Try a rock tumbler. This is a small rotary drum that is rubber lined. You can add the seed plus a grit, say silicon carbide or sand. Basically, the thing turns and the seeds will wear away in time. Might only take a few minutes or may take a day or two. I'm thinking the 120/220 grit would work well. http://geology.com/rock-tumbler/rock-tumblers.shtml
On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 11:05 AM, Ian Alexander Merwin <i...@cornell.edu> wrote: > Lee- > We used to germinate thousands of apple seeds each year to use in our > replant disease soil bioassays. Our protocol was to collect the seeds from > apples that had been in cold storage for a month or so; rinse them in a 10% > clorox solution; then dust them with captan or a similar fungicide; then > line them out in trays of moist peat moss or vermiculite. We could > germinate several hundred seeds per 12 by 24 inch tray, planting them about > 1 inch deep in parallel seed lines about 2 inches apart. After several > months in a 40 degree F refrigerator the healthy seeds would germinate and > sprout. We would transplant them into 4 inch pots with soft tweezers, when > they had 2 to 4 true leaves (not counting the cotyledons). You could also > group the resultant seedlings by their probable chill unit requirements, > assuming that those germinating first had lower chill requirements. Hope > this is helpful! > > By the way Lee, those cider apple trees that I got from you on Bud.9 > rootstocks about 20 years ago are all still growing and producing well in > my home orchard! Several of them (Kingston Black, Stoke’s Red, Magog > Redstreak, White Jersey, etc.) have provided a lot of useful budwood for > local nurseries to propagate those varieties, which has been a great help > to craft cider-makers. Thanks! > Cheers > Ian > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Ian & Jackie Merwin > Black Diamond Farm, LLC > 4675 East Seneca Road > Trumansburg, NY, USA, 14886 > E-mail: i...@cornell.edu > Website: www.incredapple.com > > > > > On Jan 05, 2015, at 11:27 AM, lee elliott <pippm...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > Anyone know an easy way to excise malus seeds, in my efforts to breed next > generations of my Honey Crisp crosses I always have about half of my > collected seeds are excised (split) and embryo are easy to remove. > (germination rate of embryos removed from seed coat are much higher, close > to 90% while unexcised seeds is about 15%) The best way so far is to soak > the seed(after statification) and drag the seed gently accross a piece of > sandpaper, rubbing the side of the seed where the hilum is located, then > prying it apart with fingernails. this a very slow tedious procedure and > may even contaminate the embryo. With hundreds of seed to excise and poor > eyesight this is a most daunting task. I have googled this but nothing > comes up, any ideas? Lee Elliott, Cider Hill Nursery, Winchester, Illinois > > _______________________________________________ > apple-crop mailing list > apple-crop@virtualorchard.net > http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop > > > _______________________________________________ > apple-crop mailing list > apple-crop@virtualorchard.net > http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop > >
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