Piñon from seed: A progression thread

[Desert O'Piñon]

A trip to NW Kansas took me through eastern New Mexico and Colorado. I was able to collect several dozen piñon nuts from a rest area. (A small handful of juniper berries as well.) This excited me, as this is one of the few species that is native here.

The float test for seed viability has yielded 0% sinkers. Although this isn't the result I should get, it seems unlikely that out of around 100 seeds none of them are viable. So, because it is not 100% accurate, I will continue as if they all have a chance to germinate. After soaking for a day, I plan to stratify them in dampened paper towels contained within plastic baggies until spring, when I intend to plant them in pots in a very sunny area, probably late February.
I am daring to hope that these seeds choose to germinate and grow into beautiful thriving trees.

 

[Colorado]

Looks like a fun project! I have a few native pine seedling projects going myself and really enjoy them.

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

Looks like a fun project! I have a few native pine seedling projects going myself and really enjoy them.

Any advice for higher germination rates? None of the juniper berries have sunk yet, either. Do they sink after some time has passed? Maybe I'm just doing something wrong.
I want to focus my efforts on Pinus edulis, Juniperus deppeanna, and Acer grandidentatum, so I'm really hoping for success.

 

[Colorado]

Any advice for higher germination rates? None of the juniper berries have sunk yet, either. Do they sink after some time has passed? Maybe I'm just doing something wrong.

Hmmm, I don’t really remember exactly what I did to be honest I started mine in 2020. I think I just planted the seeds directly in the pot with fine grained bonsai soil and then put them in a sunny windowsill until they sprouted, and then took them outside when it was warm enough and risk of frost had passed.

I used seeds that I bought online. They’re really cheap to purchase if your collected ones don’t work out.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Juniper berries don't sink, they're ground to pulp by birds in their gizzard or whatever that bag of rocks in their body is called. That should release the seeds from the berries after which they can germinate.

Manual removal of the seeds from the berries can be done, by eating them (not recommended unless you want sensitive nipples for a week), or by just tearing them open. The seeds, if viable, should sink after a day or two of soaking.

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

Manual removal of the seeds from the berries can be done, by just tearing them open. The seeds, if viable, should sink after a day or two of soaking.

Thank you! Exactly what I just discovered.
Pulp removed = sunken seed.
It struck me how much oil is contained within the pulp! A pleasant aroma, but yeah, I should have kept the rubber gloves on.
I believe these to be Rocky Mountain Juniper, Juniperus scopulorum, not Oneseed Juniper, Juniperus monosperma, as most of the berries contained two seeds. So much for my three primary species. I'm already at four, and I only have one of the original three.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Rubber gloves would dissolve from the resin anyways, nitrile will hold for a while.
The resin is high in phytoestrogens, a molecule class that is not estrogen, but acts in the human body in a similar way. Hence the sensitive nipples if you use the extract of the resin on your skin for a month or longer. Great antibacterial properties and some anti-cancer stuff in there, but also the weird stuff.

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

I just used the pulp for an interesting, but not entirely unpleasant tea. A spot of honey seems to somewhat offset the bitterness.

Rubber gloves would dissolve from the resin anyways, nitrile will hold for a while.
The resin is high in phytoestrogens, a molecule class that is not estrogen, but acts in the human body in a similar way. Hence the sensitive nipples if you use the extract of the resin on your skin for a month or longer. Great antibacterial properties and some anti-cancer stuff in there, but also the weird stuff.