The lab is a wonderful place to work when you're addicted to MGs. This is the roller mill that turns 365 days a year, mixing solutions and hopefully soon, breaking down MG seedcoats. Frank looked into breaking down the seedcoats with iodine, and now I am looking into breaking them down by tumbling them. The mill is like a giant rock tumbler. With the right polishing media I should be able to treat the seedcoats for faster germination.
These are zirconia beads that are used to reduce the particle size of solids. The seeds can be seperated easily afterwards by sifting them on a screen.
Another find today are these neat containers with labels for gathering and storing seeds.
Beth - That roller mill looks like it will reduce the thickness of seedcoats...and seedcoat thickness is a factor in germination as per water being able to initially penetrate to the embryonic tissue
Abscisic acid(ABA) is the main germination inhibitor in many seeds and even if water does penetrate the seedcoat the ABA will often still prevent germination...cold damp stratification may sufficiently 'denature' the ABA to allow germination to occur...
Gibberellic acid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibberellic_acid
has been used to stimulate germination in germination resistant seeds
The Deno method
http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/GibberellicAcid.htm
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/seed/msg100953571536.html?3
has worked for many enthusiasts,although the gibberellic acids usually available are not those most commonly found in Ipomoea seeds...
TTY,...
Ron
Moving forward....I went and bought some tumbling grit for the seeds. I'll be experimenting on my purpurea seeds since I have a million of them. There are all kinds of grit, and since the intended substance to be polished is rocks, I don't think I can use too coarse a grit or it would tear the seeds up too fast (seeds being softer than rocks). There are also plastic beads for polishing and some kind of grit for polishing brass.
Are there any current or former rock polishing hobbyists out there that will admit it? (I know rock polishing must be one of the nerdier hobbies to be involved in, but surely a step above stamp collecting, yes?)
I chose a prepolish grit that seems to be pretty fine. The experiment will be tumbling seeds with the grit each day and examining them under a microscope to see if the seedcoat has been breached. I'll then note how many hours that takes and back off on that total so the seedcoat is thin, but not broken.
What a terrific idea Beth! .. I'll be following this closely since rock tumblers are not that expensive. It would sure make my life easier when starting hard coat seeds!
X
Yesss....I could send you some Passie seeds to tumble for me ; )
I have no idea if this will be beneficial yet or not. The actual problem I have most often with seedcoats is when they stick to the cotyledon leaves and won't let go. Pulling them off sometimes takes part of the leaves with them. I do try to mist them, but getting the moisture in between the seedcoat and the cotyledon is nearly impossible. I am hoping a thinner seedcoat might be more flexible and easier for the seedling to shed.
The only thing that might be a problem is heat caused by friction.
X
I don't feel any heat at all from the tumbling, the grit is very fine.
