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[superplastic]

As noted elsewhere, the seed coats of A. colubrina can cause rot when not removed in a timely manner. Using fingers or tiny tools to help the seed coat fall off may be the best method, but I have shaky hands and find that hard to do. Additionally, in many cases the struggling plumule fails to split apart the cotyledons and dies inside the partially opened seed.

That's when I remembered my first batch of seeds. Some little critter took bites out of some seeds on their very first night on top of soil. Amazingly, those seeds with bites had radicals emerge in the same time as the undisturbed seeds, but they shed their seed coats quite readily with no intervention and more importantly, their cotyledons split open more quickly, thus they grew to transplanting size faster.

This is why I started taking "bites" out of my seeds with a standard hole punch for paper. It allows the seed coat to fall off naturally and also allows easier splitting of the cotyledons, which can smother and strangle the growing plumule should they fail to open fully on their own.

Hole punch method:
-Scratch the flat sides of the seeds a little, just enough to get through the outer papery part of the seed coat.
-Soak in water until papery coating falls off. The papery part is the dark-brown/black, underneath is a tan seed coat. Once the brown stuff is all shredded at the bottom and the tan seed coat is exposed, remove from water.
-Use hole punch to remove two small arcs on opposite sides of the seed. Try to identify the hilum where the seed was connected to the pod. Place the hilum at 12:00 and take the bites out of 3:00 and 9:00.
-Place on surface of wet soil.
-Cover with plastic wrap
-Radicals emerge within 1-3 days, sometimes by very next morning!
-Exchange air under plastic once/day.
-Once seed is lifted off soil floor, remove plastic.
-Over a few days, all the seed coats should fall off, plumules emerge and cotyledons splay out.

Pics

Seed unbitten by animal:


Seed bitten by animal:


Both plants a week or so later:


Scratched vs unscratched seeds soaking:


Seed bitten by hole punch:


Example of seed in cotyledon casket. Despite the already shed seed coat, the buried radical and the clearly green plumule, this seed did not live. The single bite I took out of it was just too small. It broke through the seed coat but not the cotyledons. You can kinda just see where the cotyledons got grazed at the bottom there, but it wasn't enough.

2 Likes Us.Two and Neebu like this.

[Neebu]

Hey superplastic, interesting method for germinating A. colubrina

Although I would be hesitant to use a hole punch and harm the seeds, I will try this method, since I tried to germinate Anadenanthera colubrina/peregrina several times, and every time they rot.

Thanks for this unusal idea

[superplastic]

yeah, i figured if a rat or opossum mouth is not too dirty for the seeds, then a rusty old hole punch can't be much worse. cleaned w iso before use.