LittleDingus
Omono
I tend to start much of my seed in the fall. It entertains me to watch them grow through the dead of winter. I have a decent setup for doing this and have been doing it this way for years 
Last year, I started a shohin dawn redwood project just seconds (ok, maybe a month?) before this contest went live. There's a thread on that forest here:
www.bonsainut.com
Rather than finagle the rules or enter them in the sapling division, I'm starting fresh!
I made some mistakes with the first attempt. Almost killed them...almost
They are all still alive at this point and I'll probably continue that forest until they do die...but I also love redwoods so much that it's not a hardship to start over and be within the framework of the rules
So here goes!
The pot is a @sorce pot of the same style as my other shohin dawn redwood forest...but a little longer. The soil volume is roughly 5"x4"x0.5". It holds about a cup and a half of potting soil! Good thing dawn redwoods are the runts of the redwood family
The potting soil is a big box store bark based mix for houseplants.
I just received a ton of new seed from Sheffield's. I poured a small amount out of the bag into my palm and sprinkled the seed over the mix. I poked some of the ones that overlapped around to more open space. I counted 28 seeds total...give or take. My normal germination rate from Sheffield's dawn redwood seed is over 50% so hopefully I'll be thinning these out at some point.
I then sprinkled some DE over the top. Not enough to fully cover the seed...they need light to germinate...but enough to "tuck in" most of the seed. I added the DE because this soil can quickly foster a fungus gnat infestation! After the seeds germinate, I hope to be adding more to make a barrier over the bark soil so the gnats can't lay their eggs. That's been really effective on my indoor plants the past few winters! I didn't add too much at this point because the seedlings need to be able to raise their heads when they start to germinate. Hopefully I didn't bury anyone enough to prevent that from happening.
Finally, the pot was put on one of my grow light shelves. The lights for that shelf are off for the summer. That window faces southeast and gets plenty of direct sun. I won't start supplementing light for a couple of months yet...usually when the tropicals come back inside late September/early October.
...and we're off! Let's see how this one goes!
Last year, I started a shohin dawn redwood project just seconds (ok, maybe a month?) before this contest went live. There's a thread on that forest here:
[Dingus] Dawn Redwood (shohin) #1
Many of the veterans will find this progression ridiculous...that's fine. It kind of is :D But I'm also bored and am in the habit of starting much of my "from seed" in the fall anyway so I'm going for it! The last time I started a batch of metasequoia glyptostroboides seed was 2 years...
Rather than finagle the rules or enter them in the sapling division, I'm starting fresh!
I made some mistakes with the first attempt. Almost killed them...almost
They are all still alive at this point and I'll probably continue that forest until they do die...but I also love redwoods so much that it's not a hardship to start over and be within the framework of the rules So here goes!
The pot is a @sorce pot of the same style as my other shohin dawn redwood forest...but a little longer. The soil volume is roughly 5"x4"x0.5". It holds about a cup and a half of potting soil! Good thing dawn redwoods are the runts of the redwood family
The potting soil is a big box store bark based mix for houseplants.
I just received a ton of new seed from Sheffield's. I poured a small amount out of the bag into my palm and sprinkled the seed over the mix. I poked some of the ones that overlapped around to more open space. I counted 28 seeds total...give or take. My normal germination rate from Sheffield's dawn redwood seed is over 50% so hopefully I'll be thinning these out at some point.
I then sprinkled some DE over the top. Not enough to fully cover the seed...they need light to germinate...but enough to "tuck in" most of the seed. I added the DE because this soil can quickly foster a fungus gnat infestation! After the seeds germinate, I hope to be adding more to make a barrier over the bark soil so the gnats can't lay their eggs. That's been really effective on my indoor plants the past few winters! I didn't add too much at this point because the seedlings need to be able to raise their heads when they start to germinate. Hopefully I didn't bury anyone enough to prevent that from happening.
Finally, the pot was put on one of my grow light shelves. The lights for that shelf are off for the summer. That window faces southeast and gets plenty of direct sun. I won't start supplementing light for a couple of months yet...usually when the tropicals come back inside late September/early October.
...and we're off! Let's see how this one goes!
They won't be able to root properly, or shed their seed coat, or damp off, etc...I don't have the best humidity control with my clear plastic drip tray placed over the seedlings! But a few more may pop up over the next few days as well.
I'll try to get down to the final 5 trunks sometime before they get to 6" tall.
