Innovation Anthology #201:
The research of Ann Smreciu gives new meaning to berry picking.
This plant ecologist is trying to find the best methods for reestablishing native plants in sites relaimed from oil sands mining.
Planting seeds and berries is cheaper and more efficient than young plants grown in greenhouses.
But first Smreciu has to fend off bears to collect blueberries and other seeds. And its not easy replicating Mother Nature to prepare the seeds.
ANN SMRECIU: We use everything from kitchen blenders to take the seed out of the berries to tomato de-seeders which I found in an Italian seed catalogue. We have a really good system that we use a hockey puck on a screen that works really well for one species. When we’re testing germination in an artificial situation in the lab, we obviously have to make sure those treatments are given to the seed prior. So in some cases, you are right, we actually nick the seed and allow the water the enter. In other cases, we actually scarify them in acid which would be kind of like going through a digestive system of an animal.
At her plots in northeastern Alberta, Ann Smreciu has learned some native plants grow best from full berries, and some prefer spring planting over fall.
Thanks today to Syncrude Canada.
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I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
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Program Date: 2009-02-03