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

NAFEX founding member Prof. Elwyn Meader had an outstanding method for germinating Rubus.  Mix the fresh berries with sand and mash them up.  He would pack that into a tiny clay pot, put that inside another pot and bury it in the garden for the winter.  I found I could get as good a result by putting the sand/berry mix in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.  In spring, spread the sand over a flat and the seeds gave 100% germination.  If you have clean seed, mix it with some raw apple pulp and proceed as with fresh berries.  The fermenting fruit pulp helps break down the seed coat so that stratification is much more effective.  Avoids the need to use sulfuric acid on the seed.
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com  Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003. 
For even more grape lessons, go to  http://www.grapeschool.com
For all other things grape,   http://www.vitisearch.com
A video about The Grape Grower : http://cookingupastory.com/index.php/2008/04/18/the-grape-grower/
On Jun 30, 2008, at 4:48 PM, Ernest Plutko wrote:

I put seeds on wet paper towels in closed plastic containers in
refrigerator.  No germination after 3 months.