Detailed Guide to the Correct Handling Method for Schisandra Seeds

After the schisandra fruit ripens and is harvested, select plump, large, disease-free schisandra fruits, soak them in warm water (40-45°C) for 3 days, rub off the flesh, pick out the seeds, then remove the shriveled seeds by water selection, and store them in a ventilated, dry place. After drying, carry out stratification. The stratification method is to thoroughly mix the prepared seeds with 3 times their mass of wet sand; the sand should be moist enough that it does not form a ball when squeezed in the hand. Dig a pit trench 60cm×60cm×60cm, bury the seed-and-sand mixture at a thickness of 40cm with 15cm of soil, then cover with a layer of grass, press it down with soil, and dig drainage ditches around it to prevent rainwater from flowing in. During this process, check regularly to prevent the seeds from molding; if mold colonies are found, spray with chlorothalonil 1000-fold solution or thiophanate-methyl 1000-fold solution. Stratification generally takes 90-120 days, and sowing can begin once the radicle is slightly exposed.

If the ground trench temperature during stratification is relatively high, reaching 8-12°C, sowing can begin in 70-90d. The seeds can also be mixed evenly with sand, placed into wooden boxes or other containers, and put in a vegetable cellar for stratification. Schisandra seed stratification should determine the temperature and time according to the sowing date, to avoid the situation where the radicle breaks through the seed coat after stratification but the field soil temperature is too low for sowing, which would cause losses. Stratifying schisandra seeds with low-temperature wet sand allows the embryo to complete morphological after-ripening in a short time. In the middle and late stages of stratification, low-temperature stratification reduces the activity of endogenous inhibitory substances in schisandra seeds and promotes seed germination.