Ginkgo from seed

[Brian Van Fleet]

What a great tree and a great thread!! I have a few from seed [apparently some Oriental markets stock seeds so one can avoid the stinky part of the process] and some I dug up from under trees at Lewis and Clark. When you were annual chopping, was the chop above buds or just a whack?

Just whacking it back. They bud back easily. Developing branching takes time, and some never develop well. Luck of the draw I guess.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Slowly filling in.

 

[namnhi]

Slowly filling in.
View attachment 438578

Do you trim the long runners in the next few weeks? I can see a couple in the 11 and 1 o'clock positions. Ginkgo tends to have a few long runners while the rest are just leaves.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Do you trim the long runners in the next few weeks? I can see a couple in the 11 and 1 o'clock positions. Ginkgo tends to have a few long runners while the rest are just leaves.

I had just trimmed a few before taking this photo. I left a couple long because I want to allow the left trunk to get a bit taller.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Not a strong year for the ginkgo, maybe a few years of being under potted is taking a toll. Still decent fall color.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Tidied up after leaf-drop.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Just waking up…

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Just going to sleep…

 

[reywas]

What a lovely tree! How often do you root prune it, and are you planning on putting it in a bigger pot?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

What a lovely tree! How often do you root prune it, and are you planning on putting it in a bigger pot?

Thanks, it gets repotted every year or two. This year I put it in a slightly oversized pot made by my friend Ron Heinen. Eventually the tree will grow into it.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

And leafless…

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Spring shot. It wasn’t repotted this year and the growth appears to be a little stronger.

 

[MGTT]

This is one of my favorites! I like the 'new' pot - especially the pic from Dec. It seems the blue color is a little different in each pic, but, I can imagine the darker blue (shown in the Dec pic) working really well with the yellow leaves in Fall.

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

Really glad for this thread! I just planted a few dozen seeds 2 weeks ago, and another couple dozen still stratifying. About how long before sprouts emerge?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Really glad for this thread! I just planted a few dozen seeds 2 weeks ago, and another couple dozen still stratifying. About how long before sprouts emerge?

That would really be testing my memory!

 

[Desert O'Piñon]

That would really be testing my memory!

That's fair. I can't even remember exactly how many seeds I planted 2 weeks ago.

 

[Slippery Pete]

Really glad for this thread! I just planted a few dozen seeds 2 weeks ago, and another couple dozen still stratifying. About how long before sprouts emerge?

Assuming you followed these guidelines, I’d say it’s only a matter of time… though two weeks is an awful long time without a single germination out of a few dozen, so maybe something is off here? This is direct from Dirr, M.A., & Heuser, C.W. Jr. (1987):

SEED: A warm/cold stratification is required as the embryo is immature and needs to develop before being subjected to cold temperatures. The ‘'fruits" should be collected in October, the pulp removed and the seed warm stratified for 1 to 2 months followed by 1 to 2 months cold. Fresh seed can germinate and one report noted 29% germination, with one month cold stratification inducing 62%. If seed is collected and sown out-side good germination should take place in spring.

Brian I have to say this Ginkgo is about the best I could ever dream of at this point. I’ve got six with ~1-1/2”-thick trunks, long forgotten in their pots over the last few years. Some pretty sorry lookin’ excuses for trees, the lot of them. A branch here, a branch all the way up there…… So I (timidly) chopped three of them down to the lowest little nub that might qualify as a dormant bud last weekend. Inspired by the very first post of this thread…! We’ll see how that goes

Considering how stubborn this species is with branch ramification, how long do you realistically expect to be developing the tree before you would consider it “show-worthy”? Or is it already a tree you’d be happy to show off as an exhibition? There is a lot I don’t know about this species, and bonsai in general, … and how this species does AS a bonsai… , so please excuse if my comment seems crass.

Respectfully,
Slippery Pete

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Considering how stubborn this species is with branch ramification, how long do you realistically expect to be developing the tree before you would consider it “show-worthy”? Or is it already a tree you’d be happy to show off as an exhibition? There is a lot I don’t know about this species, and bonsai in general, … and how this species does AS a bonsai… , so please excuse if my comment seems crass.

Interesting question. The branch ramification is coming along pretty well, and I have shown it a couple times at our local club show. I don’t know if it will ever be something I’d show at a higher level just because they are oddball trees in pots.

First, it’s hard to compare ginkgo as a bonsai to how they age in nature, where they actually become majestic-looking trees with good striated bark and graceful branching. As bonsai, the bark doesn’t develop the same way, and the trunks tend to grow as a bulbous mass or a stick. The foliage is almost never in scale, so in leaf, they’re not convincing, and out of leaf, they’re not graceful.

Then, since they do grow different as bonsai, it’s hard to judge them using recognized bonsai aesthetics: radial nebari, mature bark, tapering trunk, graceful ramification, convincing representation of the tree in nature, etc. so they end up being “interesting” in a show, and then basically dismissed.

In addition to that, this tree is on the small side at ~20”. So it doesn’t have big presence compared to a lot of old ginkgo bonsai, which often have a fat trunk, and tall, but coarse branching.

To answer your question, if it was maybe 50-75% bigger and displaying a couple more courses of tertiary branching, I’d consider showing it.

I’d be curious if @William N. Valavanis or @MACH5 perceive ginkgo bonsai in shows similarly.

 

[penumbra]

Really glad for this thread! I just planted a few dozen seeds 2 weeks ago, and another couple dozen still stratifying. About how long before sprouts emerge?

I have sprouted well over 200 from seed collected in spring after being out naturally stratifying all winter. Most of my seedlings have sprouted in May, but there are a few stragglers. I am not doing any this year because I have a couple hundred and need a break. (out of space too) I have some from about the last 6 years.