produce flatulance. A colleague of mine, Phil Nordin published at least one paper on the subject in the early 1980s. I don’t have the paper in front of me right now. Probably there is some myo-inositol also. That is sometimes sort of a vitamin for some kinds of bacteria. The pinitol is used to protect against osmotic stress in the seed. sucrose of course is an energy source. I later used hot water extraction of soy meal (which had been extracted with hexane to remove its oil) trying to get a source of abundant pinitol to use for something useful. Never could get the pinitol really pure and free of other sugars.

There may be some minerals too but at 60 C most of the protein would be cooked and not soluble in water, so its not likely there is protein there. Soybeans also have some nod factors which stimulate the growth of certain bacteria. Plus a whole lot of genistein, an antioxidant that serves as a growth stimulant and chemoattractant to the nodulation bacteria.

Very interesting old paper.

I have applied finely ground solid organic soy flour to the seeds in some of my petri dishes with a small brush. I do not touch the seeds. I simply shake the brush with flour above the seeds and let the powder settle down on the seeds.

Since the seeds are on wet sand, it will be easy to remove the soy/sand from the seeds (if I decide to terminate the experiment) by washing the sand / soy / seed mixture in a fine mesh kitchen strainer.

The first soy treated seed germinated today.

Henry

Have you any update on Soybean flour treatment?

My seeds are about to come out of fridge so would be interested if it shows promise.

If possible I would like an update on your current seed storage and stratification methods. Do you push seeds into sand or just sit them on top? how do you maintain correct moisture levels etc. Russ.

I applied the soybean flour rather late in the season without any controls. I guess that all one can say for certain is that it did not stop the germination.

My 2006-2007 seed starting method is at:

http://home.neo.rr.com/kuska/new%20germination%20method.htm

Link: home.neo.rr.com/kuska/new%20germination%20method.htm