I collected some Acer griseum seed today. It was a pair of trees (so hopefully some cross pollination to improve viability). Trees were mostly bare but the seeds were still attached, so I collected a bunch off the trees.
Any advice on getting best germination?
You might as well hedge your bets first and cut open five or six to check if they are filled. If not, the rest of them are junk too. I’ve been doing this long enough to know.
Dax
I have about 75 seeds, so I can forward to spare a few if they ARE good.
Count me in.
Dax
I assume the “blacker” ones are aborted? So maybe three out of five are good.
One embryo I sliced right down the middle, but two of them are brown and pump looking. So I have at least three good ones, unless those black ones might be viable, too.
Sixty percent viability is good for paperbark, isn’t it?
You got one good one (top left.) Not too sure about the middle one but it doesn’t look filled. The other three are worthless as you know.
I’m surprised you got one. Dirr says to do a 90-day cold strat and then extract the embro and plant in vermiculite and most will grow. Otherwise germination is very erratic for all trifoliate maples and may take up to 2-3 years for germination due to double dormancy (2 cycles warm/cold.)
Okay I see you responded while I am typing that the middle is pretty plum. It looks on my moniter like a seed but one that wasn’t plump so yeah, it sounds filled.
Dax
The middle one is pretty “full” and plump when I took it out completely.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to strat after extraction?
No, absolutely not.
Dax
Ok. I guess my brain says it would help them absorb moisture better which is necessary for stratification to work.
Dirr knows his stuff, though.
I’ve always gone by the assumption that once a seed is extracted in embryo form that all stratifcation periods have been met and now it’s time to grow.
Have a good one Bryan and let me know how things go if you think about it.
Dax
