Hard Coated Seed Germination
by
J&J Acres
If you’re interested in permaculture, general gardening, or just ways to cut corners and save a few dollars then this is what you’re looking for. I’ve been interested in putting black locust onto our property.
Now if you’ve ever looked at purchasing trees then I’m sure you understand that they cost a good bit of money. Even at your boxed department stores, you’re going to find them going for $20-30 or $40 per tree, usually depending on the popularity of the tree or how long it’s already been growing.
So I started thinking about how I could propagate it myself.
Now something special about these seeds, and I’m sure you may have encountered this on other varieties as well, this isn’t a simple go to the store, buy a packet, and put the seed in the ground. You have to treat these seeds. They do have to go through some type of process to get through the hard coat that is a part of the seed.
Now if you’ve ever looked at purchasing trees then I’m sure you understand that they cost a good bit of money. Even at your boxed department stores, you’re going to find them going for $20-30 or $40 per tree, usually depending on the popularity of the tree or how long it’s already been growing.
So I started thinking about how I could propagate it myself.
Now something special about these seeds, and I’m sure you may have encountered this on other varieties as well, this isn’t a simple go to the store, buy a packet, and put the seed in the ground. You have to treat these seeds. They do have to go through some type of process to get through the hard coat that is a part of the seed.
Then take your seeds and put them directly into the boiling water. We’re going to boil these seeds for 1 minute. So to make sure I get that right I’m going to set myself a timer and then wait for one minute.
You can see down here at the bottom where the three original seeds are quite smaller than the rest of the seeds up here. These have all had their hard coat warn out and have bulked up. All but one, which probably just was not a very well fertilized in the first place.
Now I’m just going to put them into these seven peat pots with some potting soil mix and give them all a nice saturation of water so that they know that I’m ready for them to germinate.
{
"id": "2030",
"alt": "",
"title": "",
"video_link": "https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZRjywUVLoDY",
"youtube_video_id": "ZRjywUVLoDY"
}
{
"width": 634,
"height": 357,
"showRelated": true
}
Here is a video about the whole process!
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Comments
Join the conversation
2 comments
-
What is more gratifying than growing a tree from a seed?
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?