Starting seeds in the Instant Pot

[pepperhead212]

That's it, TL, and here's the source I had for it - didn't have great luck with it last year, when I attempted sprouting it, which is why I tried this method, and I'll put some directly in the coir in the hydroponics, and some in a regular pot, assuming more of the 4 seeds sprout!
https://www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/origanum/oregano-wild-zaatar

Several years ago, I almost bought a plant similar to za'tar from Richter's Herbs, when I got my replacement rosemary, and I was looking for a plant I got many years ago, from a local her farm, labeled simply Thyme-scented Oregano. It was a perennial, until a very cold winter killed that, and a sage plant, that was many years old. I had yet to find the plant again - the people are the herb farm didn't even remember it! The one they had only as a plant was the Syrian Oregano, and it is probably the one I had back then, and it's about 4 years old now. However, when I try to harvest, and sprout the seeds, there don't seem to be any in the dried flowers, which I guess is why seeds aren't available! So I wanted to try the za'tar seeds, and see how similar the plants are, even though it is a different species. Here's Richter's description if it:
https://www.richters.com/Web_store/...erb_and_Vegetable_Plants&cart_id=5900399.7140

 

[taxlady]

Good luck growing it from seed Dave. It sounds like it is worth having.

 

[larry_stewart]

Learn something new every day!!

 

[pepperhead212]

3 out of 4 of those za'tar seeds sprouted now in right around 48 hours, and I put 2 of them in the hydroponics tonight.

 

[blissful]

Interesting pepperhead, a type of oregano, but even from the description it is not similar to the spice/seed mix.

 

[pepperhead212]

blissful The flavor is definitely not like those spice mixes - just one of the components. My guess is that the za'tar spice mix is similar to curry powder, related to curry leaves - at one point in time, someone was trying to approximate what they had somewhere in the middle east, so they could make it at home. The thyme in the spice mix was probably the closest thing to the za'tar herb, used in the original recipes, and the other spices were probably added directly to the original recipes in various amounts, as they do with "curries", in India. And, though it wasn't something found in the original areas, za'tar eventually caught on, and is used all over, just like curry powder, after the English came up with it, and is even used in India.

 

[pepperhead212]

So far, no Maui sprouts, and examining the seeds closely I may see one possibly showing a sign of a sprout. If they don't sprout soon, I'm going to do another experiment, based on a strange thing that happened a couple of years ago, when I tried sprouting these with my usual pepper seeds, in the heated vermiculite tray, which is usually kept in the high 80s. Out of about 20 seeds, none sprouted in 2 weeks, when all the rest of the peppers were off and growing in their pots already. So I gave up on it, and pulled all the unused sprouts out of the tray, and dumped the vermiculite into a bag, and stuck it in the shed. It sat their, through the summer, and the shed would get so hot sometimes that when I opened it, I had to let it cool for a while, before touching some things. So I always figured the soil components I kept in there for making up batches of seed starting mix had been sort of "solarized". In fall, I made up a batch of starting mix for the cool weather seeds, using some of that vermiculite. The usual things went in, mostly brassicas, and in just 2 days things started coming up. Normal for lettuce, but usually takes longer for the rest. Plus, the seedlings didn't look normal. And some were sort of purple, and the only one I planted that was purple was kohlrabi. By the 4th day, a bunch of what I planted were coming up, next to the earlier ones, and I realized that they were those Maui purple seeds I had given up on!! In just 2 days they had started coming up, and they had been drying out in that hot shed all summer! I got over a dozen sprouts, yet I didn't get one in the spring.

So here's what I'll do now, in a couple days, if none sprout - I'll take that petri dish and uncover it, and put it in my oven - the one with the pilot light, that stays around 125-130° all the time. In a few weeks I'll plant those in regular soil, at room temp, and maybe a few in the coir in the hydro, and see if any sprouts appear.



Today I took those seeds out. The Comet hi melon seeds didn't sprout at all, despite all 4 of the others ending up like small plants! None of the hoja santa sprouted, and I thought that one might benefit from the warmth. The parsley nor the celery sprouted - I'll try new ones of them in a seed sprouter, as that has worked before. The spearmint is already sprouted in the hydroponics, so I threw those away.

And now, I'm actually making some yogurt in the IP using the yogurt mode! 4 pints curing in there.