Germinating Seabuckthorn
Answered by: Conrad Richter
Question from: Jenny Erickson
Posted on: November 25, 2005

I live in New Zealand. I ordered seabuckthorn seed from you a while back. I put it in the fridge in damp sand for 3 months as recommended. Now I have it in potting mix in the greenhouse awaiting germination. My question is how long does it usually take to germinate? And are there any tricks to get it to germinate? Does it normally germinate easily?

If the seeds are sufficiently and properly stratified they will germinate in as few as 6 days. If the stratification pretreatment is incomplete then they can take as long as 3 months. Now it is a waiting game to see how the seeds will respond. It is important to keep the temperature and moisture as even as possible during this phase.

It is entirely possible that germination will remain incomplete after this phase. If the seeds are still hard (and not mushy or rotted) then it is worth trying a cool treatment of 5 degrees Celsius for a month and then bring back to room temperature.

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