My dad and i use these small beads when we strip the bottom of our boat. They are used with air pressure to strip things. I wonder if i put them in a jar and shake it if it would take the coating off the seed to get germination. Dad says they are sharp. Any thoughts?
Wade: The first step in germination is for the root to come out of a small hole at the tip of the seed. This will/will not occur regardless of what is done to the outer covering of the seed. Scarifying seeds is worthless, imo. We will see what others have to say.
If you have a large number of one type of open pollinated seeds, you can set up a controlled study: one sub batch - shaken without small beads for X amount of time, one sub batch (same size as control) shaken with beads for X amount of time, one batch shaken for 2X amount of time, another batch shaken for 3X amount of time, etc.
To be completely scientific one probably should have a control for each time period (X, 2X, 3X, etc), but I would expect that the number of available seeds would make that requirement impractable.
A further problem is determining the size of X. The shells of different roses have different thicknesses. One would probably have to run a preliminary experiment where the seeds are examined after a short shaking period, then put back in and shaken for a longer period - this could be continued until the seeds are starting to be destroyed. As a guess I would suggest an X value equal to some fraction of the time required to start destroying the seeds. The actual fraction would depend on the number of batches you have to work with (so that the highest multiple time value used is below the time required to destroy the seeds).
Thanks guys, but am wondering about why I here all about this blender process with dull blades? I think that is really extreme. 1997 I attended homecoming at the ARS where a gentleman said he used a jar with sand paper? I don’t think this would be strong enough.
I am asking because I have a cross that has produced a hypanthium the size of what ‘Gold Wings’ produces. It produced this size in less than a month. Its making me say Wow.
The following article is a very good summary of the rose germination literature:
Yes,a blender is sometimes used to remove seeds from hips.
I misunderstood your initial question as regarding a way to enhance germination of seeds after their removal from hips.