Have any of you ever tried this in regards to Acer Palmatum seeds?

Mashu

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Two days ago, I was checking on the 200-300 J. Maple seeds I had in the fridge and noticed none of them seemed like they were going to break free any time soon, so I decided to do a little experiment. I took about 10 of them and cracked open their shells to reveal the actual healthy seed inside and planted them in a bag of soil. I wanted to see if the process of germination could be expedited any amount. I checked them today to see that some of them have already begun germinating. Does anyone have any thoughts about this process?
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GrimLore

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Document all of them, done different ways, keep track of humidity, heat, etc... to better understand keeping any of them alive.

I find myself a lack of any good success with seeds for the reason most all "damp off" after germination. Myself I have no interest in trying anymore but for MANY that information could be valuable and save them a LOT of frustration.

Serious, hope you has success!

Grimmy
 

Mashu

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How did you crack it open?
When you harvest the seeds, you normally find that 2-3 will be growing together. In that separation, it cracks open quite easily if you have a fingernail or something similarly small to use. Kind of like a small peanut.
 

Mashu

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Document all of them, done different ways, keep track of humidity, heat, etc... to better understand keeping any of them alive.

I find myself a lack of any good success with seeds for the reason most all "damp off" after germination. Myself I have no interest in trying anymore but for MANY that information could be valuable and save them a LOT of frustration.

Serious, hope you has success!

Grimmy
They're kept in a very humid environment. Actually just in a plastic bag with some seed-starting soil. I placed the bags in a dark corner of my greenhouse and they are kept around 78 degrees fahrenheit.
 

AlainK

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I've had them in the fridge since mid-october.

That's almost 3 months stratification: I think that it's not "scarification" that triggered their germinating, but their being put in a warmer environment.

I already had J. maples sprouting in the fridge after 2 months.

I think that "scarification" is unnecessary, at least for most maple species.
 

Mashu

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That's almost 3 months stratification: I think that it's not "scarification" that triggered their germinating, but their being put in a warmer environment.

I already had J. maples sprouting in the fridge after 2 months.

I think that "scarification" is unnecessary, at least for most maple species.
I also have a good number of seeds that I have not scarified. I will also plant them and keep track of their progress for comparative purposes.
 

rodeolthr

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Did you soak the seeds before they went into the potting mix and into the fridge? It's my understanding that the stratification period is as much about the amount of time needed for the moisture to penetrate the seed coat, but I may be mistaken.
 

Mashu

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To those who are interested, here are some of the more successful germinations of the seeds I forcefully removed from their capsules. As of now, none of the control group I left in their shells show signs of germination. I will continue to monitor them daily for any activity. Currently, it seems like my method of removing the seeds from their shells after a stratification period in the fridge has a decent success rate. I guess the next best thing to do would be to gather many seeds next year and try my method on a few of them without a fridge-stratification period and compare to a group which will be stratified and removed, as well as a comparison to the normal control group of non-removed seeds.
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Mashu

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Did you soak the seeds before they went into the potting mix and into the fridge? It's my understanding that the stratification period is as much about the amount of time needed for the moisture to penetrate the seed coat, but I may be mistaken.
Half of the seeds I did soak for 24 hours before placing them into a mix and into a potting soil before placing them in the fridge. The other half went straight into a bag with no potting soil in the fridge. I took a few from each and performed this strange operation. They are in two separate bags of potting soil and it seems like there is no notable difference between the two in terms of germination rates. I don't claim to be an expert on this subject at all. I'm just some guy with too much time on his hands.
 
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