In message
Emery Davis wrote:

On Sat, 18 Oct 2014 11:55:43 +0100, Michael Bell wrote:

There is no Phyophthera on alder that I can see around where I live
(Tyne and Wear) but to be extra sure I want to sterilise the seeds
before I stratify them and plant them out. I am told that hydrogen
peroxide is "the stuff". 6% solution is available in Sainsbury's as a
mouth wash (not for me, thank you!) but I want to take advice before I
do it. I don't want to kill the seeds!


Hi Michael,

I don't use hydrogen peroxide for seeds, but rather a few drops of
Bordeaux mixture in a 24 hour soak before stratification. So I don't
know the right answer, except to say that hydrogen peroxide at 6% seems
strong and might kill the seeds. I use 35% (diluted to 2.5 parts per
10,000) for root oxygenation. The 35% will take your skin off in a hurry!

Good luck with the germination,

-E


Thank you everybody for your constructive comments. After lots of
trawling (the spell-checker won't accept "trawling", but surely it's
acceptable!?) the web I have found that this comes from many reputable
sources and seems workable:

Clean the rubbish off the seeds and put them in a suitable container.

Pour on 4% Hypochlorite and add a very little detergent.
(Domestos, widely available in the shops, contains 4.5% hypochlorite
and contains detergent, so I'll use it)

Stir and stand for 30 minutes.

Pour off the hypochlorite and wash the seeds thoroughly and stratify
or germinate as required

For seeds which need a high degree of sterility, eg. orchids, you need
fancier handling methods to make sure they don't pick infection
*after* this treatment, but for "ordinary" seeds they are not needed.

So this is what I will do. I will also try letting the seeds stand in
the hypochlorite for longer and see how long it takes to kill them.
It's good to know your safety margins!

Michael Bell
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