Effects of dormancy breaking in stored seeds on germinability and seedling emergence of Tilia platyphyllos

Fruits of large-leaved lime dried to 10% may be stored for 16 years in sealed containers at –3°C without loosing seed viability. Dormancy of seeds, extracted from hard fruit coats, may be released after chemical scarification in concentrated sulphuric acid for 10 minutes, followed-by stratification without any medium (chilling) at the temperature of 3°C, for 20–24 weeks, i.e. until the first seeds start to germinate. After such pretreatment, during the germination test conducted at alternating temperatures 3~15°C (16 + 8 hours/day) seeds germinate near 90% in several weeks. For seedling production scarified and stratified seeds should be sown in early spring into trays under a plastic tunnel which ensures a high percentage of seedlings emergence. Sowing of the pretreated seeds in spring in a open nursery gives poor results.