Seed Stratification and Germination: Summer Field Notes

last year I was lucky enough to receive a few seeds from the usda seed bank

these ones, Ribes lacustre didn't germinate but just in case I kept them watered and set the pots outside for the winter. There were something like 5 seeds the size of a grain of sand in each pot, some of them old like...

narrow leaved echinacea, a native perennial wildflower

started from seed this spring, here they're three months old growing in some large plug trays. not sure if they will flower the first year, I've read it's possible...

larch seedlings in their second year, from locally collected seed

they were small plugs this spring, and should get up to a size I can plant out by the fall. This set will probably be reserved to plant around here, but larch seem to grow quickly, easier than...

manchurian apricot seedlings

I started these in april in the greenhouse, here the batch is transplanted into large plug trays and starting to size up after three months. Our apricot seed is locally...

wild saskatoon

it's a good year for them, lots of rain and no early frosts, a gallon on one bush along the laneway. the fruit are larger than usual with the ideal conditions. I'll collect these and keep the seed to grow, and also some...

dwarf saucy mary, introduced by the dwarf tomato project in 2018

modern tomato as a rule always have cool names, and can look completely unlike any tomato you'll find in a produce department. these ones are ripe when green. and if you haven't tried growing dwarf tomatoes, what a...

nanking cherry, ripe today in mid July

slightly earlier than the larger sour cherries and evans by about. week. sooner in full sun, another bush I checked had orange / some green fruit but it was in full shade. nanking can be pruned as a bush, and are range...

upright prairie coneflower, a bed of them here among our stock currants, planted last year

some of the work to collect wildflower seed takes me to places where I might only find it once, so there's some ongoing work to grow out the seed I find or bring in and keep some of the plants to plant in the...

wild saskatoons finally ripe, for the next couple weeks the bushes all around our place have these tastey purple berries

they're smaller than cultivar ones, but they flower and ripen on a slightly different schedule and they have the most flavour. I'll collect a pail for seed extraction (and jam) and we'll have stock to grow in the nursery...

Ribes glandulosum, a favorite native currant with edible and armed fruit

they have a low sprawling shape to the bushes, the leaves and fruit are interesting, a good addition to a native plant garden. these were collected from wild stands and I'm growing out another ascension from seed from...

white transparent, an old french cultivar from the 1800s, the seeds are just right there

sweet tasting. one of the new plants in our Ribes collection this year, should be able to...

northern red oak growing in some flats

It's borderline cold hardy here in zone 3, the seed was...

paper birch, eight weeks old

stratified in some damp vermiculite jan through march, then planted into flats on the surface in april. the seed needs some light to germinate so just a thin amount of potting mix or perlite / vermiculite to hold a...

scots pine, directly seeded from stored seed (no special conditioning / stratification needed) here at 8 weeks old

canada wild plum

I collect seed from all around MB, here is a small accession with some amount of hybridization growing in the greenhouse. I'll keep these to grow out. an accession is just a plant growing from one specific source, you...

jacob's ladder seedlings

this is the first year I've grown them, some will go into a bed or large pots where we can collect seed in the fall. this is sort of the plan with all the wild flowers, a project in progress to...

tobacco seedlings, about ready to pot up

it's almost july and I started these late, but the plants are fast growing and I'm hopeful they have time to flower and set seed before frost in september. tobacco seeds are tiny, several would make up a sand grain. I...

sea buckthorn seedlings, from seed I collected in the fall from a bush that was nearly thornless

I was kind of a treat just stripping the fruit off the small branches without finding the usual spines tipping every small branch. Usually when you collect sea buckthorn, it's just easier to prune some branches. The...

wolf willow, a native shrub with blue green leaves

a nitrogen fixing, non invasive alternative to some of the other notorious suspects in this genus. here I've cold stratified the seeds for three months from jan though march, and then are about two months from planting...

tobacco seedlings started about one month ago in the greenhouse

they're a fast grow annual, even in our short 3-4 month growing season in southern MB these will get up to size and flower, and you can collect the leaves to you know roll cigars if you're adventurous. I like to grow...

northline saskatoon seedlings

stratified for three months, jan through march and planted in the greenhouse early april. they're small tree seeds so giving them a month or two in pots like this to size up before transplanting can work well. while...

narrow leaved echinacea, a native species

growing in the greenhouse, the seeds were cold stratified in a fridge through feb and march then planted into these pots in early april - about two months ago. they're at a good size now to transplant into their own...

garrington choke cherries, a selection with larger fruit, vigorous growth and large loosely spaced clusters

in the fall they're alright to eat off the tree, the later they go in the season the higher the brix, and despite the name chokecherries when ripe can be mild with low astringency, I suspect the name is related to their...

life hack: use your social media to create a blog

every post I make on instagram/fb is now nightly moved into my blog posts, my social media compilations hosted on my own site, where I can control the format and the composition, where google will find them, you can...

nannyberry seedlings

tricky to grow because of the deep dormancy. these germinated after a short warm strat in early winter, and they seem to like to hold and stay dormant at this stage, I kept...

wolf willow, native Elaeagnus comutata is this attractive, resilient shrub with silver-green leaves

it's related to russian olive, this is just a smaller native prairie species. collected a decent amount of seeds from roadside stands, will have them back in stock...

checking on some milkweed, as soon as the pods start to brown and come open it's time to collect them

cherry prinsepia seedlings with their trypophobic seeds

slow to germinate, but just left in some bins of peat moss in the root cellar for a couple of...

douglas fir cones, very distinctive strands on them, from a large arboretum tree growing in zone 3 MB, at the frank

skinner arboretum. picked up some old cones, after drying in the dehumidifier happy to find seeds were still inside.. so will try growing a few next spring. some research into rocky mountain douglas fir turns up that the...

linden, Tilia cordata

going to try remember to collect...

potting up some ginko

the seeds are cool they stick around like a nut.. ginko is one of the oldest living tree species, its from the jurassic. doesn't flower and produces naked seeds without a fruit. It's the only surviving Ginkgophyta an...

caragana seed, collecting it now before all of the pods pop open

you need to time it when they start to turn brown, and before it hits the ground. unless you use a tarp. I collected a couple of brown shopping bags, and they can air dry in there for a week or two, then I'll...

checking the wild sarsaparilla seeds, just starting to ripen

depends on the year, sometimes they ready now. I just collect them for seed, but they would also make...

butternuts, the large nuts stay attached like a battery that drives initial growth

some of the nuts are slow to germinate so I keep them in bins in our root cellar, once they're sprouted they can get potted up. so far I prefer...

collection of wild Ribes from seed are doing well, this is plant followed by it's tag

yah the tags are temporary. collecting this germplasm is one step on the way to propagating these, and eventually using them for our own seed source, or breeding work. all of these species are super cold hardy and...

cherry prinsepia bush, Prinsepia sinensis an unusual shrub with tiny hooked thorns hidden in the branches, and a sour

fruit with trypophobic seeds. I collected seed from this stand last fall and got it to germinate, it does have a deep dormancy. trying out some softwood cuttings to see how they root. probably a good alternative to...

western sandcherry from seed this spring, collected from a neighbour's hansen bush cherries

they were excellent tasting, no idea yet if other sandcherries are as good. so this population will be kept separate from the ones I've been growing for apricot rootstocks, and will be used for breeding hybrids. so many...

siberian stone pine

warm stratified one month, cold 3 months, and about 6 weeks in the greenhouse in a shady spot in this bag. I potted up a plug tray, and will wait for more. could I just plant all the seeds? yes...

jerusalem artichoke seeds, germination test

cold stratified just on some damp paper towel in the fridge may 6-june 1 and then set on top of the fridge so room temp to germinate. today is june 10, and these are a few days old. you need to do this cold step for...

seeds from the usda National Clonal Germplasm Repository (COR), approved my request for a few native currant

and gooseberry species, thankful because I'm building a collection and some are hard to find, and even then takes time to grow them out and ID. these are from carefully documented sources in their gene bank essentially...

amur grape germinating after five months of stratification

One way to know your seed is ready is when any of them start to sprout in the bag, easier to plant at this stage. These went into...

collecting american elm today

the viability stays up there if you collect it right after dropping, air dry thoroughly and refrigerate. elm is unusual because it drops in june, and the seed can germinate right away, within a week. so if there's some...

ginko

what a cool seed to grow, very old species. the roots are fibrous out of the seed, unusual. These are probably zone 4-5 trees, though there are some growing outside locally here in Manitoba in city yards, I heard in one...

ohio buckeye, a cool tree with large seeds that grow in spikey pods, attractive compound leaves

I collected a small number before the squirrels got the rest. Kind of a crazy...

collecting sea buckthorn, these tree were loaded

a bit over ripe but perfect for seed. Likely the iPFRA seed strain...

wolf willow seeds almost ripe

they get soft and them the inside goes powdery...

my approach to isolation, to produce true to type tomato and pepper seeds

so far so good. anyone else ever...

ribes odoratum, ribes rubrum

old bushes I planted in 2001. collecting a bag of...

manchurian apricot seeds are in stock, apricots cold hardy to -40C/F

I’ll be growing these in our nursery and should have enough to make them...

stinging nettle, right now the seeds/pods are green, this is a good time to collect them for tea or all of the medicinal

stuff. I wait for them to turn brown then collect them for seed. Generally, let the seeds mature and brown on the plant. Sometimes this gets tricky, quite a few plants can quickly drop their seed when it’s ripe, there is...

caragana seeds ready to harvest, the window is just a couple of weeks before the pods pop open in a spiral and drop

the seeds. siberian pea shrub grows easily from seed, no stratification needed. it creates a dense rhizomal spreading hedge, or can be trained with a single trunk as an attractive small...

acorns still viable after storage for 10 months in refrigeration

These are white oak, and I ship them worldwide in an envelope. At this point I’m just selecting the sprouty ones, any that haven’t produced a small radical by now probably aren’t viable, acorns are...

clematis seed pods right out of dr seuss

wild sarsaparilla covering this forest path

other characters include wild licorice, wild raspberry. last year the seed was ripe this week, this year...

rhubarb grows quickly from seed, if you’re going to save some make sure to bag it

Seeds are ripe when brown, let air dry...

isolating our tomato and pepper plants for seed

butternuts locally sourced in zone 3

first time growing, I find they take their time or just wait for warm weather to germinate. these are 4-8 weeks out of stratification in the greenhouse, just now steadily germinating. slower than the buartnut and...

almost done planting

next up straw mulch, drip tape, hoops and isolation netting. this system of tunnel isolation with alternating tomato and pepper plants has been on my mind since last fall, a system for...

canada mayflower covers the forest floor along our trails, collecting seeds but stuff eats them soon after they turn red

Does anyone know if I collect stems with not quite red yet fruit attached if it will ripen after...

virginia creeper seeds are ripe when the little grape-like fruits turn blue

This patch of vines where I like to collect are old and overtaking a stand of...

buckwheat seed ready to collect, seems to go on flowering for a long while

jerusalem artichokes from seed on left (first photo) and from tubers on right

you can see the from seed ones are still larger and started to flower. I started them in the spring and they went out as transplants so not equal growing time - but this shows that you can get plants as big from seed in...

cleaning wild raspberry seed

I process them in a modified blender and then decant until clean, the seeds will sink and the rest floats, works well for...

lime basil getting one final haircut before bagging for isolation

these extra large organza bags will keep all the pollinators off and ensure the seeds are true to type. I might even add...

keeping an eye on seeds that are not quite ripe yet

good indicators are color and when they were collected last year, but it’s sometimes a small window...

jersusalem artichoke flowers attracting some cool pollinators

the seedling plants from this year have been flowering for a few weeks, and the other cultivars started from tubers in may are about to start. skeptical that we have a long enough growing season...

raspberry seeds just hanging out of the sun dried fruit, the heat wave here has been drying out everything

bagging heirloom tomato flowers to try and ensure their seeds are true to type

Tomato flowers self pollinate if you can keep the bees away. This seems to work well on a small scale, and the technique carries over to controlled crosses...

organza bags to keep peppers from cross pollinating

Does anyone have experience with this, should it be as good as distance separation? pollen is smaller than the holes, but for a self pollinating flower wind pollination should be almost zero, at least I’ve read it is for...

collecting caragana seeds yesterday

They ripen unevenly, so some pods were green, others were popped open and empty, the rest were tan brown and ripe. Siberian pea shrub is easy to grow from seed, no stratification needed and you can have 3 ft seedlings...

basil project, photos before I let them go to seed

Here's 10 of the 30 types I'm growing for seed production. .. first one is dark opal, followed by: .. licorice, toscano, persian, lettuce leaf, lime...

collecting comfrey seeds, just cutting the spent flowers with ripe seed and letting them dry on the stem in an organza

bag. I just tossed the bag in the patch, will check back when more are...

I photo journal all summer to track the unripe fruit and seeds, to log how ripe they were and when, how many there were

, etc and it’s incredibly useful to look back on if you’re into seed collecting or picking wild fruit. I also like go keep a google sheet to record when I collected seed and where to plan, useful...

collected some black currants yesterday, happy to find these

They’re overripe but its good because while I’ll eat a few they’re mostly for seeds. Bush was a large seven year old ben...

project tomato seeds - heirloom tomato bagged to ensure true to type seed

Tomatoes are self pollinating, but bees can sometimes cross them. This summer I’m growing 45 of the...

wolf willow, Elaeagnus commutata from locally collected seed

blue spice basil

germinating after two months. maybe the seed was old, or maybe this one needs some bottom heat. also had a slow time germinating green pepper basil and west african basil, they took a month on a heat mat...

checking on some comfrey flowers, i think they bloom from the bottom up so if these were bagged now most of the flowers

project peppers, just potted them up and I’m trying these large organza bags to keep the seeds true type

these little plants can’t hold back making peppers, I carefully removed every open flower before bagging. wondering how far apart to space them in case of wind...

redosier dogwood

when these are all white I’ll be out...

comfrey flowering

I’m out of comfrey seed so will be collecting it...

rhubarb seed ripens fast so if you want to keep it, these organza bags from amazon are perfect

using this same approach for tomatoes and peppers to keep pollinators off the flowers and ensure true to type seed without...

purple lilacs from seed, these are some common purple lilac that have been direct sown into a bed

vitus riparia, or riverbank grape germinating after a long six months in cold stratification, in a bag with damp paper

towel and in a fridge crisper...

tray of jersusalem artichokes about one month old from seed

a chokeberry bush I’ve been propagating and collecting seed from

last photo is seedlings growing from dropped...

jerusalem artichoke started from seed this spring, happy to see some early flowers knowing that they need a long season

potting basil propagated from cuttings

my basil project this summer is to grow as many types as possible. they’re going into pots and spaced to avoid cross pollination for seed collection. i might have 20 types growing, many...

stratified prunus americana seeds before planting today

They’ve been in damp sand in refrigeration for six months. I could have planted a couple of weeks ago, just needed to make...

Virginia creeper from seed some time in March

they’re up to the ceiling and still in small 2.5” pots. I would say you can get plants the size the garden centers sell in a just few months from seed. They way I usually grow these is from softwood or semi-hardwood in...

wild tobacco have good germination at about one week, no stratification needed

while I don’t smoke, I think this could be a useful plant for the natural pesticide properties in the nicotine. I’m going to pick about 6 of...

The following seeds are: wild sarsaparilla, wild raspberry, red elderberry, snowberry, Siberian peashrub, rhubarb

American hazel, collected for seed

Going to add these to our etsy shop and website by the weekend...

rhubarb seeds forming

Looking forward to planting...

Korean pine just germinating now

Stratified indoors for a few months and planted out in May, these guys sure take their time to come up. The Red pine and Jack pine we planted germinated a month ago. Very cool to see how large these...

excited to see our monster rhubarb plant is bolting, I grew dozens of rhubarb from seeds over the winter and while it’s

Excited to see our monster rhubarb plant is bolting, I grew dozens of rhubarb from seeds over the winter and while it's usually advised to use division I found they grow very fast from seed, we had plants the size you...

bur oak a few days after germination

I’ve noticed our oak and hazelnut trees are still germinating, we had frost in the first week of June and it seems to make them wait. I mulched our beds again today and...

bur oak acorns planted in the fall are germinating

squirrel protection is holding up. I’ll wait a few weeks then take the mesh off, not sure yet how long they’re at risk from...

an old jack pine, as large as I’ve ever seen one

collected some cones for seed...

trying some succession in our nursery beds

we combined conifers in many of our beds with faster growing trees because they do well with some shade and need two years to grow before transplant. the River birch on the left will grow a couple of feet while the pine...

collecting wild red osier dogwood berries for seed

We have these growing from softwood cuttings and also planning seed beds this...

highbush cranberries require patience to grow from seed - collected a bag today but they’ll need a long warm

stratification that begins next spring, so the seed planted this fall will wait until spring of 2023 to...