Great thread. I should print for the tips. I have a flat of aronia going; after a year of moist strat in the fridge I noticed seeds were germinating so I figured I better get them in some dirt. Jan was mild so a bunch went in the garden, I’m kind of writing them off as a loss but I don’t have the indoor room to deal with all of them.
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your seedlings appear to be leggy, are they getting enough light? Here are some seedlings of juneberry I started about a month ago for comparison…
No light yet. I need to figure that out asap. The domestic engineering department repurposed some of my square footage
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My previous attempt to grow aronia from seed failed miserably 
I had the seeds in a damp paper towel, stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for 2 months (without cleaning) and it went insanely moldy. Had to throw it all out.
TheDerek, what kind of tool did you use to make those perfect holes in that disposable food tray?
Also, I plan on growing from seeds, if I soak them in normal tap water and place in the refrigerator, how often should I replace the water and clean the seeds? I know you said 2 weeks in this thread, but your water had cloramine, and mine will not.
One last thing, my climate (South Australia) has semi-cold wet winters averaging around 16C (61F) during the day and 8C (46F) at night. Our summers are extremely hot and dry averaging around 29C (84F) during the day and 18C (64F) at night. So I’m just wondering, since I’m going to be soaking my seeds for 2 months in the refrigerator, should I start soaking 2 months before the [start or middle] of [autumn or winter or spring]? I’m planning on sowing these stratified seeds into a mini plastic green house with lid and let it sit in a semi-shaded area under my pergola.
Thanks in advance!
I clean my seeds and replace the water whenever it appears there is mold or bacterial growth taking place. Usually once I have them fairly well cleaned, it only takes a few more water changes and they are good for long term storage. If they do get a little nasty, I strain the seeds out and put them on a paper towel and fold it in half and rub the 2 sides together to clean the gunk off the seeds, or you can just rub them into a towel using your finger, to get the gunk off of them. I actually store my seeds IN WATER usually, instead of in a paper towel, in the fridge. Ziplock bags are gas permeable so they will get oxygen even inside a sealed bag.
The disposable food tray, I used a nail held in a plier and a propane torch to heat it up and melt the holes.
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Of the several hundred seeds I got like 7 that I transplanted.
Hey I have lots of Ariona seed that I collected locally this year, our climate is colder but we also get hot dry summers 35C so they might grow ok for you. If you want to try them out I’ll mail you some, just pm your shipping info.
That’s cool I’m surprised they’ll germinate in water. I have a set of tree seeds stratifying, next month is around when I’ll turn on the grow lights. Usually I’ll stratify in damp sand, then just wash in a strainer to find the seeds when they’re ready. Trying Dr Norman Deno’s method for a set of germination tests, those are all in damp paper towel and go through 3 month cycles at 70/40F. Btw looking at your trays in the photos I also usually start indoors in trays like that for apple, serviceberry over the winter. My regular trays were 50 cell made by sureroots, but this year I’m moving to 32 cell 2.5 x 2.5 x 3.5" pots, a wholesaler sent me 3’ cherry trees in those last summer. I find them easier to handle and transplant from than the solid trays, if the roots haven’t fill out the cell you can still tip it and flex the pot and get it out in one piece.
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Hi, I would love to get my hands on some aronia seeds, however I’m only after true melanocarpa which looks similar to elderberries (smaller, pitch black, high gloss, red pedicels/peduncles), as opposed to the mitschurinii hybrids (usually larger, dark greyish/navy, satin, green/brown pedicels/peduncles).
Here is a picture of the specific variety of aronia I’m trying to get, unfortunately I haven’t had any luck finding seeds of this variety:
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Ok the seeds I collected are the hybrid version.
I didn’t see it mentioned yet in this thread, so I’ll point out that the likely reason Viking and Nero are sterile is that they are actually 75% Aronia-25% Mountain Ash crosses. They are now often named Sorbaronia mitschurinii because it’s assumed the initial crosses were done by Michurin. Here’s an overview article on the topic, with links in the footnotes to the scientific papers establishing the genetics: https://inaturalist.ca/taxa/791069-Aronia-mitschurinii.
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Most of the Ariona I’ve found a garden centers in our area are Viking, but there must be some fertile cultivars or seedlings around our area since the tree I collected the seed from was a volunteer. Testing germination to be sure.
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I’ve read Aronia melanocarpa selections are McKenzie and Autumn Brilliance.
I have McKenzie and this one:
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The hybrid aronia do produce seed, but they mostly sprout into clones instead of new genetically variable offspring
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Yes, ‘Michx. Elliott’ is true melanocarpa. Please let me know if anyone has any Elliott seeds available that they’re able to send me, and how many seeds they have. I’m looking to buy between 50 to 200 seeds.
Here are some pictures of Elliott:
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Years ago i read several sources that said viking aronia are sterile but that is not accurate Aronia in America: Aronia seeds for sale
The gentleman who helped me locate my aronia plants is the same gentleman who wrote the article
" Aronia seeds for sale
We d o not sell aronia seeds. You can either purchase seeds from nurseries that sell them or you can extract seeds from aronia fruit yourself.
This post includes a list of businesses that that sell aronia seeds. To view that list, click on the title of this post or the words “Read more” below and to the left of the picture.
To purchase seeds, you can also click on the Amazon ad entitled “Black Chokeberry Tree Seeds” shown in the right column when you scroll down on this page.
How to sow seeds indoors
(Photo from GardenersWorld.com)
Extracting seeds from aronia fruit
One way to extract the seeds from aronia berries is to place the fruit into a Ziploc bag, seal, and mash the fruit through the bag with my fingers. Then let the fruit decay for a few days, mashing the fruit periodically. After a few days to a week, the pulp will have decayed from a firm substance to a fairly watery one. Fresh aronia berry pulp tends to cling tenaciously to seeds; rotted pulp tends not to.
Dump the mass of pulp and seeds into a large bowl and fill 2/3 with clear water. Rub the pulp/seed around with your hands, squeezing and rubbing the seeds to remove as much as possible. Place the pulverized pulp and seeds in a jar half-full of water. Put the lid on the jar and shake it vigorously. Do this several times. The viable seeds will tend to sink, while the lighter pulp will tend to float. Carefully pour off most of the water and pulp. Refill the jar and repeat several times. If all goes well, you’ll have a collection of clean seeds at the bottom of the jar.
If the pulp is especially tenacious and difficult to separate from the seeds, then a quick trip in the blender along with 1/2 cup water or so will usually remove stubborn pulp. Quick bursts are best and be careful not to overdo it, as damaging the seeds is a concern with this method.
After the pulp has been adequately removed, fill the jar of seeds with 1 part hydrogen peroxide and 5 parts water. Hydrogen peroxide is a mild disinfectant. Shake the jar for a minute or two, rinse thoroughly, and your seed is now clean.
Seeds should be thoroughly dried before storage and subsequent planting. Seeds can be planted immediately in the fall or given 2 to 3 months of cold stratification. The seeds’ internal dormancy can be overcome by stratification in moist peat for 3 to 4 months at 32-41 degrees Fahrenheit before planting.
Viking, Nero, and several other aronia cultivars will come true from seed. That’s because they have a high degree of apomixis. This means that aronia cultivars reproduce from unfertilized seeds (apomictic seeds). The embryos grow from somatic cells, not from fertilized egg cells. The seedlings are genetic duplicates of each other and their parent. In other words, they are clones. It also means that these aronia cultivars do not require self-pollination or cross pollination for fruit production.
However, seedlings grown from aronia cultivars should only be referred to as seedlings of the parent cultivar. For example, plants grown from Viking seeds should be called seedlings of Viking or Viking seedlings.
Genetic tests, done by Dr. Mark Brand at the University of Connecticut, have indicated that the popular aronia cultivars Viking and Nero probably resulted from cross pollination of Aronia melanocarpa and Sorbus aucuparia. In other words, Viking and Nero have some genes that came from European mountain ash. In fact, the genus Sorbus has the ability to easy cross with other genera in the Rosaceae family. Genes from European mountain ash may account for some of the unique characteristic expressed by Viking and Nero. But there are other reasons that may also explain why they are so different from wild aronia plants.
Viking and Nero are polyploids rather than diploids like the wild species, Aronia melanocarpa. Diploid plants have two sets of chromosomes but polyploid plants have more than two complete sets of chromosomes. In fact, many cultivated crop plants and ornamental landscape plants are polyploids. Their wild relatives are often diploids but wild species can also be polyploids. Botanists estimate that about three fourths of flowering plant species are polyploids. Most polyploid plant species arose as a result of hybridization between two species, followed by repeated self-fertilization.
Polyploid plants often have characteristics that make them commercially more valuable than the corresponding diploids. In general, polyploid crop plants and polyploid ornamental plants are larger and more robust than their diploid relatives. They often have sturdier stems, thicker leaves, and larger fruit. Their flowers are bigger with thicker petals and they last longer. Polyploid plants often produce more fruit or grain than their respective diploid wild species.
Many cultivated polyploid plants reproduce more easily by asexual means as compared to their diploid relatives. But diploids tend to reproduce more easily by sexual means (seed). Polyploid cultivars are often partially sterile and seed production is reduced.
Viking, Nero, and several other aronia cultivars have a high degree of parthenocarpy. This means that they set fruit without pollination or fertilization and, consequently, most of the fruit is seedless or only contain a few viable seeds.
Aronia seeds have an internal dormancy that can be overcome by a moist, chilling period. This treatment is called stratification. Here are the steps to stratify aronia seeds:
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Soak the seeds in water overnight
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Place the seeds in a moist material such as milled sphagnum peat
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Refrigerate the seeds for 3 to 4 months at 33 to 41 degrees Fahrenheit.
After the aronia seeds are stratified, plant them no more than one-quarter inch deep in a container filled with a moist, well-drained germination medium. Cover with glass or plastic and keep the container moist, but not soggy. Aronia seeds should germinate in 3 to 4 weeks at 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit bottom heat. As soon as the seeds germinate, place them under bright lights or move them to a greenhouse or cold frame.
For nursery production of seedlings, plant aronia seeds outdoors in well prepared beds in September. If it does not rain, then water the seedbeds before the ground freezes. The seeds will naturally receive cold treatment during the winter. The aronia seeds should start to germinate when the seedbed warms up in the spring.
When a nursery propagate aronia plants from seeds, they may unwittingly misidentify the seed or seedlings by labeling them with the seed parent’s name. Or they may simply list them for sale as aronia seeds or aronia seedlings. If that is the case, then you might want to ask the nursery for the name of the parental plant. For example, if the seeds are being sold as aronia seeds, then you might want to ask the nursery if the seeds came from Viking, Nero, or some other source.
The following businesses sell aronia seeds but I do not know the source of the seeds. If you want to know the seed source, then you will need to ask the business if the seeds came from Viking, Nero, or some other source. (Click on the business name to go to the business website.)
Rich Farm Garden Supply (50 seeds for $6.50, 1 lb. for $129.60)
Sheffield’s Seed Company (106 seeds for $3.95)
Bountiful Gardens (40 seeds for $2.50)
F.W. Schumacher Co. (1 ounce for $10.35)
VanDusen Seed Collectors (25 to 30 seeds for $4.50)
If you have experience growing aronia seeds or if you have questions about growing aronia plants from seeds, then please post a comment in the box below.
Thank you,
Dr. Eldon Everhart"
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I was able to germinate Aronia seeds this year. I found them rather slow to germinate even after three months of cold stratification. The result is I now have very tiny seedlings heading into fall. Even though they will likely be rather cold hardy, I’m not going to risk them so have moved them to my unheated greenhouse to give them a little more time before dormancy.
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I probably won’t be using a greenhouse for mine when they germinate since my climate is already quite warm (probably too warm). I’ve modified my greenhouse so that it acts as a shadehouse instead and allows good airflow.
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TheDerek, how are your aronia plants going by the way? May I ask how many years it took for them to start producing fruit (assuming they have)? Were those first fruits fully developed fruits (normal size and taste as an old tree)?
Also, has anyone tried selective breeding aronia for enhanced flavour? Is this possible with seed from one variety? Any idea how difficult/expensive/time-consuming this would be?