Linda Honey, go to the beginning of this thread and read what the ladies say about preparing the seeds. I must get mine out of the frig. and soak them. And scratch or cut the surface...not sure what I want to do yet. I just read that in previous posts. Just keep watching and we will both be learning together.

Be sure you read the post from Alana...forget her other name...she explains the preparation really good. If you need more help give us a yell.

I did see that JB, just wanted to be sure. Thanks.

JB said:
That is why I started this thread. It was so difficult to follow posts. NOW WE USE THIS ONE ONLY FOR THE EXPERIMENT. Having said that, I am hoping that this Experiment thread is the only one this group of 8 is using for our discussion and methods.

If others post here there is no problem, but we need to keep in mind our mission for these particular seeds. I certainly would hate to ignore anyone who had a question or a comment. But, I do not want to have us posting our information in any other threads because that is the purpose of this one, to keep us all together with our posts regarding the seeds. It will make it easier for me to combine it when we finish.

Well, maybe we can ask the admin to make this post only available for the participants. If not possible, we all should ask any poster that's not a member of this group, to post her or his comments in another post.
You are right JB wanting this post only for the group, because it's YOUR experiment. We don't need posts about how other people succeeded in germinating seeds of the sweet shrub, we only are here together to see how YOUR sweet shrub seeds will germinate

I do not want to be rude about it and I do appreciate suggestions and other comments and I am not sure it would be the proper thing to do. As long as I can gather the comments of the 8 people who are doing this I can work around it. I just hope they keep on topic and not go off on something else. Of course we all have comments to make other than our plants at times, which is o.k. too, but we can keep it to a minimum on this thread if possible. I do not want to ask anything special since we get so much from Dave and Trish for nothing, gosh, I am just grateful we have a place where the 8 of us can work together.

JonnaSudenius said:

Well, maybe we can ask the admin to make this post only available for the participants. If not possible, we all should ask any poster that's not a member of this group, to post her or his comments in another post.
You are right JB wanting this post only for the group, because it's YOUR experiment. We don't need posts about how other people succeeded in germinating seeds of the sweet shrub, we only are here together to see how YOUR sweet shrub seeds will germinate

That's not something that I, as a moderator, can do. Maybe @Dave can, but I don't think so. What I can do, if people post off-topic stuff, is to split that "stuff" off into another, separate thread. Allison (Onewish1) or Linda (mom2goldens) could do this as well. We'll keep this thread for your group. Good luck and let us know your results.

Karen

Karen's got the right idea.

Set a rule, keep the thread on topic and any off topic posts can be split off very easily by a moderator. Works great.

Karen

Karen,
Whatever the girls want is just fine with me. Their feedback is what I hope will be something we can share when this is over. So, we want them to feel free to post anytime they want without a lot of interruption of their thoughts. Thank you very much for your cooperation. I just do not want to be rude to others who may have questions, so you be the judge. Thank you for your support of our little venture.

I've been thinking about this project for a while and although I said I would sow them in different ways, I think it's better to sow them all in the same way, to see what the difference is between the 3 shrubs.
I started to pour over just boiled water over the seeds.
- The Michael Lindsay seeds are not doing well. All, but one stayed floating. Hopefully that will change after a 24 hour soak
- The 2# I got 11 seeds, 2 are floating, 9 sinked
- The 3# I got 4 and all sinked
Floating seeds mean: not viable seeds. But it might happen some will sink after 48 hours
Sinking seeds mean: they are potantial viable.

After 48 hours (or maybe a bit longer, if I'm busy) I will open the seeds with a knife or a nailclipper.
Will soak them in fresh water for another 24 hours again and will sow all the sinked ones in vermiculite.

That is so interesting. It reminds me of chicken eggs. If they float they are rotten, if they sink they are good to eat. Amazing.

The Michael Lindsey is a younger plant than the other two. Could that be the reason for the difference in them being viable? The #3 is the oldest of the three. The #2 is about a year or two younger than #3.
This is going to be a tremendous source of information when we finish I feel sure.

Thanks so much and please keep in touch. Here is a big hug from icy cold, snowy New Jersey.

JB, the Michael LIndsey is a cultivar, so that may explain why those seeds don't seem so viable. A lot of cultivars set hardly viable seeds. That's why I love to grow wild plants.
So if all three will germinate, I will not grow on the Michael Lindsey, because it almost certainly not will come true.
I know you mixed up # 2 and # 3, but can you tell me more about those 2?

I do know I got them from Hirts Gardens
One is a Venus Sweetshrub (this was to be white, but it was not)
One is a Hartiage Wine Sweetshrub but in the tag it just said Spicebush.
Both are hardy here in Zone 6
Both are to be fragrant but I find neither of them are. Michael is.

That is about all I know, there was no conversation regarding this sale. They arrived looking terrible I remember and I never thought they would make it, but they did. It was an eBay sale, so I am not sure what state they were shipped from.

Sorry I'm late....I have been without my computer for a while. JB, my seeds arrived on Friday...at the moment all are soaking.

Gilli, thanks for checking in. We are here and patiently waiting for Spring. I have not soaked mine yet. I am wondering if it is o.k. to soak them after they have been in the refrig for so long in the wet moss. Do you think it would be ok to take them out and soak them before I put them back again, or wait to soak them until I am ready to plant them?

I don't think it would be necessary to soak them if they've been sitting in the fridge in wet moss. The seed coat is probably as soft as its going to get.

I got 7 seeds from 'Michael' and 9 seeds from #2 bush. I have two floaters in 'Michael' and only 1 in #2. That's not bad at all. Now I'm going to wrap half of them in damp paper towel and leave them at room temperature to see how many will sprout. The other half will be wrapped in damp paper towel and live in the fridge for a while.

Gilli you did better than Jonna. Did you see how many floaters she had? I am wondering if mine would have floated. I never knew you did that to seeds.....we do it to chicken eggs to see if they are good to eat if they are found in the barn....I learn something new every time I turn around. This is such fun, and I am really excited, if we just get one bush I will be happy.

We are awaiting a bad nor'easter that is due here tonight with 6 to 12 inches of snow with it. Here we go again. This is the 4th snow storm in a couple of weeks. I am so tired of it I could cry.

Just checking in to see how you all are doing. I have my calendar marked that it will soon be time to take my unplanted seeds out of the refrig and plant them. I think someone remarked that since they have been in damp moss that I may not need to soak them. Any thoughts about that from you other ladies?

Mine are still in the refrigerator, JB. I may soak them and start a few next week. I have no advice on the moss and soaking, sorry.