Floating Seeds

Justintleszcz

Is it true when soaking maple seeds, the seeds that float are dead?


Justin

Advertisement

Alasdair

In my experience, yes. Give one of the floating seeds a squeez and it'l give. It'll most likely be hollow.

Al

__________________
I can feel another "I wish that was my tree" moment coming on...
Currently studying BSc Plant Biology at the Universty of Wales, Aberystwyth

soonami

sometimes the seeds that float aren't able to absorb water and those seeds won't germinate

rowan57

In the majority the answer would be yes, however i would always sow them anyway, nothing tried nothing gained

__________________
In literary and art criticism there are two criteria, the political and the artistic....

Words and actions should help to unite, and not divide, the people of our various nationalities

I often talk to myself because i am the only one who truly understands me.

3069James

another thing one can do is scarify them,wich means rub the seed with sandpaper or nick with a sharp knife. then repeat the overnight soaking

RedPine

No.

I have had the majority keep afloat and still germinate afterwards. A better way to tell is to inspect a suspected seed rather than rely on the water test.

rowan57

Another method that we just learnt in Seed Collection lectures is to cut a certain number in half and see if they are live, say four are and one isnt, then you have a rough idea of how many should be alive and how many shouldnt, so if you have 50 seeds and 4/5 are likely to germinate then you would end up with roughly 40 seedlings. This may not be practical if you have paid for the seeds, like i say we were told about it for when you collect your own seed.

Regards
Rowan

__________________
In literary and art criticism there are two criteria, the political and the artistic....

Words and actions should help to unite, and not divide, the people of our various nationalities

I often talk to myself because i am the only one who truly understands me.