Smoke primer

Chuck1260 Arroyo Grande, CA May 15, 2005

I just finished doing a bunch of proteacae and restios using the smoke primer. They are now finishing up their stay in it and I will put them in filter paper and then to the fridge at night and outside in the shade by day. They require a twenty degree difference in nighttime to daytime temp and at least 53 degree night time temp, which we do not get that often in the spring and summer. Hopefully this will work. The bigger seeds had to be soaked in water first and then the seed coats peeled off by squeezing them through your fingers. That took a while.

Restios just needed the smoke treatment. Mostly small seed much like some of the grasses.

The smoke primer is very interesting. It is impregnated in a white disk that is intensely pink. You put it in water and let it soak for about five minutes. It turns the water pink and you can smell the authentic South African Fynbos smoke. You use one disk per 50 mL. I used little clear condiment cups with lids (a suggestion from a DG member) and labelled them with numbers for each species. You pour in enough to more than cover the seeds. I did about what they said in the directions, 150 mL did about thirty batches of seeds, some small and some large. Most cups had 8-10 large seeds or a bunch of small seeds.