From Seed Division: Dingus's Mixed Larch Forest

[LittleDingus]

I don't have much/any experience with growing larix. I used to hate the tree with their silly little knuckles on every branch everywhere, but I've grown to appreciate them over recent years. I did purchase a couple of nursery plugs a month or two ago, but people say they make good forest plantings and here's this "forest from seed" contest sitting right here and I was able to purchase a significant amount of seed for the price of another tree...so...why not try a forest from seed too??

Not knowing much about them and being to lazy to research into the best species for my current and future zone and for bonsai use, yadda, yadda, yadda...I took the "easy" way out and ordered some of each



Well, at least some of each of what Sheffield's had in stock. Sheffield's didn't have occidentalis which is the one larch species I did want to try from seed so I ordered some from another vendor...those haven't arrived yet. When that last batch arrives...hopefully later this week...I will have:

larix decidua
larix gmelinii
larix kaempferi
larix laricina
larix occidentalis
larix sibirica

My current plan is to wait for the final batch of seeds then start cold stratifying them. The longest suggested time is 60 days. If I can get them all in stratification by the weekend, that puts them comfortably in the soil by end of March or maybe I even wait until April when some of my inside plants start taking trips outside again

 

[LittleDingus]

The larix occidentalis I ordered back on January 3rd still haven't shown up yet. I decided to go ahead with the other 5 species and deal with them later.

Friday evening I counted out 20 seeds of each species and put them in a shallow dish to soak for a bit.



This morning I took them out of the water and moved them into small ziplock bags. The ziplock bags were each prepared with a small amount of perlite and a few squirts of water. Just enough water to keep some moisture, but not enough to pool in the bag.



The individual ziplock baggies were placed into a larger ziplock bag and then into the bottom of the regrigerator. My typical technique it to remove from the refrigerator every 2 weeks to let sit on the counter at room temps for ~24 hours. This gives me a chance to keep an eye on them and for a freeze/thaw cycle of sorts.

 

[LittleDingus]

I was sorting my mail today and the last batch of larch seeds have arrived!



As with all the previous sets of seed, I counted out 20 into a small bathtub.



Here they'll soak overnight. Hopefully I'll remember them and get them moved into the refrigerator with all the others tomorrow!

 

[LittleDingus]

When cold stratifying, I put the seed in the bottom of my refrigerator. Every week or two, I pull the seed out and set them on the shelf at room temperature overnight then look at them closely the next day. If I don't see anything interesting, back to the bottom of the refrigerator they go!

Today, however, I saw this



and when looking closer, I noticed this



So that led me to do this



20 seeds in a 6" drip tray. They're now sitting in a south east facing window with supplemental LED grow lights. The grow lights have the nice benefit that they bottom warm the soil for the shelf above

 

[LittleDingus]

I've got 6 species of larix seed stratifying. As I continued to look through the other baggies, I came across this



Which led to this



and they now sit next to their cousins. Same thing 20 seeds in a 6" drip tray.

 

[LittleDingus]

Continuing on...this



became this



and they now sit in the window next to their cousins. 20 seeds in a 6" drip tray.

I probably could have planted out the occidentalis as well...but I only saw one seed there that looked split and ready to sprout. The laricinia are smaller than the others...hard to see...but I don't think any of them have split yet. There was nothing noticeable going on with the kaempferi either. Those 3 species are going back in the cold for at least another week.

But 3 sets of seeds planted out...spring is near!

 

[LittleDingus]

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!



dicidua: 1 for 20
gmelinii: 14 for 20
sibirica: 2 for20

I guess I should have let the dicidua and sibirica cold stratify a little longer The dicidua and gmelinii both claimed 30-60 days stratification on the package. They got 42 days. The sibirica claimed 60 days stratification...so my bad there.

I've got 3 more species of larch to plant out yet. They've all had 2 additional weeks of stratification now. I'm not sure I'll get to planting them out this week but, once I do, I'll see what germinates there than maybe start another set of the species I don't have enough of stratifying. My hope is to end the summer with >5 of each of the 6 species I have seed for.

 

[LittleDingus]

Time to plant the larches...

The kaempferi were definitely ready to be planted out. 5 of 20 with obvious roots and a couple more that were split.



Laricina not so obviously ready...but it's been long enough: very nearly 60 days anyway.



Occidentalis looked like they were ready. No obvious roots, but some split open seed.



And that's it for round 1. 6 species, 20 seeds each...and a lot of extra seed waiting in the wings....

Of the first 3 species, one more siberica popped up for a total of 3 so far. No other dicidua popped up yet and the one I have got partly washed away in a freak watering accident. It's still alive...for now.

60 days from today puts us near the end of May so still plenty of growing season available for anyone who wants it. Heck...I probably won't even have all my garden in by then! I do have plenty of seed left for most of the 6 species so I started another set of 20 seeds each stratifying for siberica and decidua:



I'm just going to reuse 2 of the little baggies I just emptied. But first, the seeds need a bit of a soak...

 

[LittleDingus]

I didn't get very many dicidua or siberica the first time around. I'm pretty sure I jumped the gun on the siberica when I planted them all out when just a single seed or two had cracked. I should have stratified the rest a little longer.

My normal method of cold stratification is to pull the seeds out of the cold and let them sit on the counter overnight then check for anything germinating.

I think I got a hit!



So I went ahead and added the 3 that had roots to the one lone seedling I got from last time.



I then followed what is normally the rest of my cold stratification habit...those seeds that haven't yet germinated went back into the cold! I think that's where I went wrong with dicidua and siberica last time. I planted them out as soon as the early birds germinated but it hadn't been enough of a nap for everyone else yet. We'll see if I get a higher germination rate by continuing to cold stratify the heavy sleepers...

 

[LittleDingus]

This is what I have so far from each of the 6 species I have seed for:








As mentioned in the previous post, I'm 90% certain the low germination of dicidua and siberica from the first round are my fault. So far, that's bearing out with dicidua as I already have a higher germination rate in round 2. In a couple months, we'll know if that's true for siberica as well.

It could be the same story for occidentalis...I just may not have cold stratified them long enough the first round.

They were also sourced from a different vendor...which complicates the picture as well All the rest are from Sheffield's. Sheffield's was out of occidentalis so I went with another vendor. I can't say, for sure, if that is the reason none of them germinated...but it is suspicious. I have 13 seeds of occidentalis left. They went into a water bath this morning. Tomorrow they should go into cold stratification. In a few months, we should know something more...

 

[LittleDingus]

I'm now roughly 30 days into cold stratification round 2 for siberica, dicidua and occidentalis...the 3 species I didn't get many of in round 1. I keep the seed in the bottom of my refrigerator and take it out to sit at room temps for a day or 2 every weekend. Then I peek to see if anyone has germinated before putting the seed back in the cold. This week, the first few siberica had popped!



The remaining 15 haven't yet.



Unlike last time when I stupidly planted everyone out after the first few popped, this time I'm following my normal procedure and only planting out the ones that have popped. It's back into the cold locker for another week for the rest of them!

No decidua have popped yet...they they are looking plump. No occidentalis have popped either. They are not looking plumb I have some serious reservations about the source for those seed

Here's the 5 new seed after potting with the two from last round. They're not visible above the soil yet...maybe next week



I still have all the rest inside and under lights.



Sorry about the blurple

They get LED lights ~12+ hours a day plus direct sun ~4 hours a day so they are getting plenty of photons. Not like they'd get outside...but still plenty. I'll need to decide soon if they transition outside or if I keep them inside until fall. That might depend on what they get transplanted into. I'm thinking a plastic drip tray to keep the roots shallow. If I go that route, I might keep them indoors through the heat of summer and move them out in the early fall to harden off for the winter. The likely leave them outdoors forever after that. If I put them in anything deeper, they'll need to go outdoors soon instead.

 

[LittleDingus]

Certainly no one cares but I hate orphaned threads and I can close this one out for realsies

I'm withdrawing this one We've got a very likely move coming up next year and I've been downsizing my collection. These guys were doing well enough to be up potted...but then they take up more space. They went onto the compost heap instead I was hoping I'd be able to get them through the move when I started them for this challenge...but realities are setting in and I have more dear to me trees I'm going to keep instead.

Depending on what the space situation ends up like on the other end, I'll be starting these over...it'll be too late for this challenge, however