Did you scarify the seeds before putting them in the fridge?

Yes, I'm having some fun with it, I've tried several different methods to see which might germinate the best. I have some I put in battery acid, I've sanded some, clipped some with a toe nail clipper and kept some natural with no scarification. I also have some I'm leaving outside for 7 weeks before I put them in the fridge and some I have all ready planted out side in a container to see if they grow naturally outside.

jtburton

Do you think 21 day will give the required 500 chill hours.

Here is another forum I have for this question.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3303764/blackberry-seed-help

This isn't the easiest read but this study tested the optimal time for germinating blackberry seeds. Blackberry Seeds. I have a few seeds from a couple of crosses that I tried this year with Loganberries...I'm going to try to germinate them as well.

Last year I did some tests with black raspberry seed (similar hard coat like a blackberry seed). Previously I had always just soaked the seeds in peroxide with mixed results. This time I used bleach and soaked seeds in batches for 2, 4 and 6 hours. The seeds soaked in bleach for 6 hours germinated the most.

This is what I did.......

After cleaning the seeds from the fruit I gave them the bleach treatment right away as I read if they dry out that reduces germination. After soaking in bleach I thoroughly rinsed the seeds with water. I laid the seed on a couple layers of coffee filters. I folded it up and wet it with water. I pressed out the excess water from the filters. I use filters because they hold up better than paper towel for long storage. I put the seed packs into ziplock and squeezed out the air as best I could as I sealed it.

I stored the seeds at room temperature for 60 days checking on them weekly to make sure the coffee filters hadn't dried out.. re-wetting them as needed. After 60 days at room temperature I then placed them in the refrigerator for another 120 days. Again checking on them ever few weeks to make sure they were moist and no mold.

After the the cold stratification in the fridge I rinsed the seed and planted them in sand just under the surface in a flat. I covered with plastic to keep the humidity up. As the seeds sprouted I would transplant them into individual pots.

**** Edit **** I just looked at my chart and the soak times were 2, 4, and 6 hours with 6 being the best. This year I tried 8 hours to see if I could get even more germination. I will have results in the spring of those.

Good luck with yours!

Tyler

What dilution was the bleach solution at?

Oh sorry Drew I should have specified... I soaked them in 100% regular javex bleach... not diluted.

The year before (those yellowcap seeds I sent you) I don't think I gave them enough warm stratification before putting them in the fridge and that resulted in poor germination or delayed germination. I think that's an important step. Though I had good results last year I am going with 90 days at room temperature this year.

If you think about what happens in nature... a bird eats a ripe berry... it gets scarified as it gets digested... it sits moist on the ground for a couple months before winter sets in then sprouts the next spring after several months of cold stratification. That's what I tried to simulate.

I edited my post above...last year the longest soak was actually 6 hours but this year I am trying 8.

Bird scarification is best no doubt! I have raspberry and blackberry seed volunteers in all my garden plots thanks to the birds! :)

I saved some of them.

Just as a followup.... I checked on some seed that have been in room temperature storage since July 17th and quite a few had sprouted which I really wasn't anticipating (or wanting lol). So now I've put the remaining seed in damp storage in the fridge to stop them from getting any ideas until I'm ready for them. So 7-8 hours soaked in bleach really seems to work well.

Thanks for the replies, I just planted some of my blackberry seeds yesterday after 27 days (648 chill hours) in the fridge. I'm going to leave the rest of the seed in the fridge for another month before planting them to see if there's any difference. I'll put the seeds that I have at room temperature in the fridge after 8 weeks and leave them in there until I see the results from the other seed that I planted. I will try the coffee filters next time, it wasn't fun picking the seeds out of the peat moss for planting in the flats.

I planted my seeds with 5:1 mix (peat moss/perlite), the peat moss I bought from Home Depot was definitely different from the bag I bought from Lowes. Home Depot peat had a lot of small pieces of wood in it were Lowes was more fine peat. Should I try a difference mix next time? I was planing on putting the spouted plants straight from the flats into small pots with out disturbing the seeds roots, can you do this with sand?

When would you put water into the lower pan of the flat?

Following up from September these seeds were taken out of the fridge about a month ago.. rinsed and put it containers with an inch of sand with the seed at or just under the surface. I dampened the sand and covered the container with plastic and placed in a warm bright area. This picture was taken 2 weeks after the seed was taken out of the fridge. I did a couple containers and both sprouted very well. I am sold on the 7-8 hours of bleach soaking (of fresh seed not allowed to dry out) followed by 30 days warm stratification then 90-120 days of cold stratification.

I replanted the sprouted seed in 2 flats the same as yours Howard. I just put extra water in the sand and the tiny seedlings lifted out of the sand without any effort at all. 144 plugs planted and all growing well under grow lights after 2 weeks of replanting. Again these are black raspberry seeds (Niwot) which is a hard coated seed similar to blackberry. Softening of the seed coat (scarification) is really important for good germination.

Tyler

I glad someone has some luck, none of mine blackberries have come up, they weren't done at the 30 days warm stratification though. I have some blackberry seeds still in the fridge that I did 8 weeks of warm stratification, I'll plant them when I have some free time and I'll try some sand.

I haven't had any luck growing them from seed either but I have found several plants that have been the result of bird dispersion. All of these have been blackberries despite about half of my planting being raspberries. One location in particular has not had any potted blackberries around it for over 2 years, so the seeds may have been laying around for some time.

Tyler is an awesome gardener cool info about the bleach. i will try it this year. I won't know how well mine did until spring. Mine are in the garage for the winter.

Yep. I'd rather try bleach than sulfuric acid. I still have a few seeds from my Loganberry / Oauchita cross last year taking the outside stratification route. We'll see what happens.

The battery acid burn about as much as the bleach. It's no biggy. Only 30% acid. But my times may be too short with the acid. Tyler gave us a good time table for bleach, very cool.

I'm going to try some additional crosses this year and try to do it right this time. Since it literally takes months, the penalty for failure is somewhat severe :-(