ne 1 try buttermilk to soften seeds?
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
United States
February 20, 2010 7:27am CST
I'm watching P.Allen Smith and he said to use buttermilk to soften seeds with harder outer coverings. I've never heard of using buttermilk. I've used water with my morning glories. But he was talking about using it for okra. I did try to grow okra last year and got one pod so I'm curious if I soak them in buttermilk if it'll work out better.
1 person likes this
5 responses
@pergammano (7682)
• Canada
20 Feb 10
Yes...I use buttermilk on hard seed shells, like morning glory (have NOT tried Okra) due to our growing season...so much easier than strirating them...and the buttermilk adds an innoculant for better rooting, just like nitrogen does for peas and beans! Love P. Allen Smith, but don't have a channel on T.V. that carries him any more...KVOS Seattle used to carry them...but when the US went digital last year (not having cable or a dish) without buying the "black box" can no longer watch US programming. Happy gardening...and Cheers!
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@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
20 Feb 10
thanks for sharing your experience on this. Makes me wish they made really really tiny containers of buttermilk I'd hate to waste it if I didn't have to beyond the seeds.
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@pergammano (7682)
• Canada
20 Feb 10
Lots of people love buttermilk! It's really quite funny, as I love to make my own butter (reminiscent of childhood) and I have neighbour's on both sides standing in line for the buttermilk!
There's a plethora of wonderful recipes on www.Allrecipes.com for "buttermilk" cooking...wonderful cakes, cookies, pancakes..biscuits...or it can be frozen for future use. How about in an ice-cube tray, then you only need one cube for hard shelled seeds! Just frugal me! Take care .. and Cheers!
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@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
25 Feb 10
that is true I would be able to find something especially on all recipies that uses buttermilk that would be left over. I do freeze alot of things in ice cube trays & zip bags a plenty ;0)
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
22 Feb 10
Never heard of this idea, but since I've seen it now it is defintely something that I am going to keep in mind. Last year we tried to grow tomatoes and we were actually quite successful with them. However, the squirrels got to eat a lot of tomatoes and we didn't get to eat any of them. This year we are going to try again and place them in the front of the house where there are less trees and hope that we have better luck. If we do have better luck this year then next year we will actually try to start a garden.
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
25 Feb 10
thankfully we don't have squirrel problems here. I'd do a search for ideas but you'd probably end up doing something with a physical barrier.
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
21 Feb 10
never tried buttermilk..soaking overnight in plain warm water usually does the trick for me.maybe it has an enzyme in it that works better..
@Hatley (163772)
• Garden Grove, California
22 Feb 10
hi 3Snugglebunnies yes P.Allen Smith knows what he is doing and buttermilk
'will work and I would go along with what he says as he does seem to have a green thumb for sure.
@mentalward (14690)
• United States
20 Feb 10
I have not even heard of using buttermilk but I'm so glad I bumped into this discussion! Pergy knows her stuff when it comes to gardening!
Thanks, Pergy! I have planned to grow morning glories this year (assuming it stops snowing long enough) and was just going to follow the directions on the package which don't mention buttermilk. Now, I'll use buttermilk!
Snuggle, you can make buttermilk biscuits or pancakes with the leftover buttermilk. That's what I plan to do. 
Snuggle, you can make buttermilk biscuits or pancakes with the leftover buttermilk. That's what I plan to do. @3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
25 Feb 10
What variety of morning glories are you looking at planting?
