why another post on the same topic????

ken

Cherry tree seeds typically need 2-3 months cold stratification. First they need to be soaked for 24 hours, then carefully maintained at about 5ðC in your refrigerator for a lengthy period of time, then allowed to germinate in soil under warmer spring conditions. Some growers treat the seeds with a dilute solution of bleach for 10 minutes, so mildew will not later ruin the seed during stratification.

A way around having to cold stratify seeds is to soak them in a 200ppm solution of gibberellic acid for 24 hours. This can be difficult to get right, because the seeds are very sensitive to exact concentrations of this plant hormone. Too little and the seed will not germinate, too much and the germinating seedling will sprout too fast and die.

Prunus Yedoensis is generally considered "sterile", but it is not completely so. While normally propagated through grafting, it can produce a small number of seeds.

I also thought that cherry tree seeds needed 3 months of cold stratification and then brought into warmth for germination. However, I had to change my opinion on this ...

In late October I was given seeds of an unknown flowering cherry cultivar by a friend. I stored the seeds moist in my fridge with the intention of sowing them outside but I completely forgot about them. At the end of december I checked my zip lock bags and discovered to my surprise that the majority of the cherry seeds had germinated.

I also thought that cherry tree seeds needed 3 months of cold stratification and then brought into warmth for germination. However, I had to change my opinion on this ...

In late October I was given seeds of an unknown flowering cherry cultivar by a friend. I stored the seeds moist in my fridge with the intention of sowing them outside but I completely forgot about them. At the end of december I checked my zip lock bags and discovered to my surprise that the majority of the cherry seeds had germinated.

{{gwi:2122614}}

If the cherry seeds are "fresh", just taken from the cherries, the required stratification period can be much shorter. It still takes at least 6-8 weeks, however.

It really helps to have the temperature at close to 5ðC. If you just put the seeds in your refrigerator, and the temperature is much higher than this, it will take substantially longer. If the temperature goes much below this, it could kill the seed. The advice is to place the seed container in the coldest part of the refrigerator, where the cold air comes out.

This post was edited by Socal2warm on Sun, Jan 11, 15 at 0:56