seeds

Here is a good trick to find out if your seeds are good.
First, you buy 94% alcohol but not 94% proof. Put your seeds in a small bowl put the alcohol in the bowl, the good seeds will sink and the empty one will floate. Just discard them. After you have winged the seeds. put the seeds in a strainer and rince them in a cold water, let them dry on a piece of cloth for a few minutes and then put them in a ziploc bag and put in a frigedaire to be stratified or some seeds can be planted right away.
Lincoln

Easier said than done, Lincoln.

Here in the US there are only six states where you can still purchase grain alcohol---which here is 95% rather than 94%. And four of them require a doctor's prescription.

One of those states is Kansas, and you can bet I stocked up when attending the SSE convention, as I use it for making tinctures and other natural remedies.

Really? I didn't know that pure grain alcohol was so hard to come by, and illegal in most states. I guess I never tried to buy any outside of TN (it is sold in any package store in this state).

I didn't, either, Dave, until I went looking for it.

IA and Tn. are the only states where it is openly traded. Ohio needs a Rx, I've been told. And I don't know, offhand, the other three states.

I cleaned off the shelf, when I was in Decorah. The guy had one 1/2 gallon, 1 quart, and 2 fifths, and I took it all.

That'll keep us in tinctures for awhile.

Is floating on alcohol different from floating on water? I've read that idea before, but some seeds are designed to float to be dispersed, so you'd need to be sure it wasn't one of them before you threw them out on that basis.

Won't they absorb water when you rinse them and think it's time to germinate? And drying them for only a few minutes and then putting them in a plastic bag seems like inviting trouble.

Does it work for you?

I'm sorry but this 94% alcohol is only ethanol alcohol that we buy at "Liquor store" I used it every time on all of my evergreen seeds for many years and it always works. You can always mixed your seeds with a little bit of sand or soil when you put them in the frigedaire,if you want only to stratified them. You can always reuse this alcohol for your seeds.

Lincoln

Thanks, Lincoln. I'd never heard of this. I learned something new today.

Pete2

Sorry, I think I misunderstood when you do this. The thing I read before suggested you float the seeds after you collect them, to decide which ones to store or trade. You mean you do this as the first step in seed sowing, so you don't waste time and space on the empty ones? I did worry about doing it to dry seeds, but if it's the first step in germinating, you'd be getting them moist and/or stratifying them anyway.

Do you think they absorb any of this alcohol and it has any effect on the germination process?

Now there's a thought - your seeds grow better if they're drunk!

Brook: Are you talking about Everclear, I think that is the namebrand. I am an Iowan, and I am very surprised that we are in the six that sell it. We have some very puritan idealist here. The only reason that I can think of is that we make alot of ethanol from corn. Debby

Debby,

Everclear is one of two brand names it's sold under.

The guy in the liquor store told me that they'd try to get it a prescription only product, but that was shot down.

I don't understand any of the reasons why a particular state will or will not allow it's sale. The major use of it (at least since prohibition was repealed) is for medicinal and medical purposes, not for drinking.

I get Everclear from the liquor store on the Coast guard base. I have a guy I work with pick it up for me when I need it ~ I use it for tinctures too. I don't know why it's Ok to sell it on the base but not in the state liquor stores.

poppysue,
The base is, technically, federal property and not subject to state laws.

When I was in the service (Moses was just a kid at the time, you understand) there was a similar deal. You could not buy a mixed drink in Virginia, then. But you could at any military club.

You can get it in Missouri at any liquor store . But for the life of me I don't see how anyone could drink it. Tryed it once and would rather drink gas.

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HI,

May be I made a mistake with ethanol alcohol all I want to say it is a 94% alcohol that we buy in Liquor store it is very strong we use that sometimes when we get a cold we mix 94% alcohol with hot water and honey and a little bit of lemon juice - 3 clovers - sprinkle with nutmeg, we call this a grog,it help to relieve the fiever. It's only a remede. But it is reely good for testing seed and it's not harmful to the seeds. I used it for many years. I have been planting evergreen seeds for 30 years. And then I plant my seedlings on my campground.

web site: www.campingmiscou.com

Someday I will sent you a picture of my trees and seedlings.

Lincoln