Is there anything critical in the process about keeping it on the vine while it dries? I seem to have better results when doing that but possibly I just need to pick them and let them get extremely dry indoors breaking them out.

Thanks, at least I know the terminology now. Stratify. If I Google "stratify catnip", I come up with instructions to freeze for a few months, a week, and even (http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/herb/growing-catnip.htm) to freeze just overnight. At least one reference says keep warm and moist for a few weeks before freezing. That sounds kind of daffy, as if the plant starts to germinate, you'll simply kill it off. This can't be that hard to understand. Well, I guess while I'm trying to figure this out, I might as well keep 'em in the freezer! The idea of doing an experiment seems smart, but over a time scale of a few months, there are too many other variables.

Thank you Greg and Mallee. Greg, I don't really object to a bit of pyrethrum, but was looking for a poison-free way to do be sure of saving insect-free seed. Hot water might work, but of course some wattle seeds don't need to be boiled. They'll germinate in hot water from the tap. Mallee, I'm interested to hear that it can succeed. I think the site where these were collected would be subject to frost, which is why I thought it might work. I guess the only way to find out for sure would be to do it (on only some of the seeds collected) for just long enough to get rid of insects, then try germinating them before using the process on the rest and putting them away (unfrozen) for storage. It would be a rather laborious way to do things as a general seed-storage policy, though. I guess that's why we really use poisons, sometimes a bit more than we should. Trish

ANY tea is what byron was referring to, but that's just for softening the hull for germination. Something to do with the tannins in the tea. One could use it for germinating, but I opt for(first and foremost) FRESH seed, scarification( piece of sandpaper in a pill bottle and give a good shake for a half minute, and an overnight soak in plain tap water(24 hours seems better though. And last but not least, keeping them at a constant warm temp(mid 80's F) up until they peek their heads up. Seysonn: I suppose you could use it regularly without harm(make it the way byron tells you to so it's a very weak solution). I just prefer the H2O2 solution for damping off prevention(1 part 3% H2O2 to 4 parts water). I have used the chamomile solution when I've run out of peroxide and it seems to suffice. Regarding your trial and error thing... I do the same thing but have it down pretty pat by now. Note though-- better to error on the side of 80-85 than 85-90. Don't want to cook them. Also, make sure your meat therm is calibrated -- mine was off by 25 degrees a couple years ago and I kept cooking them until I figured it out...lol. Kevin This post was edited by woohooman on Tue, Jan 27, 15 at 22:12