Pacific Northwest trees from seed

[Cruiser]

Mostly conifers. Mostly from western Washington. A few non-native oddities as well.
This thread was created to track their various stages of development and discuss management.


Abies procera (noble fir)

-cones collected 2022-2023 from various locations around Mt Rainier, Gifford Pinchot NF, Clark County, and Skamania County. Elevation range 2800’+

-individual seeds and whole cones were stratified over winter. Some outside, some in a freezer. There was no appreciable difference in germination rates.

-germination rates were high, but damping off killed many seedlings (estimated 20-50%)


One of the cone collection sites. Upper Jones timber sale.


Cones typically grow at the tops of trees. As they dry out, scales flake apart sending seeds into the wind.



A recent wind event aided collection. Small branches with perfectly-ripe, intact cones were knocked to the ground.


Large seeds can provide a sprout with nutrients for up to a year while its roots search for a favorable spot to grow. (Van Pelt 2007).




Some cones were squished apart and dumped into pond baskets, others had their seeds extracted and gently buried. Substrates range from pure pumice to pumice-bark mix.

 

[Cruiser]

Noble fir seedling journeys..

In general, deeper pots with organic substrate produced more vigorous seedlings. This makes sense. There’s more space and noble fir is known to be a deep-rooter that requires moist conditions to thrive.


August 2023. Seeds from crushed cones sprinkled into a pond basket faired well.


Later, in Fall of 2023, some volunteers were removed from the basket to have their roots pruned. Long, thick, and deep roots were removed. (Approximately 50% reduction per seedling). Hormone was applied.
Trees were rehoused into a smaller container with pumice.


One did not survive.


The following February (2024), the rest of the basket cohort was planted into a wildfire/stand stage composition.





Substrate is a mix of sand, ash, pumice, lava rock, and bark atop a bottom layer of df bark.

 

[Cruiser]

Baby nobles got off to a great start in their new ashen home.
By mid-late April ‘24 buds were opening/elongating.



By the end of June, seedlings had doubled in height and were pushing additional flushes of growth.





By early September ‘24 tree canopies were starting to mingle. To reduce competition and maintain proportion side branches were trimmed.




Current: Feb 2025
Good management in 2024 resulted in two major flushes of growth. Seedlings have rooted through the container. Fall pruning helped stimulate new buds to form.

 

[Wulfskaar]

That idea of a reborn forest is very cool.

 

[Cruiser]

Nobles continued..

To clarify the two major pushes of growth seen in some of the seedlings last year ...


This noble seedling is flanked by a couple of coestablished Thuja plicata (western red cedar). Even with the cedar getting pinched back, it is evident that early growth in procera is much slower than it is for other native species.


These three were the batch that had roots pruned early on. They’re doing great.

 

[Cruiser]

Alnus rubra (red alder)

Seedlings naturally established beneath a Japanese maple last year (2024).
They were lightly pruned and transplanted into a tiny pot.


By June they were ready for a trim.



The group was given one more trim at the end of summer. Here it is in November 2024.

 

[Cruiser]

Pseudotsuga macrocarpa (Bigcone Douglas-fir)

Cones collected Fall 2024 around Julian, CA.
Some seeds were planted in a container of pumice and left outside to over winter. Others have been in a freezer for the last 3 mo.





Comparison of P. menziesii (left) and P. macrocarpa (right).


Stratified seeds will get planted next month.

 

[Cruiser]

Abies amabilis (pacific silver fir)

Cones collected around Mt Rainier, Olympic NF, and Gifford Pinchot NF. Seeds/cones stratified in a freezer or left outside for the winter 2022.




I don’t remember how many seeds were planted. 70 or so?
Even with stratification some did not germinate. Of those that did, many were lost to damping off in 2023. A dozen or fewer seedlings are all that remains.

A couple of survivors.

They’ve acquired the rich white-silver underbellies which are their namesake.

But have not developed the “ski jumper” needle growth pattern or notched tips commonly used to distinguish them from other firs.
True fir needle growth can be surprisingly variable depending on its location on a given tree. That is a whole other discussion.

Looking somewhat grand fir-ish here. Don’t be fooled.


This cone was collected Fall 2024. It has been kept in a freezer. Soon, I will crush it and disseminate seeds to germinate in various places for the 2025 growing season.

 

[Cruiser]

Larix lyallii (alpine larch)
Cones collected in 2021. North Cascades Range. 6000’





Older trees, different time of year.



Seeds are thought to be viable for 3 years. So this may be a long shot.

So far, one cone has been dissected. It contained 92 tiny winged seeds. They’ll be kept in a freezer until March-April, then get planted.
Another batch will be kept frozen and planted later. Maybe May-June.

I also plan to try soaking some seeds in hydrogen peroxide for 24 hours. Then germinating them.


Alpine larch seedlings are thought to be very sensitive to heat, but they also require a lot of sunlight. So as a precaution (if any seeds actually germinate) the plan will be to place them in different locations throughout the yard to see what works best.

 

[Cruiser]

1 month in the freezer.
24 hr soak in 3%hydrogen peroxide.
20 alpine larch seeds sowed in pumice fines (1/8”)

 

[rusticana]

That idea of a reborn forest is very cool.

Yes interesting concept

 

[divergent_little_tree]

Alnus rubra (red alder)

Seedlings naturally established beneath a Japanese maple last year (2024).
They were lightly pruned and transplanted into a tiny pot.
View attachment 582595

By June they were ready for a trim.
View attachment 582596
View attachment 582597

The group was given one more trim at the end of summer. Here it is in November 2024.
View attachment 582598

I love the idea of shohin forest ... Looks fantastic! I'm trying the same with some jap. maple seedlings I collected last summer.

 

[divergent_little_tree]

@Cruiser .. The hydrogen peroxide trick, very interesting, I've used it for other seeds but never though to try it with conifers. I have around 30+ dwarf mugo pine seeds I collected at a nursery and the same amount from a white pine. I've found seeds from nursery stock to be particularly difficult to germinate so this may be the trick.

 

[Cruiser]

@Cruiser .. The hydrogen peroxide trick, very interesting, I've used it for other seeds but never though to try it with conifers. I have around 30+ dwarf mugo pine seeds I collected at a nursery and the same amount from a white pine. I've found seeds from nursery stock to be particularly difficult to germinate so this may be the trick.

This is the first time I’ve tried it with any seeds. Others won’t get the soak, so we’ll be able to see how effective (or not) it is; assuming any seeds germinate.

 

[pandacular]

Very cool, Alan. Do you generally have good success germinating seed in pumice fines? I’ve got it coming out of my ears so I’d love to have something to use it for, and it seem this thread may have given me the answer.

 

[Kievnstavick]

I have had some good success in germinating in pumice fines. In my beginner years, most of my seeds were germinated in potting soil or pure pumice fines (in lieu of sand for cold stratification species)

Last year, I expiremented with pumice fines and vermiculite. I liked how it worked in general, but I disliked how the vermiculite stuck to things and looked like gold glitter.

This year I am expirementung with coco-coir and pumice fines. So far, I am not too fond of how much it compacts inside of pots to avoid air pockets. Although for large scale planting/germination it is certainly cheaper and less labour intensive.

I have an issue of always running out of my pumice fines currently. I just bought 4 cuft of pumice just for the fines as I have been using the medium sized particles for the last week after running out.

I think in the future I'll try and find a happy medium (pun unintended) that is still a "sandy" water retentive mix. Easy to bareroot and to clean the substrate for reuse.

 

[Gabler]

I use perlite, which is basically the Splenda of pumice.