Stratifieringstips

The inserts of nötjakten and autumn sowing seems to have inspired many and I have got a lot of questions about stratification, Thus thermal treatment of seeds. In the post about the autumn sowing, I described the simplest procedure for stratifying, namely, to sow the seeds directly outside in såbrätten and let them stand outside in the weather throughout the winter. This works well for most hardy herbaceous plants, and a lot of trees and shrubs also. A big advantage that one of the readers pointed out that winter seed is that you get more time in the spring to take care of anything else that should be sown when the.

But it is far from any forest garden plants suitable to be sown outdoors in autumn. Nuts are a good example of the. They're right attractive to birds and rodents and need protection considerably to not fall prey to these animals during the long winter. Or it could be that you only have a few seeds of one variety and not want to risk having those out there a whole winter out of control. Other seeds (t.ex. some walnuts or Indian-apple) need more warmth than we ever have in the spring to germinate. Either they germinate then too late, namely, first by summer, or not at all. The type of seeds you want to have a little more on top. And still need all those cold treatment.

I use two other, also very simple stratification beyond autumn sowing. One is to mix the seeds I want to stratify with slightly moist sand and put them in a freezer bag as I tie together properly. Freezer bag then leave in the fridge all winter and I develop it when the time comes to so sometime in the spring.

For some larger seeds, such as walnuts, I do so that I fill a bucket with slightly damp sand, add a lap nuts on top, filling with more sand and continues until all the nuts are in the sand. This bucket can I then in the cellar (which is mussäker) where it is allowed to stand until it is time to so sometime in April. Is there a risk for mice, it may help to put an to the bucket upside down on the first, so that there is no way for the mice to access the nuts.

And if you have no cellar? Then you can use almost the same method. What you need to do is to ensure that possible rain- and the melt water to drain out of the bucket. To drill a few holes in the bottom of the bucket, Add a tightly (1 cm mesh or less) nets in the bottom and then fill the bucket in the same manner as above. Then you dig a hole in the earth and put down the bucket, so that the nuts fall slightly below the normal ground surface. Put another bucket upside down on top and Tyng down with a stone. In the spring, bring up the bucket and wound nuts as usual.

In summary, it is therefore important to keep rodents and birds away from the prone seeds, while the seeds get the cold treatment they need to germinate when it becomes our. Another important factor is humidity, so be sure to sand as you stratify the seeds of never dries out, at the same time nor may be wet. It should be moderate humid simply throughout stratifieringsprocessen.