North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

Title: Re: [NAFEX] saskatoons

I've germinated many seed lots of Amelanchier and they do fine without scarification.  After four months in stratification, many had already started to germinate.  It might be that planting fresh, moist seed was the problem.  Some seeds do better with a period of being dry after harvest as a sort of "after ripening".  Remember, in the prairie areas, they would probably be eaten in mid to late summer, and seed "deposited" on ground that would be rather dry at that time.  Then they would sit several weeks, until fall rains came and winter snows covered them.  They probably germinate under the snow and get roots into the ground as soon as it thaws.
-Lon Rombough
>

> I would like to grow some amelanchier alnifolia from seed. Last year I planted fresh, moist seed (straight from the berries) in July and the results this spring were disappointing. Is a sulfuric acid seed treatment needed on fresh seed or just old dry seed? Just wondering what others have tried and what kind of results you get. I had only about 5% emergence. Thanks!
>  
> Michael Rose
> Grand Forks, ND
> Zone 3