Link to pdfs of Dr. Denos seed germination books.

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Propagation

These links to Dr Deno's "Seed Germination: Theory and Practice" and the two supplemental books are free downloads at the USDA National Agriculture Library online site. I know this book is out of print and nearly impossible to find. I hope this information is useful.

Title: Seed germination, theory and practice.
http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/naldc/download.xhtml?id=41278&content=PDF

https://naldc-legacy.nal.usda.gov/naldc/catalog.xhtml?id=41278&start=0&searchText=deno%2C+norman&searchField=Author&sortField=

 

Title: First supplement to the second edition of Seed germination theory and practice.

http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/naldc/download.xhtml?id=41279&content=PDF

https://naldc-legacy.nal.usda.gov/naldc/catalog.xhtml?id=41279&start=0&searchText=deno%2C+norman&searchField=Author&sortField=

 

Title: Second supplement to Seed germination theory and practice.
http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/naldc/download.xhtml?id=41277&content=PDF

https://naldc-legacy.nal.usda.gov/naldc/catalog.xhtml?id=41277&start=0&searchText=deno%2C+norman&searchField=Author&sortField=

 

***The moderator has updated the correct links, as they are now located in the legacy NALDC library. Feb 2019***

Comments

Mark McDonough's picture

Mark McDonough

Mon, 10/25/2010 - 8:03am

This is a excellent resource, thanks for posting this John!

I don't have the book, always wanted a copy, so its fantastic that it is now freely available online.  I edited you alert regarding the site being down, as it is working now.  Because of the importance of this topic, I am setting it to be a "sticky topic", a NARGS Forum term which means to pin the topic so that it always appears at the top of the Propagation topic.

Chadwell's picture

Chadwell (not verified)

Mon, 07/18/2011 - 3:46am

I have had the good fortune to meet Professor Norm Deno on a couple of occasions.  Firstly, he arranged for me to give a talk to the Department of Horticulture, when visiting a cousin who was then Professor of Material Science at State College, PA (who played an integral part in the development of ultrasound equipment) during a lecture-tour in the mid-1980s.  Secondly, I was driven across from Philadelphia, whilst being hosted by Joyce Fingerut in 1990.

Whenever I cover cultivation in my lectures I state that his books should be required reading for anyone taking a serious interest in seed germination.  I learnt a lot from his seed germination experiments approached from the perspective of a chemist. Cannot be read from "cover to cover" at one go - even for those with a Scientific background but are well worth "dipping" into on a regular basis and persevering with, even if they appear "heavy going" initially.  Full of gems of wisdom - and amusing comments about us botanists!

I regularly draw attention to his recommendation that the word "stratification" be abandoned and that it is not a period of "freezing" but "chilling" which some seeds require - most species from the Himalaya (at least after a period of dry storage) have no such "chilling" requirement and can be sown in Spring or early summer with perfectly good rates of germination.