This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: Freezing seeds

Freezing of mature, thoroughly dry seeds is standard practice for 
conserving germ plasm (gene pools, in everyday English) of rare 
plants from regions with frosty winters. It doesn't work for every 
species, especially those with large nut-like seeds, and possibly,  
freezing moist seed will damage some kinds. However, the ice cube 
method has been used successfully for many prairie species, and I 
know of no examples of it killing seeds of prairie plants. Everyone 
in the prairie region has seen the weather change from pleasant to 
bitter cold very quickly in late fall, so we know that prairie plants 
have quick freezing in moist conditions as part of their evolutionary 
experience.

I'd be interested to know of any experimental data on seed viability 
after different wet and dry temperature regimes, though.


James C. Trager
Shaw Arboretum
P.O. Box 38
Gray Summit MO 63039
PH# 314-451-3512
FAX 314-451-5583
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PRAIRIE
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index