This is a good time to start dried tree seeds that need stratification.
I have four different species that need three different treatments.
Fraxinus mandschurica (Manchurian Ash) needs to be soaked for 24 hours to hydrate the seeds, then warm stratified for 30 days followed by cool/cold stratification for 60 days. That will put me at about May 1 for when the seeds go into the dirt.
Cercis canadensis (Eastern Redbud) wants to be soaked in very hot tap-water (120F) for 24 hours to soften its seed coat and then cold stratified for 60 days. I will stratify for 90 days to keep them on the same schedule as the other seeds.
Alnus glutinosa (European Gray Alder) wants to be soaked for 24 hours at room temperature to hydrate the seeds and then cool/cold stratified for 90 days.
Robinia pseudoacacia (Black Locust) seeds need to be dumped into boiling water for 60 seconds. They are a species that evolved in a fire-ecology and the heat of the fire steams the seeds which triggers their germination. Without the steaming, the seed-coat is as impermeable to water as polyethylene. After the hot water treatment, the seeds require no other cold period.
Cover crops
Managing Cover Crops Profitably
This link is placed here so I can find it later.
Going to get busy!
ReplyDeleteI would expect there is a difference between dry heat (open flame, ambient humidity) and wet heat (boiling water).
ReplyDeleteThe latter used to mimic the former is an interesting proposal.
Black Locust seeds collect in the upper 1/4 of soil and the numbers increase every year.
DeleteThe pods fall off the tree randomly through the winter and the winter wind blows them across the snow-pack when they catch in drifts and fence lines.
The pods rot. The seeds drop to the ground and do not germinate.
After a few years they are very shallowly buried in the soil by the frost or are heavily overlain by damp thatch (dead grass).
When the farmer burns the fence-line or a wild-fire moves through in the spring before the trees leaf-out, the seeds get steamed.
Under that scenario, the seeds get wet-heat and not dry-heat.
Jack Pine, on the other hand, are held in their cones on the tree. The scales of the cones are held shut by the original hot-melt-glue, that is, pine pitch.
They need fire to open the cones and release the seeds.
Durn! I always thought you just popped the seed in the ground and up came a plant. I'd say, 'Who Knew?' But I guess you did. Now I do. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHa! Went to the local seed store yesterday! Onion seeds going in the dirt. I get the itch early.
ReplyDelete