AusBonsai

Cedars and English oak are showing signs of life.

On Saturday, I dropped a bunch of cones off to Mike - who was eager to get some Cedar seeds - seems he may have some viable seeds - who yet knows?

Given that success- I walked to my source of trees on Sunday arvo. No more cones ... excepted a couple of half, dirty and bird eaten cones on the ground. My dog Hadley looked at me in an odd way when I picked them up. Sunday arvo, I broke the two halves open and put whatever seeds I had in warm, nearly hot water and left them overnight. At lunchtime today - needing a break from work- I noted that some had sunk and duly plucked them out with tweezers and lay them on a bed of moist sphagnum top with a moist paper tower and cover with another. Into the fridge they go.

I have never tried to get seeds to propagate. Quite excited albeit I don’t hold much hope from two half eaten cones left to humans by the galahs up high.

It’s quite funny - a few years back when I heard of people putting seeds in the fridge - I said on this forum that if that happens -
I am pretty sure my wife will leave me. I sincerely hope she doesn’t

Here’s some photos.






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Good luck with it MJL.
It's a first for me collecting and germinating seeds too. Thankfully we have a spare fridge downstairs that I can put them in rather than the normal fridge, or I'm not sure how popular I'd be either!

Being from across the ditch i am missing my Pohutakawa (Metrosideros excelsa) so i am going to give them a try as it acquired some seed recently. i must remember not to throw seeds out that have not sprouted though. I put some wisteria tree seeds down in early summer and some are still coming through so will have to be patient with them this year. Also got some J/maple seeds off my baby maple i grew form seed 4 years ago so hopefully they will keep coming.

Pohutakawa should germinate relatively quick and evenly. Wisteria are legumes and have hard seed coats designed not to germinate quick but to spread the risk over a longer period of time. Scarifying helps speed up germination of those hard coat seeds. Either scrape the seeds to scratch the surfaces or put in a cup and pour boiling water over. That also shatters that hard coating so they can absorb water and start to grow quicker.

Maples are from cold regions. Sometimes the seed needs a 'winter' before it will grow ( adaptation so that seedlings don't start growing when it is too cold). Sow seed and leave the trays outside in frost, etc so they get a natural winter stratification or put the seed with damp sand or moss in a plastic container in the fridge for 4-6 weeks to simulate winter. Note that I have had issues with mould on seeds in the fridge so it may not always be best method. Fresh maple seed grows much better than stored seed.

shibui wrote: ↑May 19th, 2020, 7:52 am Pohutakawa should germinate relatively quick and evenly. Wisteria are legumes and have hard seed coats designed not to germinate quick but to spread the risk over a longer period of time. Scarifying helps speed up germination of those hard coat seeds. Either scrape the seeds to scratch the surfaces or put in a cup and pour boiling water over. That also shatters that hard coating so they can absorb water and start to grow quicker.

Maples are from cold regions. Sometimes the seed needs a 'winter' before it will grow ( adaptation so that seedlings don't start growing when it is too cold). Sow seed and leave the trays outside in frost, etc so they get a natural winter stratification or put the seed with damp sand or moss in a plastic container in the fridge for 4-6 weeks to simulate winter. Note that I have had issues with mould on seeds in the fridge so it may not always be best method. Fresh maple seed grows much better than stored seed.

thanks.
i have also had problems in the past in the fridge so i think i will wait with the maples and plant them outside in winter in the frame.
Cheers

I got some jbp and cryptomeria seed off eBay just to see if they would work some of the jbp worked but none of the cryptomeria have yet

I tried some Himalayan cedar too.

No signs of life yet.

Of the 5 cedrus cones I collected, only one was opening naturally and the others took a bit of force to open.
Only seeds from that one cone have worked so far, even though they were thin, dry, and looked worse than the others when de-coned
8 of the sinkers (and now one floater) germinated in the fridge and were sewn on the 12th May.
5 out of those 8 have popped through the surface now.

You've just reminded me to check the container behind the bacon!

Brekel, how long did yours take to start to germinate in the fridge? Or perhaps to ask another way, how long should I wait before I know if my experiment is a success or failure?

MJL, mine were in the fridge for 3 weeks. It could vary though, depending on the seeds, moisture content, etc.
One of mine germinated later than the first 8.

First time trying to grow from seed.
I have chinese elm in a mini greenhouse now and trident maple to start in spring.
I am also stratifying some black pine seeds in the fridge.
Never tried it before so I guess I have a lot to learn.

Just bought some fresh raw almonds from a shop.
I had been planning to go pick some off a tree down the road (and take a few almond and olive cuttings while I'm at it) and still might do that too.
Now I have to do some research .
Was thinking planting them in a mix of half coco and half perlite

MJL wrote: ↑May 27th, 2020, 9:42 pm You've just reminded me to check the container behind the bacon!

Same here

Hakea Laurina and Callitris Verrucosa have woken early, now I need to protect them from the coming frosts