TOPIC: First try at stratification

Made a small box last fall, stainless screen top and bottom.
weird colored sand from home store , its all they had

dug it up today

been in since last october

Got 1.70 oz won't make me rich but it was an interesting experiment

can't wait to see if they come up
had about six floaters
and around six sprouted in the box

rpdgrump,
Nice looking job. I've got some questions for you. I have one that is about ready to come out that is slightly smaller than yours. I did not have too many berries last year so my attempt will be on the small side. Did you count the number of berries you placed in the box? What did they look like when you opened the box this year? Was there much residue from the berry pulp left over? How long do you plan on holding them before you plant?

My early ripening berries are almost ready to pick, (a week to a week and 1/2). Maybe I can remove the ones in stratification and plant them the same time as the ones that are almost ready to pick. I've got a lot more berries to pick this year and if the ones coming out of stratification look good I may try to do a large amount for next year. If not, I'll just plant straight into the ground at high elevation. Good luck with the seeds, they look great.

Hugh

Hugh
There was virtually no sign of any berry remaining just seeds and sand.
287 doubles
135 single
34 green
4 triple
At 7000 seed an ounce approx. I make it to be 740-750 seeds which works with the berry count.
One thing I would do different , I didn't know there were so many large particles in the sand. I would sift the sand down to the very finest grains before putting it in the box. I dumped the sand on fine stainless mesh and rinsed with the hose and all the fines washed through and left my seed mixed with seed sized pebbles , kind of a pain to separate. I guess you could just plant them pebbles and all. I planted about half my berries directly but putting some in a box saves time when your losing daylight.
Hope this helps

ps I have a few with tails that I kept in a damp paper towel in the fridge I'll put them in and see what happens. The rest I won't plant till end of august early sept. I'm afraid we may yet have a dry spell and the seeds are safer where I can keep them moist.

Awesome, thanks for showing that. I would like to attempt a stratification box if I ever get some berry producing plants.

rpdgrump,
Really good post. I think a lot of us will be doing something similar as time goes on. I heard that coarse sand like you used is much better than the fine sand. Anybody that wants to verify this it would be greatly appreciated as I am going to make a stratification box soon as well to put seed in this fall if not sooner.

Latt

Let me add a couple points to the discussion.

First, coarse sand or fine sand doesn't seem to matter in my limited experience. However, you need to classify the sand before you put it in the box. To classify, run the sand through a screen or other sifter that is small enough to catch your ginseng seed. This way, you will pull out larger rocks/pebbles which will be otherwise difficult to sort out of the seed later. If you pre-classify the sand, when it is time to pull the seed just sift it through and only the seed will remain.

I would also recommend innoculating the sand. On a small scale, you can heat the sand (oven or stove top) to about the boiling point. This should kill any pathogens in the sand and let you start with a clean slate. This is also a good tip for folks starting their own garden seed. Sterilize the soil first.


Next, if you want grinning seed, bury the box. However, this will increase your chances of a disease in the box. The commercial folks stratify above ground in plastic totes. They depulp, sanitize (sometimes add seed treatment fungicide) and mix the seed with the sand. They put the totes with seed and sand into a cooler where they can control the temperature. There is sime indication that rusty root is connected to temperatures getting too low during stratification or when the plants are in the beds. Here is the important part...they NEVER add water. There is moisture in the sand and that is enough to keep the seed very healthy. It will be dry, and maybe even float when it first comes out of the boxes in August. Soak it overnight in water and mix it well before pouring off any seed. There will be no grinning seed. But, the viability rates will be high.

My own experiences with stratification are mixed. I've stratified up to 10 lbs in one box will good results. I've stratified small amounts in a plastic cup with 100% success and germination. I used to have a deck on a pool. Under that deck made an ideal above ground stratification spot. Because of the moisture (wet kids all summer), the seed really looked nice and was almost all grinning. I think one year I put 10 lbs in that box and took over 11 pounds out. On the other hand, I've also put 10 lbs in a box and only got 4 lbs of viable seed out.

So, if you have your own seed, by all means stratify it if you don't want to just plant the berries. However, since the price of green and stratified seed is the same, it doesn't make sense to purchase green seed to stratify it yourself.