Pine Seed Collecting

Gr8tfuldad

Gr8tfuldad

Chumono
Messages
561
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Location
NJ Pines
USDA Zone
7b
Hello All. I live right outside IBSP area, Seaside or Jersey Shore. I drive through Seaside everyday on my way to Bayhead to work. I want to collect JBP seeds this fall as they are everywhere in the area. I have searched for seed collecting and found little information. What does a mature cone that will yield seeds look like? Any information I have found says Sep-October is the best time. How do you remove the seeds from the cones? Thank you for any information that will make my collecting efforts more fruitful.
 
Gr8tfuldad said:
Hello All. I live right outside IBSP area, Seaside or Jersey Shore. I drive through Seaside everyday on my way to Bayhead to work. I want to collect JBP seeds this fall as they are everywhere in the area. I have searched for seed collecting and found little information. What does a mature cone that will yield seeds look like? Any information I have found says Sep-October is the best time. How do you remove the seeds from the cones? Thank you for any information that will make my collecting efforts more fruitful.
Click to expand...

I guarantee those pines you see everywhere are not Japanese black pine. They are probably pitch pine.

en.wikipedia.org

Pinus rigida - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

www.thespruce.com

How to Grow Your Own Peaches

Peach trees (Prunus persica) are easy to grow and produce abundant harvests in temperate climates. There are hundreds of cultivars to choose from.
www.thespruce.com www.thespruce.com
 
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Paradox said:
I guarantee those pines you see everywhere are not Japanese black pine. They are probably pitch pine.
Click to expand...

There may be Japanese Black Pine in his area.

I was surprised to learn that here on Cape Cod we have them growing in the wild. I’ve been hiking along the beaches and come across “two-needle” pines. Knowing that pitch pine (our overwhelmingly dominant species) has three needles, I began doing some research. Come to find out, JBP were planted along our northeast coast for erosion control.

According to The New York Times, JBP is very prevalent in your area also! Here is an excerpt from a NYT article:
“Discovered in 1979 by an entomologist working in Columbia, Mo., the pine wood nematode since has devoured pines of several species across the country. On the East Coast, its favorite fare is the Japanese black pine, which was planted all over Cape Cod and Long Island.”

There is even a program to try to eradicate the invasive JBP from Nantucket.

Sandplain Grassland Restoration through Japanese Black Pine Management on Nantucket – Sandplain Grassland Network

sandplaingrassland.net sandplaingrassland.net

So, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to believe that JBP have made it to the shores of New Jersey.
 
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Paradox said:
I guarantee those pines you see everywhere are not Japanese black pine. They are probably pitch pine.

en.wikipedia.org

Pinus rigida - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

www.thespruce.com

How to Grow Your Own Peaches

Peach trees (Prunus persica) are easy to grow and produce abundant harvests in temperate climates. There are hundreds of cultivars to choose from.
www.thespruce.com www.thespruce.com
Click to expand...
Not to mention most of these pines I am seeking to harvest seed from are in public lands, roadside, walkways to beach and parks. I do not believe these large old trees were wild. I live in the land of pitch pines, pine barrens, these are not pitch pines.

I will take some pictures when I go out to collect. There are some beautiful, old specimens. I’m just waiting till all the vacationers go home 😂
 
Gr8tfuldad said:
Hello All. I live right outside IBSP area, Seaside or Jersey Shore. I drive through Seaside everyday on my way to Bayhead to work. I want to collect JBP seeds this fall as they are everywhere in the area. I have searched for seed collecting and found little information. What does a mature cone that will yield seeds look like? Any information I have found says Sep-October is the best time. How do you remove the seeds from the cones? Thank you for any information that will make my collecting efforts more fruitful.
Click to expand...
Jonas has a great post and explains everything you need to know . . .
bonsaitonight.com

How to grow Japanese black pine from seed - Bonsai Tonight

Everything you need to know to successfully grow Japanese black pine from seed including selecting the seeds, stratification, planting and basic care.
bonsaitonight.com bonsaitonight.com
 
I live on Long Island, NY, also the land of pitch pines and pine barrens..

There are literally 1000s of pines growing alongside roadsides, in public lands, parks and beaches around me. Some of them are rather large, old trees with trunks over 1 foot in diameter and 70+ feet tall.

They are all pitch pines

I've seen the articles about black pines in Nantucket and Rhode Island/Massachusetts. None have been planted here because we have pitch pine that do that, along with other native beach plants they do plant. There are no JBP growing wild here that I've seen and I literally drive from one end of my county (Suffolk) to the other every month. That is well over half the length of the Island I travel every month, both north and south forks.

JPB have been sold as landscape nursery plants but even then, I don't see them often.
 
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Actually there are some Eastern White pine in a few places, but they are pretty uncommon
 
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CapeCodBonsai said:
Click to expand...
Sorry, I had meant for that to be a link instead of a download.

For anyone else wondering if Japanese Black Pine ever coexisted with the Pitch Pine (and the “uncommon” Eastern White Pine) in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York

 
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Paradox said:
None have been planted here because we have pitch pine . . .
Click to expand...


From another NYT article:

The State Tree Nursery, a state-owned enterprise in Saratoga, N.Y., sells six million trees yearly, in lots of thousands, primarily for reforestation, which is planting blocks of seedling trees in large open areas. The nursery had been shipping about 30,000 Japanese black pines annually to Long Island in recent years.
They are in abundance in Robert Moses, Sunken Meadow and Orient Beach State Parks, along the Long Island Expressway and Robert Moses Parkway, in Jones Beach, Fire Island and the shores of the East End. In private residences they are typically used as a screen between properties.
 
CapeCodBonsai said:
Sorry, I had meant for that to be a link instead of a download.

For anyone else wondering if Japanese Black Pine ever coexisted with the Pitch Pine (and the “uncommon” Eastern White Pine) in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York

Click to expand...

It may have been planted 50 - 70 years ago, but according to that fact sheet, they have been "dying in large numbers" since the 70s.

I work outside during the summer for my job. I am on beaches, dunes and in salty areas every week. They are not common here now and they are not planted for erosion control any more. They typically plant native vegetation like beach grass on beaches for erosion control now. I've seen that lots of times. I've never seen pines planted for erosion control, ever.

I have never seen a JBP growing wild here and I've been in most of the places they say they gave been planted in your post about NYT article about the Saratoga tree nursery. You didnt post the actual link to the NYT so we can't tell what year it was printed. If they have been planted, it could be they just dont survive. In fact the 2018 CCE fact sheet that you posted states "the NYSDEC has stopped growing and shipping Japanese black pine from the nursery...." NYSDEC runs the Saratoga tree nursery. It also states the majority of JPB on Long Island have died. Another NYT article from 1988 states the nursery's plans to stop growing JBP.

You can post all the articles you want. I know what my eyes are seeing and it's not forests of JPB here on LI.
 
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CapeCodBonsai said:
I feel your pain, Brother
Click to expand...
It’s weird though, they aren’t really going home anymore. Ever since Covid they are here all year? I remember as a kid surfing in the winter I land it was a Ghost town!
 
For those interested in where the information is coming from, here is the actual link to the 1988 NYT article which is the one quoted by CapeCodBonsai and myself which again states that the NYS Saratoga tree nursery would no longer grow JBP and that it was probably a "permanent decision". They used to ship JBP down here over 40 years ago but no longer primarily because they didnt have a good survival rate with as much as 2/3 dying in areas such as Orient Point. I checked the Saratoga tree nursery web site and they do not grow JBP any more.

 
Gr8tfuldad said:
It’s weird though, they aren’t really going home anymore. Ever since Covid they are here all year? I remember as a kid surfing in the winter I land it was a Ghost town!
Click to expand...

We have the same thing here. It does slow down in the winter but the seasonal residents do stay longer into the fall, until Thanksgiving or later. It also starts back up in March. June-September are still the busiest months but October, November seem to be more and more busy as time goes on. A lot did move out here permanently from the City during COVID and many did stay.
 
Paradox said:
We have the same thing here. It does slow down in the winter but the seasonal residents do stay longer into the fall, until Thanksgiving or later. It also starts back up in March. June-September are still the busiest months but October, November seem to be more and more busy as time goes on. A lot did move out here permanently from the City during COVID and many did stay.
Click to expand...
Summer shacks never allowed people to leave their houses on in the winter, they would freeze up. Now there are mansions where the beach houses once stood. So many people are still working remotely it really encouraged the exodus out of the city 🥲. I miss those quiet winters. I’ll try and grab some pics this week to see what is what, hopefully we get some free seeds 😂
 
Paradox said:
We have the same thing here. It does slow down in the winter but the seasonal residents do stay longer into the fall, until Thanksgiving or later. It also starts back up in March. June-September are still the busiest months but October, November seem to be more and more busy as time goes on. A lot did move out here permanently from the City during COVID and many did stay.
Click to expand...

25 Years ago, the Cape Cod tourist season would wrap up immediately after Labor Day Weekend. It was a challenge to find an open restaurant. The first home I bought here was located on a busy road. In December, I could have a picnic in the middle of that road and finish the meal without ever having to move my blanket. Those days are gone. In addition to every available living space being occupied by year round residents now, the tourist season has been extended through the Christmas holidays. When the summer lot return home so they can take their children back to school, we slide right into the season of “The Newly Wed & The Nearly Dead” (honeymooners and retirees).
 
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