Stratification

I googled and read several references on stratification. They were all very different. I'd really like to hear how people on here are doing it. I'm thinking of planting pecan, black walnut, hazelnut, peach, and apple from seed.

Thanks!

I have 32 acres that's mostly cornfield except for a barn and a pond. This is way more open land than I can handle planting a permaculture forest on, and I didn't want to give up the rent. It suddenly looks like I may be able to sell most of it but keep the barn and pond. I'd be left with 4-8 acres. I'm thinking about gradually planting at least half to fruit and nut trees and shrubs, with grassy weedy areas in between plantings of the trees and shrubs. I'd also plants some sort of food plot for wildlife. Besides raising fruits and nuts, I'd hope to maybe be able to hunt a few rabbits and maybe deer.  There are a lot of deer in the area but usually not on my farm. The deer use the cornfield and pond occasionally, but there isn't enough cover to keep them around much. I think the land I sell will continue to be a corn field. I know it's not enough land to do much hunting on but it's more convenient than any place else I have permission to
hunt. I usually have to drive 30 miles to my brother's farm.

Ken: My strategy for stratification is to plant the seeds outside in the fall, and then ignore them until they germinate. For trees, I typically plant into a tiny bed, and then transplant seedlings after they have germinated which might take a couple years. I plant annuals into a row in the garden in the fall, or into small bed and then transplant after they have germinated in the spring.


One year old walnut seedlings.

I planted plum, nectarine, and carpathian walnut seeds in the ground last fall. It's been pretty dry. I hope I still works.

I suppose it's too late to just plant outside now?

There is plenty of cold weather left before spring. If I had seeds to plant I'd toss them out whenever the ground thaws. Or toss them out on top of the snow and throw some dirt over them.

Thanks! I'll do that.

Whenever I reload the seed bank, I always hear a whisper that "cold stratification required" is going to be difficult and thus I should set these guys aside to stare at and be intimidated rather than broadcast and forget like I usually do.... however, I need my fancy herbs. These also tend to be the seeds Ive seen respond best to neglect. I usually either get excited and sandpaper some or put em in a fridge-dirt bag en masse, or lazier yet, forget them outside in the fall (in a flat or something). I sometimes suspect these seeds have an acute awareness of when Im worrying about them too much and in a show of rebellion choose to croak instead of hang out with a worry-wart

A retired farmer just told me that the reason pecans planted by squirrels come up so well is the bite marks. He started pinching the pointed end with pliers then planted that end up. He claims they pretty much all come up. Has anyone tried that or does it sound like it would work? I'm in pecan country and most farmers here know pecans, but I just met this farmer last week. My new neighbor. He's going to give me a few trees, so I think he's going to be a good neighbor.

Joseph, how long do the walnut roots get in one year?

I think these probably aren't big enough for walnut seedlings?

https://www.amazon.com/Thirty-six-Mini-Tree-Pots-tray/dp/B007WN5JFO/ref=sr_1_2?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1484608463&sr=1-2&keywords=Tree+pots

I just ordered a pound of carpathian walnuts for seed.   They start producing a lot faster than pecans. I'm going to try grafting on black walnut too, and I'll be planting pecans.

Ken: At my place, growing in the shade, and competing with weeds, Carpathian walnut seedlings develop a tap-root about 6" long in the first growing season. I think that those pots would be a good size for them.

Thanks Joseph!

Ian, I know what you mean. I've always been afraid that they'd just get moldy.

I bought two boxes of those pots, 36 in each. I planted 36 Juglans regia today.  Do I want them to freeze? I'm thinking light freezes are probably good but not hard freezes?

Tomorrow I'm planting Juglans regia, Juglans nigra, and Castenea mollisima in the other box.

Hi ken,

I was looking in some other forms and came across this posting and recognized your name. I was talking to you about the Fig cuttings in the permies messages. Well anyway, planted a bunch of apple seeds that I stratified last winter and they are pretty decent size saplings now. I have them in pots in my garage so they don't freeze this winter. It's not too late to start stratifying them now. If you take a few apple seeds and put them in a container in between damp paper towel and put them in the refrigerator for about 40 to 45 days then take them out and let them gradually warm up and they will sprout right in the paper towel. Then you can gently transplant them into soil.  Since they are about two to three feet tall now this spring I am going to graft on a few different varieties. As I'm sure you know when you plant an apple tree from seed you will most likely not get the type of apple you planted. So I am just using them as rootstock essentially

I am experimenting with using one of those cheap styrofoam coolers you can get at the grocery store as a stratification/seed planting container for chestnuts this year.  It's one of the 60 gallon size and we had it laying around so I figured might as well use it instead of throwing it away right!  I filled it with a little over a foot of loose planting mix, spread the chestnuts on top, covered with and inch or so of more mix, put the lid on and set it in the corner of our unheated shop for the winter.  I'm hoping that the insulation will keep it from getting too cold, but provide enough chill to properly stratify the seeds....I guess we'll know here in a couple months!!!