Some of the seeds that we sell have hard seed coats that allow them to sit in the ground for many years waiting for the proper conditions to come along for germination.

Waiting for the season to get seed started is not always an option in this busy world. Seed Stratification is a way of treating seeds to mimic conditions that the seeds needs to go through before germination can occur. Many seed species have an embryonic latency phase, and often will not sprout until this period is broken.

Non-viable seeds are often the cause of failure during sowing. There are many causes of poor viability. - A seed may never have been viable in the first place.

Although natural germination is the best way to start most tree seeds, horticulturalists have consistent results by assisting winter growing with various techniques to mimic nature.

At Sheffield’s Seed, we are always searching the globe for seed sources.