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How To make Germinate Seeds

by Brent Walston Translated from the English by Jean-Christophe Godart Introduction During years I multiplied the majority of my plants by propagation by cutting and I bought my plants of sowing because I had the impression that the seeds of woody plants of me would require five more to ten of training as for the cuttings. I was right also. I make a point of enormously thanking Norman Deno for all that it taught me on seeds. Its book on seeds is as important as the book of Dirr and Heuser on the cuttings. If you should not have that a book on seeds, it should be that Ci: Seed Germination Theory and Practice, Norman C. Deno. You must order to him directly and I believe it which there is an update that I do not have yet. The address that I have is 139 Lenor Dr., State College Pa 16801, the USA. Buy the book, should help us of the people like Deno, who leave the beaten paths, but which revolutionize the market by the force of their ideas. Deno developed for a long time a system to include/understand the germination of seeds. Its theory is that the fruits and seeds contain chemical substances in their pulp, tegument or embryo which inhibit germination. Deno is a chemist physicist not a botanist thus he knows this field. These chemical substances are barriers with germination which must often be raised to make it possible seed to germinate. Forget the terms like the stratification, they are now antiquated. In the beginning, this term referred to the practice to lay out seeds in the pots which are kept cold, to lay out them in layers or to laminate them. I prefer to use the terms that Deno uses, because they describe more precisely what occurs. These terms are inhibiting of germination for the chemical substances which must be raised, and preprocessing for the process used. I think that it is the least that one can make to pay homage to the work of this man. The chemical reactions which take place for raising certain inhibitors of germination are rather unusual in what they require a moisture and a temperature in a determined fork, neither more cold nor more heat. As a Deno chemist identified this type of reaction and explains how it can occur, though us should not worry us here. Another inhibitor is raised at hot temperatures, another by a mushroom, one still for lack of light, and one in the presence of light, though the light seems to function in conjunction with mushroom. A type of inhibitor is present in the majority of the pulpy fruits and must be withdrawn physically. In more there are physical barriers which must be raised such as the impermeable teguments of certain seeds. Deno takes again all that in what it calls the nine principles. I do not go give them to you all the nine, but I will summarize the most current problems relating to the germination of seeds.

Inhibitors Raised by Moisture and the Temperature


First of all you must understand that seeds of various species and even various CULTIVARS are different and can contain various inhibitors. Deno established an encyclopaedia to identify the inhibitors for each species which it can. Unfortunately for us, it is interested more by the rock plants and alpine that by the ligneous family, but there are many references to the latter and even more in the update, according to what I know.

But by including/understanding the principles, it is a task rather easy to identify the inhibitors yourself with a simple succession of experiments with seeds in wet paper napkins. Some inhibitors are raised under wet conditions with 21C (70F) and others with 4,5C (40F). The seeds can often contain more than one inhibitor. There is a curve of germination for each species which describes the rate of germination in time, but in what concerns us none of these cycles takes a long time than 90 days for the vastest majority of plants. If the cycle is shorter, you can easily determine it by examining the paper napkins each week to see whether the seed with started to germinate. The majority of seeds of woody species of moderate climate contain an inhibitor which requires a cycle of 4,5C (40F) followed of a cycle to 21C (70F). That has direction, since it is the means which nature found to prevent germination when the weather is still too cold. Sometimes the inhibitors must be raised in a certain order, initially 4,5C (40F) then 21C (70F), or vice versa. The seed will not germinate before that does not occur. Certain species require several cycles. What means, that there can be more than one inhibitor with 4,5C (40F) or 21C (70F), and when that arrives, they are raised one at the same time. Thus you must alternate three months with 4,5C (40F) followed by three months with 21C (70F) until the seeds germinate. I often wrote that Acer japonicum require such a multiple cycle. The advantage of using wet paper napkins and plastic bags for prtraiter of seeds is that you can do all that without having to put a ground box in the refrigerator. When the seeds finally germinated, withdraw bag and plant them, at the same time if necessary, and it is often the case. I prefer to wait until the rootlet appears to plant them in a compartmentalized box. That eliminates much from the losses which implies the seed sowing. You know that the seed that you planted is viable because it already germinated! It is particularly useful for rare and expensive seeds that you have in small quantities.

Mushroom and Reactions to the Light


Buy the book. But it will teach you that the majority of the seeds which interest you do not have this kind of inhibitors.

Inhibitors Present in the Pulp of the Fruits


Deno highlights which these inhibitors are much more frequent than people believe it. We do not notice it much since the current practice is to wash seeds or to make it possible pulp to disintegrate during the winter. But if you collect fruits to obtain seeds it is imperative to follow this procedure to withdraw all the inhibitors possible. Wash seeds to withdraw any trace of pulp. You can do it mechanically or let ferment pulp so that it is detached. Once relatively clean, daily wash seeds during seven days to withdraw all the fruit traces and the inhibitor. The majority of these chemical substances are water soluble, but very little are containing oil and the addition of very small little detergent will dissolve them. That made a success of me very well with Dogwood (Horned), Ginkgo, and Prunus mume.

Seeds with Impermeable Tgument


There are some species which have teguments (envelopes) hard which do not let pass water in order to begin the process of preprocessing, or the embryo to develop. If the seeds are collected fresh and wet you already solved the problem of moisture. You can pretreat according to the temperature and then notch the tegument of seed to allow the core to get clear.

How To test
Take seeds PLUNGED in water and place them in towels or paper hankies which you place in thin plastic bags that you close. It is not proven, but it is completely possible that oxygen is necessary so that the reactions occur. Keep with 21C (70F) during ten days at two weeks if you do not know or not if an inhibitor with 4,5C (40F) is present. In my experiments, if no inhibitor with 4,5C (40F) is present and that the seed is fresh, it starts to germinate of continuation. If you do not obtain anything at the end of the two weeks, place it in the refrigerator for three months, examine each week by seeking signs of germination. Often fresh seeds of woody species will start to germinate after one month. At the end of the three months if you did not note any germination, then an inhibitor with 21C (70F) is undoubtedly present. Keep seeds with more or less 21C (70F). For the majority of seeds of woody plants, the inhibitor is raised quickly and they will start to germinate in one week or two. If not, keep with 21C (70F) during three months. If nothing occurs, a second inhibitor with 4,5C (40F) is present (on the basis of the principle of course that the seed is viable). Return to the refrigerator, repeat the cycles until seeds germinate, that corresponds, or the seeds rotted. You of course can, to make various experiments if you do not have information of the whole on your seeds. A sachet in the refrigerator, with 21C (70F), etc Some remarks on the care. The seed must remain wet inside during all this process. Deno does not speak much about it, but my experiment with seeds of woody species showed me that they can remain much drier outside than the majority of people believe it. To keep with dryness eliminates much from the mushroom problems implied by long shelf lives. This is why I pays attention so much to obtain fresh seeds which did not dry yet, they have already internal moisture and that does not make any difference for those which have an impermeable tegument. Some easy ways to determine the correct level of moisture: Learn the difference between wet and wet. If a film of moisture is on seed or the plastic sachet it is wet and nonwet. The paper napkin should appear almost dry. If it becomes rigid during the process, it is dry, and one should hardly add some water drops or only one pressure of spray. For the seeds which do not take much time with prtraiter like Cedrus, I do not even use a paper napkin or of another support, I plunge seeds, dries them with the sun lasting about fifteen minutes until the outer jacket is dry with the touch and I place them in a sachet at the refrigerator. The seeds are very pulpy and keep enough water for the month during which they are with the refrigerator. Cedrus are VERY sensitive to the water excess and mildew in one moment (see my article on Cedrus for more information).

If your seeds smell extremely mildewed, but did not make yet burst their envelope, you can wash them in a hydrogen peroxide solution (or Javel?) with ten percent. Let dry, replace then on their site in new sachets and paper napkins. Deno specifies that the healthy seeds have natural antibodieses for the majority of mushrooms, and it is true. But to maintain seed too wet is to take much risks. Once you have a pathogenic germ it seems that you have it for the life and that precautions are to be taken.

Fresh seeds
I will never insist enough on the importance to have fresh and correctly stored seeds. Deno had fun to highlight that many seeds are fresh when they are collected by the supplier and, died on arrival, simply because they dried. The most notorious example is Acer rubrum. The seeds can dry in no manner and must be collected fresh and wet on the trees in spring and be planted immediately. They germinate in about ten days without any preprocessing. I spent of the hundreds of seed dollars of Acer palmatum without only one not germinating until I become malignant and collects my own seeds in October and November. Best the seeds still have a certain colouring of the wings and the pulpy part is still a little wet. If the seeds are collected at this time and put at the refrigerator without drying more they will preserve a certain time, but the majority of the merchants are not worried any. Other seeds with this problem are Carpinus, and Fagus. I thought that to let dry a seed too a long time placed it in a state of major dormancy, but now, on the basis of work of Deno, I think that that kills them, as in the case of Acer rubrum, or allows seed and his tegument to dry, harden and become semi-impermeable so much so that you cannot humidify the embryo any more whatever the time of immersion. In Conclusion I probably forgot a half dozen things, but this will enable you to start to make germinate your own seeds. Bonsais resulting from sowing are projects in the very long term, even five years for the smallest bonsai, therefore you do not limit to this only means of production. But, that can be very gratifying as an element of your plan of acquisition of plants.

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