Liquidambar seeds arrived! Now for propagation...

[Japh]

I ordered 50 Liquid Ambar Styraciflua seeds from Deminimus on the weekend which have just arrived in my letterbox. Very exciting!

liquid_ambar_seeds.jpg

So anyway, I opened it up, and it turns out there are approximately 200 seeds instead (I counted the first 100, and the remaining pile looked slightly bigger, but I'm allowing for possibly slight filler that snuck in).

My plan so far for propagation is:

1. put the seeds in warm water to soak for 48 hours
2. put propagation sand into propagation tray, then water
3. press seeds lightly into propagation sand
4. cover lightly with vermiculite, then water
5. wait for seedlings to magically appear! (keeping damp, but not wet)

Here is the propagation tray I have ready to use:

propagation_tray.jpg

propagation_tray_separated.jpg

So I guess my 2 questions really are:

1. Does this procedure look right? Did I miss anything?
2. Is now the right time to do this (as in, during this week, on the weekend at the latest), or should I fridge the seeds and wait til next year? (If so, when next year?)

[Jamie]

well this was one thing i was gonna say, have they been stratified for you or do you have to do this, i got a "how to" on my maple seeds which are similar to liquid amber. my guess would be you will have to cold stratify them, but as i have stated before that you might be able to get away with it in your climate, maybe do a test. put 100 of your seeds in a closed container. like an old film canister, and keep them in a dry place. cold stratify 50 of them, and plant 50 out like you were doing. this way you will have some for next year if this year is either unsuccessful or you lose them due to one reason or another.
to stratify them just follow what i did in the maple seed thread mate

regards jamie

[Japh]

well this was one thing i was gonna say, have they been stratified for you or do you have to do this, i got a "how to" on my maple seeds which are similar to liquid amber. my guess would be you will have to cold stratify them, but as i have stated before that you might be able to get away with it in your climate, maybe do a test. put 100 of your seeds in a closed container. like an old film canister, and keep them in a dry place. cold stratify 50 of them, and plant 50 out like you were doing. this way you will have some for next year if this year is either unsuccessful or you lose them due to one reason or another.
to stratify them just follow what i did in the maple seed thread mate

regards jamie

I've read conflicting information regarding stratifying. One source who says she often does LiquidAmbar, and all she does is collect them from the tree, soak for 48 hours, and then sow. Another source says to stratify for 30 days, and then sow.

The only question then, I suppose, is would it be too late in the year to sow in 30 days time? If not... I could do a split-test with 50 soaked and sown now, and 50 stratified and sown in 30 days time. Which would mean sowing in late November... is that too late?

[Jamie]

im not quite sure on that mate ??? i would try and do the tests like i originally posted.
as for the sowing being to late in thirty days i couldnt tell ya. maybe someone with more experience in seed propagation of maple and liquid amber could help? who that would be im not quite sure either.
i will be sowing my in the summer, yet i have a mild. quite humid summer where i am.

regards jamie