parhamr contest entry thread

[parhamr]

Please keep posts in this thread to a minimum so it’s concise and clear.

Purchase 1: “2,000 Pinus Thunbergii Seeds (Pinus Thunbergiana, Japanese Black Pine Seeds) 2000 Pinus Thunbergii B28 SAC” from http://www.rarexoticseeds.com/ (2017-11-03)

I’ve never purchased from this vendor before. Germination steps TBD.

 

[parhamr]

Purchase 2: 150 seeds of “Pinus thunbergii
Japanese Black Pine” from seedrack.com

I’ve never purchased from this vendor before.

 

[parhamr]

The seeds from both vendors arrived this week. I’m storing them dry and at room temperature until 2018.

 

[parhamr]

Overnight low temperatures are not yet reliably above the mid-40s (here in Portland) so I’m going to wait at least another week to cold stratify the seeds.

 

[parhamr]

Okay, I’ll join the fun. The mid-term weather outlook appears more mild, so I’m comfortable getting started on cold stratification.

Left: seedrack.com seeds (150)
Middle: rarexoticseeds.com seeds (2000)
Right: Amazon.com seller “Palace of the sun” (50)

They’re all in cold, municipal tap water freshly drawn for this purpose.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Not too many sinkers...

 

[parhamr]

@Bonsai Nut 16 hours later:

 

[parhamr]

24 hours of soaking in my kitchen (68°F air temp) and now they’re in the fridge for cold stratification inside unbleached tea bags.



Back: 5 floaters from the seedrack.com lot
Mid: 24 floaters from the rarexoticseeds.com lot
Front: 40 floaters from Palace of the sky

The “Palace of the sky” vendor appears to have overfulfilled my shipment of “50” seeds but also had the worst yield.

All of the tea bags are now inside individual plastic bags that are then inside one glass jar in my fridge. The fridge temperature is a reliable 36°F.

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Have you checked the floaters if they were empty? Most of the time in a fridge the top shelf is 4 to 6 degrees warmer than the bottom shelf. The 36 degrees is mostly the average. At least that is my understanding. What is the optimal temperature to stratify seeds?

 

[parhamr]

Have you checked the floaters if they were empty? Most of the time in a fridge the top shelf is 4 to 6 degrees warmer than the bottom shelf. The 36 degrees is mostly the average. At least that is my understanding. What is the optimal temperature to stratify seeds?

I’m using The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation as my guide.

It suggests 1–2 months at around 40ºF for cold stratification.

 

[parhamr]

Okay, I’m finally getting to planting the seeds. They’ve had 42 days to stratify at 36°F.



I started one seed tray of the rarexoticseeds.com seeds. This is the “standard” 10" x 20" tray. I planted four rows (lengthwise) at about 2–4 seeds per inch.

I’m using old Boon-ish mix combined with 1/16" pumice and coarse horticultural sand.



I have the tray under T5 HO fluorescent lights with my indoor tropical plants. The lights are 6500°K (blue) and about 9" above the surface of the soil.

This tray is intentionally non-draining. I’m going to let them germinate and hope my timing is right to migrate to outdoor growing after these have outgrown the container.

 

[parhamr]

The seeds are germinating but with spotty results.

I’m finally headed to pick up some proper, draining seed trays and another T5 HO lamp unit today.

More to come

 

[parhamr]

?

 

[parhamr]

The first batch is just starting to produce their first true needles and I’ve started another tray. This one is two rows each of the seedrack.com and “Palace of the sun” seeds. They were showing mild fungal infection but I’m optimistic the ventilated and bright growing conditions will be good.



This is now a properly draining tray and I used a more coarse mix that is heavy on diatomaceous earth and also includes sifted vermiculite.

 

[parhamr]

The stems of batch 1 have turned purple-ish

Two seeds of batch 2 have sprouted and are visible above the soil line

 

[parhamr]

Today I transplanted the first batch and selected 80 of them to go into individual pots of 4 cubic inches each.

I pulled up the seedlings:


I found most of them had produced long roots:


I selected the seedlings showing the best vigor and roots:


And then set to work on moving the lot into screened, previously used bonsai soil:


About 30 of them will remain indoors under lights. The remaining 50 are outside.

I also moved the second batch outside so I could have more space under the lights.

 

[RobertB]

did you not take any cuttings? some of those look like some pretty good growth!!

 

[parhamr]

I did not perform the seedling cutting technique. I’m pleased with the height of the first node that I get under strong lighting.

I did reduce the root length on about 20 of the 80 seedlings.

 

[parhamr]

The first true needles are out!

 

[parhamr]

The outdoor seedlings appear to be close to forming true needles. I’ve applied granular organic 5-4-4 fertilizer to them.

The indoor seedlings continue to make great progress and their color appears super vibrant and healthy. I’ve applied liquid chemical 7-8-6 fertilizer to them.