



Hi! I gathered acorns from several Quercus species:
– Upper right: Quercus suber (Cork Oak)
– Upper left: Quercus coccifera (Kermes/Palestine Oak)
– Lower left: Quercus ilex subsp. rotundifolia
– Lower right: Quercus ilex (Holly Oak)
I need a method to sprout all of them together in a single large batch.
I’ve previously managed to germinate them with this method, but it works one by one and I’ve run out of small glass bottles:
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Pick the larger acorns. Clean them lightly with soap and water, then submerge them for 24 hours. Discard the ones that float. If too many float you're gathering them wrong.
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Scarify by cutting about 3mm from the distal end with a sharp, clean knife, trying to expose the embryo without damaging it. Don’t worry about the endosperm, if you can't see the embryo, keep looking for it buy cutting EXTREMELY thinly. Sometimes you'll cut a teenie tiny bit of it, don't worry, just try not to overextend, otherwise the seed dies.
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Immediately soak the acorns in a 1.25% hydrogen peroxide solution for 3 days, indoors. Change solution every day. If you buy hydrogen peroxide at 5% just mix 1:4 with regular water, if you buy it at 3%, do it at 1:2.
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Check for radicle development. Discard those that don’t show signs of sprouting (in my experience, ~⅔ sprout; Q. suber is extremely vigorous though, but this is just personal experience). If they break their “shield” it's normal, but if they're browning, or powdery, discard them. Water will develop a tan color with iridescent weird things on the top sometimes. I think it's tanines.
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Place the viable acorns in a bottle with water as shown in the picture. Keep radicle in contact with water at all times, keep whole acorn separated from the water.
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Leave them for about a month until the radicle develops into a tap root DO NOT LET IT BECOME TWISTED, keeping the bottle in a fixed spot with a natural light cycle. DO NOT LET SUNSHINE INTO THE BOTTLE!
This has worked ALWAYS! No matter the species of Quercus I've tried, this has always worked. But I've got too many waiting and these seeds absolutely DO NOT tolerate being stored. I've tried to in multiple ways, the end up dying from three million issues. They just like being born just after their mom makes them or something I'm not a scientist (although I'm studying to become a Park Ranger(?) in Spain).
by ImNotNormal19

1 Comment
Oops, upper LEFT is Q. suber and upper RIGHT is Q. coccifera. My bad.