http://smithsonianscience.org/2011/10/endangered-sumac/ News about the Smithsonian’s research in the fields of anthropology, astrophysics, conservation biology, geology, materials science, paleontology, zoology, and global climate change. Mon, 08 Dec 2014 08:04:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1 http://smithsonianscience.org/2011/10/endangered-sumac/#comment-18725 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:21:16 +0000 http://smithsonianscience.org/?p=15313#comment-18725 Have you tried scarifying the seeds using hand pruners then soaking in hot water? I propagate plants for Fairchild and I often do this for some of the legume seeds with hard seed coats. First I clean the seeds then I place one seed between the blades of a pruner and spply just enough pressure so that the seed sticks to one of the edges – that is, I cut just slightly into the seed coat. I immediately place the seed in hot water and soak for ~ 2 hours. Swelling of the seed begins almost immediately. Many of the seeds I have treated this way begin germinating within 3 to 7 days. Also, have you tried planting slightly immature Rhus seeds? There is a period when the seed is fully developed but before the seed coat hardens. I would suggest that you try working with that sort of stage of seed. You might get excellent results!

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