Most efficient, fast way to germinate maple seeds?

Discussion in 'Maples' started by Soumil Yarlagadda, Feb 4, 2022.

  1. Soumil Yarlagadda

    Soumil Yarlagadda Well-Known Member Maple Society

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    anyone have the most efficient way to remove dormancy quicker than normal and achieve good germination through techniques such as removing the seed from the pericarp, soaking in cold water for a day before stratification, stratifying in alumnium foil, etc? who has had success making slow to germinate maples germinate much faster? like using gibberellins?
     
  2. Soumil Yarlagadda

    Soumil Yarlagadda Well-Known Member Maple Society

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    if you have any ideas, please post.
     
  3. maf

    maf Generous Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    This is known to work for many species, but obviously labour intensive.
     
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  4. Soumil Yarlagadda

    Soumil Yarlagadda Well-Known Member Maple Society

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    Does spraying gibberellic acid on the maple + adding fertilizer speed up the trees growth?
     
  5. Soumil Yarlagadda

    Soumil Yarlagadda Well-Known Member Maple Society

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  6. LoverOfMaples

    LoverOfMaples Generous Contributor Maple Society

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    I've never tired to use anything to chemically enhance the process of germination. There was someone on here a while back experimenting with something to germinate A. griseum seeds. Search Acer griseum, you should run into it.
     
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  7. Soumil Yarlagadda

    Soumil Yarlagadda Well-Known Member Maple Society

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    Thanks ill look into it
     
  8. 0soyoung

    0soyoung Rising Contributor

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    The general effect of GA3 is to enhance germination rates. To the best of my knowledge, gibberellins applied to seeds have no further effect. Further, I don't believe there is much of an effect on the seeds of maple trees. On the other hand, it has remarkable effects on the germination of Stewartia pseudocamellia.

    SeeDeno Deno - NALDC Search Results
     
  9. Riverdale27

    Riverdale27 Active Member

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    I'm trying a lot of ways this year:
    - seed with bit of moisture in plastic bag and in the fridge
    - seed with bit of moisture and sand/peat mix in the fridge
    - seed sown in a pot in the greenhouse

    So far, I can only tell that it's the seed that makes the difference. I bought small-palmatum seed from a specialized firm in the Netherlands and pretty much all of it is germinating and quickly too. But obviously also quite boring in form...

    The bigger seeds that I collected from my own trees, from other people's trees, and so on... (some fresh, others already more brown... Aureum, Bloodgood, Osakazuki, various Dissectums...) are all big seed and none of those have sprouted yet. I'll sow them outside in March and see what happens...
     
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2022
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  10. Soumil Yarlagadda

    Soumil Yarlagadda Well-Known Member Maple Society

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    did you try removing the seeds from the pericarp or at least splitting it open?
     
  11. Soumil Yarlagadda

    Soumil Yarlagadda Well-Known Member Maple Society

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    and soaking in cold water prior to stratification really helps.
     
  12. Soumil Yarlagadda

    Soumil Yarlagadda Well-Known Member Maple Society

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    i did both of those steps, and my sugar + bigleaf maple seeds are germinating after only 5 days
     
  13. Soumil Yarlagadda

    Soumil Yarlagadda Well-Known Member Maple Society

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    doing to palmatum maybe much more labor intensive but it may be worth a try. some excised and soaked in cold water then stratified, some done the normal way
     
  14. Riverdale27

    Riverdale27 Active Member

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    @Soumil Yarlagadda : all due respect, but could you try typing all in one post instead of using 4 posts to say 4 sentences? :)

    No cold water, no manipulation of the seed, ... Just collect, put in moist dirt, and stratify.
     
  15. Worldly_Wrangler

    Worldly_Wrangler Active Member

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  16. Soumil Yarlagadda

    Soumil Yarlagadda Well-Known Member Maple Society

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  17. Soumil Yarlagadda

    Soumil Yarlagadda Well-Known Member Maple Society

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    thanks so much! not a day of cold stratification!
     
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  18. emery

    emery Renowned Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    scarification is routinely used for A. griseum. I've heard mixed reports of GA3. I think most people do some kind of soaking, personally I use warm water, but stratification is still required.

    There was an article on "maple caesarean section", I think related to A. diabolicum (but not sure), in the MS newsletter a while ago.

    Speaking of the MS, lots of very positive comments on @LoverOfMaples article in the (otherwise incomplete) JM FAQ at maplesociety.org.
     
  19. Soumil Yarlagadda

    Soumil Yarlagadda Well-Known Member Maple Society

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    @LoverOfMaples ,@emery , @Acerholic
    i removed these bigtooth maple (acer grandidentatum) seeds from the fruit wall and soaked them in cold water for 2 days. the embryos have swelled up. i put these in some moist paper towel in a ziplock bag in a fridge. unfortunately i dont have any thing to stop potential mold from destroying these seeds. should i change the paper towel every week?
     

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  20. Soumil Yarlagadda

    Soumil Yarlagadda Well-Known Member Maple Society

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    has anyoen tried germinating acer serrulatum? or acer elegantulum?
     
  21. maf

    maf Generous Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    I would think that once you have soaked the seeds and removed the embryos you would not be wanting or needing to keep them in the fridge. The embryo is a lot more delicate than the nutlet and presumably more sensitive to damage or mould in cold storage. If you want/need to cold stratify do it before removing the embryos.

    Just my opinion and the way I have done it in the past on a couple of occasions - excise the embryo and plant it directly at a "normal" temperature...
     
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  22. Soumil Yarlagadda

    Soumil Yarlagadda Well-Known Member Maple Society

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    do you mean excise it and plant it straight into normal temperature soil? or they dont have to be stratified?

    S
     
  23. maf

    maf Generous Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    I haven't grown Acer grandidentatum so don't know their specific requirements. Sometimes excising the embryos can short circuit the need for cold stratification, speeding up the process. This might totally remove the need for cold stratification or decrease it from two periods to one period depending on species. Either way, if you feel you need to cold stratify your seeds, my preference would be to do it before cracking them open.

    It might be worth planting half out at normal temp and keeping the other half back in the fridge.
     
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  24. maf

    maf Generous Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    @Soumil Yarlagadda have a look at this post by Simon Grant where he briefly outlines his technique of excising the embryo and speeding up germination. Acer pseudosieboldianum ssp. takesimense As @emery mentioned above, he wrote an article about the technique for the Maple Society journal with more detail, but I don't think that or any similar information is available online. Hope that helps.
     
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  25. Soumil Yarlagadda

    Soumil Yarlagadda Well-Known Member Maple Society

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    well what a surprise! just checked the excised sugar maple seeds in my fridge, and one just sprouted! theyve only been in the fridge for 4 days, which is pretty weird
     

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