This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Stratification
Kasha Sweet
Posts: 6
I have been following instructions to grow Acer rubrum, Betchula pendula and Pinus mugo pumilio, they have been in seed compost now for two weeks in little plastic bags and kept at 13-16 degrees Celcius. The next stage would be to put them in the fridge for four weeks, but one of the P. Mugo pumilio has germinated. Should they all go in the fridge or should I now concentrate on growing the one that has germinated?
0
Posts
Pick out the germinated seed and return the rest to the fridge. you always want more seedlings than you need in case of losses.
I would have thought that cold stratification for 2-6 weeks then 13-25C would have been the instructions given as that is the standard for breaking stratification and what happens in nature. It seems one seed like warm conditions without the cold but the others will need it to break down the inhibition factors inside the seed.
Take out the germinated seed and keep it at the same temperatures in a pot (remove from bag).
A lot of instructions say warm first. In nature the trees shed seed in autumn, before the cold starts, then get cold, then warm again in spring.
I use nature to stratify seeds. Sown outside in autumn the seeds are fresher than kept til spring and put in the fridge which makes no sense at all to me. Freshness is more important for some than others.
My seeds germinating now from autumn sowing.
In the sticks near Peterborough
I put them outside to germinate as well, though rare plant seeds get the bag in the fridge. As long as the soil is loose and damp it works. You also have zero predation in a fridge.
True about the predation blairs. I've been lucky, only suffered once. It was the year I'd made an effort to mouse-proof. I think it alerted the rodents to the presence of berries.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Blairs , no so sure about the "zero predation". I'm sure there was another beer in there last time I looked.