Thanks for this tip! I have some things around that should be scarified.. Cohan
On Wed, Feb 2, 2011 at 5:51 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 > > > > > . > 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 > > > -- West Central Alberta, Canada, Zone 2-3 record temps from 10-20 miles away: min -45C/-49F;max 34C/93F http://picasaweb.google.com/cactuscactus
_______________________________________________ Alpine-l mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/alpine-l
