Rusty Davis
Shohin
I did the cutting technique on 10 Short leaf pines and still have 8 of them. Now if I can get them through the winter.
Where I used to live the cones were everywhere in the yard.Do you have any other Scots pine nearby? I have found that pines grouped tegether produce a lot more viable seed.
I'm going to collect some Jack pine cones too.Are those JBP cones? Jonas writes in his blog that waiting to harvest until the cones are brown and open is too late. Probably because most of the seeds are already released by that point. He recommends getting the unopened ones that are green to purple colored and drying them yourself between two soil screens for example. It takes a week or two but you have much better chances of getting higher quality/quantity of seeds from the cone.
I think just an oven. The D.N.R. buys cones so they can replant clear cuts with them and I'm sure that's what they use.What will be your method for heating them?
Well now that we have this thread going for pine questions, I have another one. I received my seeds in the mail today and we obviously can't start on them until January. I know that to store seeds, the freezer is the best place. However since that technically is cold stratifying them early, where else can I store these until then to ensure they still germinate?
Thank you!You should NOT freeze them! I am just leaving my sitting out on the countertop - albeit in a cooler spot of the house. It is only going to be about 6 weeks. The important thing is to keep them dry and cool... not hot or humid. You also want the temperature to be as constant as possible. If you have a refrigerator that people are constantly opening and closing the door on - it is better to leave them out.
So, when is it supposed to be a good time to start sowing? My winter is very mild and may be compared to a late spring for most of you guys here on the forum... my coldest month is February with a mean average low temperature around 11-12 C (~50F). So if start stratifying on January the 1st and wait 30 days, do you think I can sow them early February? I want to make the most of my long growing season...
Thinking about it now, I might start stratifying a batch and sow another batch directly on January 1st. What do you think?