Germinating Manzanita glauca(Big Berry Manzanita)

[Anonymous]

I own land in the foothills of San Diego County with an extensive stand of manzanita glauca. I have had no success in my attempts to germinate their seeds. Has anyone had success germinating manzanita seeds? With this year's seeds I am going to try placing the seeds in a refrigerator for three months. WCM</p>

[Anonymous]

Arctostapylos seed is extremely difficult to germinate. One approach involves soaking the seeds in acid followed by cold stratification. For that reason cuttings are the preferred propagation method. See *Growing California Native Plants* by Marjorie Schmidt University of California Press for details on growing Manzanitas from cuttings.</p>

[Anonymous]

Many manzanitas need fire in order for their seeds to germinate!

A few years ago, one of my colleagues at Yerba Buena Nursery grew a lovely stand of Arctostaphylos canescens by burning the seed flat.

You take a wooden seed flat plastic would melt, cover sides with aluminum foil, fill with seed medium, plant the seeds I think she left them on top of the medium, water them in, then cover top with 3 inches of flammable material.

I can't recall what she used - might well have been dried pine needles. Then you set the flat on fire and let it burn down. You will be left with a bunch of ashes covering the seeds.

Leave the ashes there, water the flat at regular intervals just like any othe seed flat. This worked very well with A. canescens, and should work with other fire-dependent species. The resulting plants grew quickly for a manzanita, and looked better than cutting-grown plants.</p>

[Anonymous]

Fire. most manzanita species are fire addapted. Try moxing seed and leaf material in a crumpled bag and burning them or as the other note suggests, by covering them with flammable material and burning that. </p>

[Anonymous]

I was on a hike on the Nipomo Mesa a couple of years ago and the hike was lead by a very reliable source. I asked him how to germ Arcto seeds-- scarification; by means of a file. I tried it and it works- with a small file; file a small slit in one side of the berry and throw her in some planting mix- I think I use Uncle Malcolms--and it worked.</p>

[Anonymous]

Did you ever find out how to germinate the manzanita seeds you collected? I have always loved the Manzanita tree and would love to be able to grow one of my own someday.</p>