How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

Hi everyone,

I have some seeds of banana and I want to germination them. I sterilized them by Javen in 30 minutes but seeds still infected (probably fungi) after 3 days.
I want to ask everyone, a method which can kill fungi or bacteria on seed.

Many thanks!

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

Sulfur powder is commonly used in the seed industry.

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

Simply add 1 ounce of 3-percent hydrogen peroxide to 1 pint of water soak your seeds for 18 to 24 hours, rinse and plant.hydrogen peroxide can help discourage unwanted bacteria/fungi that may be lurking in the garden.

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

Many of my seeds would sprout under those conditions. This approach would be poor in my situation.

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

How do you use sulfur powder to kill fungus and bacteria?
Sulfur powder is CaS or S pure?

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

In retail garden stores it is often labeled Sulfur Dust under the brands Bonide, Lilly Miller, etc. Follow the directions for use on the label.

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

Physan20. Mix per directions. After they get a decent soak I dip them in 100% ethanol just like I do my TC explants. Works very well on seeds.

Of couse before dipping them I first inspect them and clean off anything like pulp, etc with a tooth brush.

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

Why are you trying to sterilize the seeds, and how do you know they are infected? It's more important to have good clean sprouting medium, but it doesn't need to be sterile. I would be worried about killing the embryo with any treatment, unless you are performing embryo rescue culture, but that is a totally different thing from just planting seeds.

I just plant seeds directly in pure coconut coir with typically good results if the seeds are fresh. Dry seed can be harder to germinate, typically taking longer and with lower germ rates, but I treat them the same.

I typically start them in communal pots, maybe 20-50 seeds, and when they germinate I separate them out and up pot them individually.

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

I have to agree with Gabe; no need to sterilise. The seed wouldn't be sterilised in nature. I have started to use straight multipurpose compost.

If a seed shows signs of mould straight away then it is probably not a good seed and will not germinate.

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

I have read the label on the internet, it is S powder. Although I am not in the US but in Viet Nam, I can find a similar product.

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

I also think using Physan20 to killing them but in the lab, Physan 20 can hepatotoxic for people.

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

Many thank about your opinion, exactly as you say, I am using dry seed with some months store.
We germinated them with pure coconut but germination rate is very low and we spent more month to have resulted. Fresh seeds had a higher rate a little but it is still a low rate.
After, we changed another method: sterilize as said at first threat, then cut seeds and sow them in agar medium. And after a short time, a big amount seed was covered by white fungi, I think it is fungi. Some seeds sample we tried with a higher concentration and longer time to soak, those seeds did not contract fungi but they also germinated.
I am looking for another method of killing fungus and also bacteria but must ensure good germination rate.

Can you share for me some opinions?

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

What species are you working with? Or are they hybrid seed?

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

Hi Gabe, they are wild banana species seed what I collected in forests.

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

At one time, Thiram was a commonly used on seeds as a fungicide but it has been banned. That's a shame because Thiram was the only effective animal repellant and now all of the animal repellants sold don't work.

About 40 years ago, I had hundreds of pigeons roosting on my roof and my gutters were full of pigeon ****. I sprayed my roof with Thiram and the pigeons left and never came back.

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

Thanks for your useful information! I will try with Thiram, it can protect my seeds by fungus.

Re: How to kill fungus and bacteria on seed before germination
 

Normally just dipping the seeds in anhydrous lab-grade ethanol is enough to sterilize for embryo extraction. Are you sure your techniques are adequate to keep everything sterile? Have you had success culturing other things besides these banana seeds? And what is "Javen"?

What is your set up like? Are you are using proper sterile techniques for the entire process, including sterilizing your medium, vessels, tools and workspace?

I would try ethanol, and then if you are absolutely sure you are not introducing contamination from another source due to technique (and there are many different ways that could be happening), there is the slight chance that the seeds could be containing endophytic fungi, which is known to occur in at least one Musa species, M. ingens.

Can you post a photo of the plants you collected from, or at least describe them? There are a number of species in Vietnam, and some are really quite distinct from others.