2019 From seed

[n8]

100 JBP (treeseeds.com) - moist and in the fridge
100 Trident maple (treeseeds.com) - in the fridge
200 collected acer palmatum from around the neighborhood - in the fridge
50 collected western redbud from the park
50 collected mimosa from the park

I'll be able to start them all outdoors in mid-February.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

It took some time and planning, but my selection is complete too.
75 P. halepensis
150 J. chinensis
150 "juniper" labeled seeds that are actually pines.
400 R. pseudoacacia
50 Colorado blue spruce
25 J. phoenicea var. turbinata
10 Cherry winter cuttings (rooted in 3 weeks)
10 Plum winter cuttings (still rooting)
20 Prunus mume pink
20 Prunus mume white
5 J. Sabina cuttings
5 J. Scopulorum cuttings
3 Prunus cuttings
2-3 Wisteria cuttings.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

First signs of hibiscus coming up...

 

[Carol 83]

I know this is a serious thread, but I thought someone might get a kick out of this. Every year my sister gets me some cheap plant themed gift for Christmas as a joke. Last year it was the Merry Berry Bonsai kit. It had three seeds, that not unsurprisingly, did not come up. This years gift was the cactus egg. Lo, and behold, future cactus garden.

 

[CapeCodBonsai]

@BonsaiNaga13 been growing american larch for a few years with no problems. Japanese and european larch are a little more heat tolerant, but I like natives. During the heat of the summer (2 weeks-ish) I keep them in part shade. and you HAVE to make sure they get plenty of dormancy. I winter mine on the ground outside and they love it. I have been told by talented artists that larch won't grow in my area but I'm having no problems at all. In time my trees may weaken and die but they don't show nay signs of it currently. If you're not dead set on natives I'd definitely do something more heat tolerant but I think L. laricina will be fine. Time will tell for me/us. If I'm not mistaken one or two members here are growing them in zone 7a but I don't know for how long. Sometimes trees can seem okay for years outside their "zones" but will eventually get beat up. You can usually see it coming, at least with warm weather trees grown to far North, I'm not sure about the reverse yet

I have located 3 American Larch here on Cape Cod (zone: 7a) that were brought down from Maine and planted in a yard many, many years ago . . . maybe 50+. They’re huge and doing fantastic as field plants here. I collected some seed in November and actually managed to get several seedlings started. I hope they will survive and do as well as bonsai some day as the parent trees have done here growing in the landscape.

 

[Forsoothe!]

I have located 3 American Larch here on Cape Cod (zone: 7a) that were brought down from Maine and planted in a yard many, many years ago . . . maybe 50+. They’re huge and doing fantastic as field plants here. I collected some seed in November and actually managed to get several seedlings started. I hope they will survive and do as well as bonsai some day as the parent trees have done here growing in the landscape.

The key to Tamarack is wet. They grow in cool areas, yes, but most near swamps and like Bald Cypress never let them suffer drought. Very shallow pots are problematic for that reason.

 

[GGB]

@CapeCodBonsai thank you, I LOVE hearing about and seeing trees doing well in trouble zones. every tree is different and every area has its micor-climates but it's exciting to know one of my favorite species could thrive long term in my area

 

[GGB]

@Carol 83 I have found cacti seeds very very easy to germinate but they rarely progress past the "two leaf" stage. obviously two of yours are well on the way. you must have a greener thumb than me haha

 

[Carol 83]

@Carol 83 I have found cacti seeds very very easy to germinate but they rarely progress past the "two leaf" stage. obviously two of yours are well on the way. you must have a greener thumb than me haha

At least they germinated. More than I can say for the Merry Berry Bonsai kit I got last year.

 

[Timbo]

The key to Tamarack is wet. They grow in cool areas, yes, but most near swamps and like Bald Cypress never let them suffer drought. Very shallow pots are problematic for that reason.

Kinda depends, I got one of my larches in a sandy drier area. It does fine in a not so wet in-organic soil. Not sure I wouldn't want to stick it in mucky wet soil, i dunno how it would handle it.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Tamarack is the American Larix larcina, swamp critter. All the others, 8 or so from Europe to Japan like drier conditions.

 

[bwaynef]

Last year, after sending out hundreds, maybe thousands of JBP seeds to folks to start the JBP contest, I didn't sprout any myself. I came across a pack of JBP seed that didn't get sent last year so I'm going to try this year.

2019 Seeds:
Acer buergerianum (In the fridge for 90 days)
Acer oblongum (In the fridge for 90 days)
Carpinus turczaninowii (In the fridge for 90 days, out of warm strat for 60 already)
Chamaecyparis obtusa
Picea pungens 'Glauca Majestic'
Pinus thunbergii
Stewartia monadelpha (warm stratification 60 of 120, then 90 days cold.)

I've recently had some bad luck getting seeds past the stratification process without mold. I'm exercising a bit of restraint, choosing to go with a peroxide soak and peroxide-based sprays, but I bought Captan last spring in case it looks like its starting to get out of hand this year. (I have so far refrained due to not wanting to handle those chemicals in the future when I (trans)plant the seeds.)

 

[Acer palNATEum]

Anyone having trouble with treeseeds.com lately? I ordered some seeds a month ago and haven't received them.

They were marked shipped a few days after I ordered them...when I contacted them, someone said they were just getting back from the hospital and many shipments had been marked "shipped" by mistake. They assured me I would receive them soon. However, that was at least 2 weeks ago and I still haven't seen them.

Further emails have elicited no response. I normally have had really good experiences with them and would be disappointed to lose them as a source.

 

[sikadelic]

I'll add my 2 cents. I'm starting a batch of JBPs, Tridents, Japanese Maple, and Korean Hornbeams. And they threw in 10 cherry seeds so I'll try those too. I plan to start a large batch of seedlings each year.

And by the looks of things, do I sense a seedling swap in the next year or two?!

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

After around 60 days of stratification outside I brought my Japanese maple seeds inside and they're starting to sprout. I have 3 from a large batch so far. Only one out of my fridge stratification has sprouted but it already has its second set of leaves. I filled several large strawberry containers with a mixture of potting soil and bonsai soil and left them outside with the lids on for 60 days. That's my highest success rate so far, I'll see if any more come from the fridge batch. The seeds were from blood good and other green maples all thrown in together so everything is a surprise but one of the seedlings has purple on the underside if its leaf

 

[Orion_metalhead]

So is it ok to pull seeds out of stratification now? It feels early to me personally still having to go through february and march but i have a few trays that i could take out.

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

So is it ok to pull seeds out of stratification now? It feels early to me personally still having to go through february and march but i have a few trays that i could take out.

Depends on the seed and if you wanna Gamble. Japanese maples say 60-120 and we've had a pretty good winter with a few heavy snows so I pulled mine in after 60 days. No special treatment just placed by a sunny window. I have at least 8 already sprouted that I put in small pots with bonsai soil. I still have some in the fridge and some I haven't sown yet just giving some a head start.

 

[leatherback]

So is it ok to pull seeds out of stratification now? It feels early to me personally still having to go through february and march but i have a few trays that i could take out.

I do not get any seeds inside for germination. Nature knows when it is time. And having low temperatures offsetss for the low light levels, resulting in stronger, stockier seedlings.
Personally, I am not sure about the head start gained.

I DO start tomatoes peppers, cucumbers inside, because else I will have to wait till september for the first harvest. But the plants grow verry tall and soft inside. ONce they are moved outside (Or better, the greenhouse) I am always amazed at the thickness of the new stems that grow. THe first inches stay weaker for the whole season though.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

So is it ok to pull seeds out of stratification now? It feels early to me personally still having to go through february and march but i have a few trays that i could take out.

Depends - what is your indoor growing area like. You have a cold wave or two that will hit you in the next week. Winter is not over. If your under lights growing area is good, you can start pulling out seedlings.

Myself, I wait. My indoor growing area is overcrowded already. So I leave all seed that is being stratified in the refrigerator, I keep them refrigerated until safe to plant out tomatoes time in spring. If seed sprout in my plastic bags of damp peat moss in the refrigerator, I simply don't worry, the cold refrigerator will keep them fresh and slow their growth that they will be fine until May 15 which is my normal ''last frost date''. Some trees, like Oaks, the acorn will put out a root in autumn, it will still need the stratification to get the ''above the ground'' trunk and leaves portion of the seedling to sprout. So just about all the acorns that are going to sprout, put out a root in autumn, then stay in the damp moss in the bag in the refrigerator until last frost date in spring. Growth in the bag is minimal. So relax and leave it in the 'fridge until spring if you don't have space in a bright light garden.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Thanks Leo. I have two oaks which sprouted leaves with no stratification. What do you make of that?