Scarification and Stratification of Tree Seeds

Trees use seeds as their principal means of establishing the next generation in the natural world. A fascinating but poorly understood chain of events have to happen perfectly to start a baby tree from seed. A viable tree seed has to be dispersed at an appropriate location under conditions that promote seed germination.

There are two major causes for unsuccessful tree seed germination under artificial conditions. Hard seed coated tree species and trees with dormant seed embryos complicate the seed planting process. Nurserymen have to expose some tree seeds to unique treatments to assure germination. They use two main processes called stratification and scarification

I have created this seed guide for preparing seeds from common trees for planting. I list or link to most of the common North American tree species with adequate information on propagating these trees from seed.

Oak Tree Sapling / Acorn Photo,  Getty Image