Helianthus germination

Everyone in the lab seems to have their own brand of germination suited to their seed collections. If you have fresh seed Nolan’s protocol easy sunflower germination is a great place to start and germination should occur within a week (I have found this works with fresh H. paradoxus seed).

Here are is an updated version of Nolan’s germination protocol. I am working with some older Helianthus seed that takes several weeks to germinate. I have received useful advice from several lab members who are referenced within. I haven’t yet found a way to speed germination of old seed, but the emphasis here is on how to keep conditions sterile to prevent fungal infection until germination occurs. Patience is required.

Sarah’s-sunflower-germination

Feel free to correct or add your brand of germination to this.