MR. O'ROURKE: Do I understand you correctly that you do feel that the pecan must be after-ripened?
MR. HARDY: Yes, if permitted to dry.
MR. O'ROURKE: The work of Burdette in Texas a great many years ago has indicated that the pecan seed does not have a rest period. Mr. Wilkinson, what has been your experience in germinating pecan seeds?
MR. WILKINSON: I usually like to either plant or stratify soon after gathering, although one time I had some off the shelf of a grocery store in March and got excellent results. One thing more about time of cutting graft wood. I never like to cut it for at least 48 hours after a freezing temperature, regardless of time. I would rather cut it in April with the buds green than to cut it in the first of March right after a freeze. I have had excellent results just this spring cutting extra graft wood with green buds on. But if you cut it within 48 hours after a freezing temperature, you might just as well throw it away.
MR. O'ROURKE: I am very glad you brought that out. Irrespective of whether it be pecan or hickory, I believe it would work the same, that the scion wood should be cut when it is moist, and that is not the condition after a freeze, when it is in very dry condition.
Let's get back to this seed propagation now. I am asking anyone here, can you throw any light at all on the need for stratification of pecan or hickory seed of any species.
MR. CALDWELL: I have read in several publications that hickories should be stratified over the winter period before planting for spring germination. I always find things a little bit different, so a year ago at the greenhouse I took seven different sources of seed of shagbark hickory, Carya ovata and one source of Carya ovalis. Some of those seeds germinated within three weeks from the time I put them in, and after a month and a half I had a full stand in all cases. I don't think that more than 2 per cent of the seeds failed to germinate. They were planted in warm greenhouse, with a minimum of, about 68 degrees at night and about 90 during the day. They were planted in a combination of peat and garden soil; no special care other than water. I have had no trouble since the seedlings have continued to grow, even though the seeds were planted only two and a half inches deep. So it may be that there is no need for stratifying hickories.
MR. O'ROURKE: Your experience is the exact duplication of Dr. Lelia Barton's of the Boyce-Thompson Institute. She found that hickory seeds germinated from three weeks, as you did, to a number of months, when put in a warm greenhouse. Apparently the difference in time is related to the thickness of the seed coat or possibly to an inhibitor in the pellicle rather than to any need for after-ripening. I think that Burdette in Texas also pointed out that thick-shelled pecans took longer to germinate than thin-shelled pecans.
MR. PATAKY: If you take a nut of any kind and let it dry and plant it, you will get quicker germination than if you plant it soon after harvest. I don't see any difference in taking a nut and planting it and stratifying it. If planted the rodents will get it, but if you put it in something all winter, it will be there in the spring. I don't see any reason for planting a nut in the fall, taking a chance of rodents getting at them. If you plant them in the spring, they come up so much quicker that the rodents don't have a chance to get at them. They got nearly all of mine that I planted in the fall.
MR. HARDY: A good many nuts don't have any rest period requirements. I think it probably is a matter of convenience as to the manner in which they are handled. I have talked with nurserymen in the South. If they get the nuts in the fall they may either plant them in the fall or stratify them over winter and then plant them in the rows in the spring. If they get them in the spring, they soak them for a day or two days in water before planting. Perhaps the dry nut is slow in taking up moisture direct from the soil, and they are primarily interested in getting a uniform stand of trees so that they handle it in such a manner that all the nuts will grow at the same time. And I believe many will agree that a dry nut planted in the spring will show considerable variation as to the time in which they appear above ground.