Does anyone have any experience with getting around the double dormancy in cornus mas? I have experience with double dormancy in Beach plums as well as double dormancy or whatever it is that honey locust exhibits, which is really just a need for scarification. I wonder if cornus mas is similar to Honey Locust in that it can be scarified to get it to germinate after only one winter of stratification. Beach Plum is a strange bird as it is not about scarification. In fact, I have completely removed the shell of Beach Plum seeds leaving just the kernel and Beach plum still will often not germinate until the second year. I have had significant success cutting the very end off honey locust seeds with a nail clipper and getting them to germinate after only one winter of stratification. So I decided I would try something similar with cornus mas seeds that I collected last fall. I planted three sets of seeds. One I did not physically scarify in any way. The second batch I carefully cut the stem end off using nail clippers until I saw a little bit of moisture. The third batch I did the same thing on the blossom end of the seed. All seeds were planted out today, and I will see what happens this season. Has anybody else tried anything like this?
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You could also stick them in your fridge in a baggie with moist peat/potting soil for a cold-warm-cold stratification. Not sure what it needs for timing, but 90 days in each step is a pretty safe bet. I’d actually be surprised if you couldn’t get away with 60-90-60 and still get a pretty full growing season in the next year.
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