@Sternbigfoot30
Welcome to a wonderful hobby. The crowd here at BNut is pretty active, irreverent, and will occasionally tease people. So far everyone has been well behaved for you.
The reason you don't see many articles about raising bonsai from seed is because most people start with trees that are already 5 years old or older. The better one gets the older the tree we tend to start with. Raising seedlings is the ''nurseryman's phase'' of bonsai. Going from seed to first styling can be a 10 year process and most of it is just basic commercial nursery horticulture. There are a few things we do when raising seedlings for bonsai that are different than raising them for landscape plants, mainly involving pruning our of tap roots, the rest is pretty similar. So not many write about this phase.
The thread that BNut (Greg) suggested I linked below. There is a lot of info on how different people handled their seed.
Hello, got my 20 + seeds from Victoria Australia and set them in the fridge after soaking for 24 hours , 1st July now waiting Peter
www.bonsainut.com
How to germinate your seed in particular. The kit was designed for sale all across the USA. One tree in each area would likely do fairly okay, the Bristlecone pine was added for the ''mystic attraction'' that bristlecone pine has, since it is famous for being the species thought to be the oldest trees in North America. Nowhere in North America is bristlecone pine considered easy to grow, and they are so slow growing that IF you CAN grow it, it will take multiple decades to go from seed to a passable bonsai. But the name gets people interested in buying the seed kit, and there is nothing wrong with trying to grow them.
Black spruce - picea Mariana - black spruce is native only to the northern tier of USA states and most of eastern half of Canada. It is a tree of the northern bogs and muskeg. It is used in landscaping, the tree is fairly adaptable, but definitely will need to be left outdoors to experience every minute of cold in Florida's short winter. It may fail to thrive, as you are probably too warm at night for the metabolism of this species. Seed are really fine, I just plant spruce seed on moist peat-perlite blend type soil. Barely cover with additional peat-perlite blend, and set outdoors in full sun. Water daily, or mist surface daily. Some would cover with a dome or saran wrap, and keep in bright shade until you see the seed start to pop up. Then remove wrap and or humidity dome and a week or so later shift into full sun.
Spruce like moist, but not soggy soils, they dislike getting bone dry, will usually wilt and die as young seedlings. Adult, over 5 year old trees are more drought tolerant.
You have enough growing season left that you couple plant seed immediately, or wait until next spring. Store seed cool & dry, preferably in the refrigerator.
Brazilian rosewood - jacaranda mimosifolia - Popular as a street tree in Brazil, and in frost free areas of South Florida. - soak seed in water for 24 - 48 hours, sow about 1/4 inch deep, tamp down seed bed. Germinate in full sun. You are running out of growing season, you might want to wait until spring to plant. The leaves of this tree are compound, makes them difficult as a bonsai, but not impossible. They also make an attractive potted patio tree, bring indoors to protect from hard freezes.
Flame tree - delonix regia - Another zone 10 tropical street tree. Beautiful flowers. Soak seed 24 hours, any seed that sink, plant about 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep, set in full sun. Seeds that are still floating, change water to refresh the water, allow to soak another 24 hours, plant those that sink. You can take a file, and cut a nick in the seed coat with the file, then soak again. Change water daily until all have sunk. Plant seeds that sink. Flame tree also have compound leaves which make them difficult for bonsai. They are popular as bonsai in Indonesia, but there the climate is warm enough that they grow better. They make an attractive patio tree that you need to protect from hard freezes.
Bristlecone pine - pinus aristata - no stratification is necessary - soak seed 24 hours, plant about 1/4 inch deep, tamp soil (peat & perlite blend) germinate in full sun. Very slow growing, even for the nursery trade, it takes 16 years to produce a 4 foot tall tree. Bristlecone is native to high elevations, above 10,000 ft thru to tree line in New Mexico, Arizona, & Colorado. They need intense full sun, but at the same time, need cool night time temperatures. At high elevations it can reach 90F in the day and drop to low 50 F at night. When grown in areas with warm night time temperatures bristlecone is prone to be weak growers, and eventually subscum to insects and disease. There is genetic variations in seed, so you might get lucky. Plant them and see what grows.
. They need cold(freezing)Winter temps and relatively low humidity. Suspect the Spruce will not do well either but not sure. Welcome to great hobby and best fortune
