How to accelerate the germination of Scots pine and Norway spruce seeds?

Abstract

The aim of the study was to confirm and compare efficiency of methods enhancing the vitality of Scots pine and Norway spruce seeds: soaking in water, cold stratification, additional moistening and incubation according to IDS method. The examined parameters included water content in the seeds, germination energy, mean germination time and germination capacity before the seed treatment, after its treatment by the tested methods and after drying. Results show that all the tested methods accelerate germination of seeds; cold stratification is the most efficient and recommended method for Scots pine and soaking of seeds in water is the most efficient and recommended for Norway spruce. The best results in spruce were also obtained with cold stratification (comparable with soaking in water) but the method is complicated, longer-lasting and more costly than soaking in water.

Effect of cold stratification on the temperature range for germination of Pinus koraiensis

“…Germination to incubation temperatures (10/5, 20/10, 25/15 and 30/20 °C; 14/10 h day/ summer annuals and perennials in temperate regions require stratification at cold temperatures (1-10 °C) to break dormancy (Deng et al 2016;Finch et al 2019;Chen et al 2020). The range of temperatures usually used for stratification of seeds of some pine species is between 2 and 5 °C (Li et al 1994;Bower et al 2011;Saeed et al 2016;Houšková et al 2021), thus allowing germination to occur at temperatures above 15 °C. However, whether these cold stratified pine seeds can germinate at temperatures below these ranges, thereby increasing the range of germination temperatures, is generally unknown.…”