Magnolia seeds; Cleaning/Germinating/Storage
On behalf of Lenk:
We sell Magnolia seed in our catalogue. The following is our procedure
for cleaning/cold conditioning/storage.
It is best to clean the outer shell off prior to conditioning, as it
will avoid fungal growth during cold conditioning. However, the presence
of some fungi acting on debri, etc, will usually not harm healthy seed.
After 10 years of working with Magnolia, we have never found it
necessary to use a fungicide. Best to avoid it, unless it is really
necessary, and it isn't.
The easiest way to clean them is to allow them to soak in water until
you can see that the outer shell is very soft. Depending on how dry the
outer shell is already, this does not usually take very long. Rub the
shell off in a sieve under running water.
Now you are ready for cold conditioning/storage, which really comes down
to the same thing.
We sell all our seed cold conditioned and ready to germinate. What this
means is that as soon as the outer coating is cleaned from the seed, it
is packed in large zip-lock bags in barely moist vermiculite. The bags
are placed in the fridge.
As most species require at minimum a 3 month cold period, followed by
warm to germinate, the seed can be held in almost perfect animated
suspension in the cold. In other words, they will simply wait until they
receive the warm before they sprout. Our experiments have shown that
this cold period can stretch on into a second year, easily, and you will
still get nearly 100% germination once you remove the seeds from the
fridge & provide them warm. So, you can just leave the seeds in the cold
until you are ready to sprout them. They are both being stored and being
cold conditioned at the same time.
We normally give all of our left over Magnolia seed thus cold stored in
the fridge to woody grower friends at the start of a new seed season,
once our fresh seed is harvested and we start the routine all over
again. We have had reports from them that in many cases they have still
kept that same seed (now easily between 1-2 years old) for another
season in the fridge (going from our fridge to theirs) with hardly a
drop in viability....
Magnolias are very easy and satisfying. You can e-mail me privately if
any of the above is not clear.
Good Luck!
--
Kristl Walek
Gardens North Seed
5984 Third Line Road, N.
North Gower, Ontario
Canada K0A 2T0
Phone: (613) 489-0065
Fax: (613) 489-1208
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