Bob, You may be working too hard. For many years, I've used a carbide [Boy Scout-knife-sized] whetstone for seed of Astragalus/Oxytropis. The stone is fine grained, so the seeds lay flat and don't shoot off when touched. I merely push them the length of the stone, 3-5 at a time, then plant. They always come up in the seed pot ... but get eaten by Oregon slugs before they're past the 2-leaf stage... still don't have any American spp in the garden.
This method of scarification is slick, fast, and works. Of course if you're scarifying astragalus seed by the pound , I can see it's being boring. In that case, put the seed in a can with some sand, go to a bluegrass bar, and play some percussion with the band.. loren russell corvallis, oregon ----- Original Message ----- From: "penstemon" <[email protected]> To: "the Electronic Rock Garden Society Alpine-L; postings copyright by authors." <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 2, 2011 12:49:55 PM Subject: Re: [Alpine-l] Cacti from Seed, and hardiness . Speaking of cactus from seed, I have to say that there are few activities more boring than scarifying seed with sandpaper. I was doing this just the other evening, with nutlets of Arctostaphylos pungens, and realized that almost anything would be more interesting than this, and believe me, I experience every second of winter as though it were an hour. I stopped, sowed all the seed, let it imbibe indoors for a couple of days, then put it outside to let winter do its thing. Bob Nold Denver, Colorado, USA _______________________________________________
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