At 05:58 PM 5/23/03 -0400, David J. Bockman wrote:
My grow bed of Prunus mume fruited heavily for the first time this year, so
I'm thinking about collecting the fruit and extracting the seeds. If anyone
has germination tips for this species, please feel free to share.

David

Take the fruit and put it in a five gallon bucket. Cover the fruit with
water and leave it in the sun for several days. Don't let it dry out. The
fruit will begin to ferment and easily come away from the seed. Work as
much of the fruit off as you can and rinse thoroughly. Keep it covered with
water, rinse and clean once each day for 3 more days.

After this cleaning is done, pour off the rinse water completely, mix the
wet seed with an equal volume of DRY vermiculite, place in ziplock bags and
keep the mixture in the refrigerator until next spring. I have had
excellent germination rates using this method.

By the way, what color and shape are the flowers (single, double?).


Brent in Northern California
Evergreen Gardenworks USDA Zone 8 Sunset Zone 14

http://www.EvergreenGardenworks.com

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