Does lye kill seeds?

[LadyM]

I'm making a soap using flower seeds for a particular region and want to assure a client that the seed I'll be using couldn't possibly germinate/contaminate the plants in the area if say a bar of soap were somehow left outside or seeds from the soap got into the local water or something. I'm assuming the lye/saponification process would kill the seeds especially because I'm grinding them but ... could it be possible??

It's for an area with protected botanical life and I want to be able to reassure him with total confidence.

I know it's so random, but does anyone have any concrete resource on this?

I would really appreciate it!

 

[LadyM]

Cold process by the way!

 

[kelleyaynn]

If you are grinding the seeds there is no worry. That destroys the seeds. They wouldn't sprout anywhere.

 

[carebear]

If seeds are whole, I couldn't say. Seeds are amazingly resilient and I dint know 100% that the pH of .the lye solution would do it.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I'd also say you'd have to grind up the seeds to be sure. Just remembering a science experiment at school, where we soaked seeds in oil and other stuff and then planted them and they still grew. :shock:

 

[kelleyaynn]

As carebear said, you need to make sure none of the seeds are whole. But if they are all truly ground up, nothing will grow.

 

[American Valkyrie]

Both the alkalinity pre-saponification and the heat process should take care of whatever crushing doesn't do. That would be a serious seed to survive those conditions. I'd say the chances are pretty high that there will be no sproutage going on.

 

[KnowWhat]

I'm not sure the lye would kill the seeds. In a forest fire, there would be natural lye occuring (hardwood ashes and rain), and yet, major forest regrowth depends on forest fires.

 

[kelleyaynn]

You could always test your process. Grind up some seeds like you would for the soap and "plant" in some seed sprouting dirt in a pot and see if anything grows. You would really have to have a whole seed for it to sprout, because once you've broken the covering, you've destroyed the protection around the seed embryo. And if you really crushed the seeds, you've probably destroyed the embryo as well. You could also sift the resulting crushed seeds through a sieve that is smaller than the whole seeds to help ensure nothing you missed gets through. You could also make a test batch and "plant" some of the soap.

If you are really careful, it is unlikely that anything will grow. However, when dealing with keeping invasive and foreign species out of protected (and even non-protected) areas, the safest thing to do is not to do anything at all - don't use the seeds in the soap.

 

[LadyM]

I powdered the seeds really well and then put them through a fine sifter to make sure not one seed remained whole, or even partial.
I put it out to the client to see if he approves.
Something in this form couldn't grow so I think it's super safe.

Thank you all soo much for your advice!!