Shady's '23 ROR Contest Thread

[ShadyStump]

I ordered some curly leaf mountain mahogany (cercocarpus ledifolius, family rosacea) seeds a while back. They took longer than I'd hoped to get here, then I took longer than I'd intended to get to them.

Only so much info on what sort of treatment they do best with, but what little I found suggested a short soak in sulfuric acid. I don't have any, and am not inclined to buy a whole bottle for a single ounce of it, so I experimented with what I had.

Three days soak in a warm dark place in H²O² 3% solution.

Then about 60 to 90 days cold stratification. Sources vary on the time.


I kept half a side that I just did an overnight warm water soak on. This is my control.
Will play by ear on the time.

 

[ShadyStump]

I had not realized until just now, while checking out other's threads, that prunus is in the family rosaceae as well.
I had to remove some prunus Americana from the cracks in my dad's ditch box the other day, and took them home to see if they survive. I'll see about working one of them onto a rock.

For now, though, I'm going to grossly over complicate things for myself by simulating the phenomenon of mountain mahogany growing in sandy rock pockets using this chunk of sandstone.

It's much denser than the common light colored more silica based stuff. I think there's a certain amount of additional iron in the mix.

Anyway, the rock, with a slight pressure on the thick corner to the left in the pic, will sit with the more textured end on the right just slightly elevated. After orienting it appropriately, I'm going to find a reasonable clay of some sort, and sprinkle fine bits over the rock dry. Then I spray it with a spray bottle to simulate rain, washing the clay into it's natural settling points.
Poke in some seeds, another layer or two of clay, wrap.

Checked the seeds today. Nothing sprouted.
The H²O² soak shows very little evidence of mold, mildew or fungus. The H²O soak shows some white stuff I'm assuming is some sort of fungus, but less than 25%.
For comparisons' sake, I started some Acer grandentatum seeds about the same time. About 25% or so show signs of mold, mildew or fungus, but three have sprouted.
I'll wait a couple more weeks and check the mahogany seeds again.

 

[Kievnstavick]

Let's hope your mahogany seeds sprout. Did you need to break the seed coat with the acid?

I finally got my trees in today, but I have yet to source some interesting rocks for all of them. I also still need to buy my "rocks", but maybe I'll save that for next year's work.

 

[ShadyStump]

Breaking the seed coat was the idea behind the recommended sulfuric acid treatment. With none on hand, I'm hoping the H²O² treatment was enough to soften it a little.
If nothing else, I believe it's helped survivability through the cold stratification, but we won't know for sure until the end of summer. I have plenty enough of them that something should pop by sheer chance, even if not for this project.

 

[ShadyStump]

After inspection (and losing most of my shifted fines I was saving for muck to an impromptu planting party with the neighborhood kids) I'm not going to try directly planting on the rock. I checked on them a few weeks ago, and there was nothing sprouting but mold. I pulled out the obviously rotted seeds, and put them back for a full 90+ days cold stratification.

This is how I found the seeds today.
Both sets had issues with mold, but the H²O² soak had less of course. The paper towel they were wrapped in was quite wet still. Nothing sprouting, so I planted every single last seed, rather densely too. Not expecting a big germination rate, and likely slow, if any.



The regular H²O overnight batch was surprising. The paper towel was just moist, no excess water at all. There was more mold, but also a variety of different types, and several seeds had already started roots.
I planted the sprouted ones, and the cleanest seeds, and trashed the rest.



Both went into my tiny greenhouse. It's missing a zipper after getting blown around over winter, and doesn't actually greenhouse so well right now. So I have both batches covered separately, and will remove the covers once any seedlings run out of room.

 

[ShadyStump]

So, a month and a half later...
I got nothin'.

There was something that sprouted in the H²O² flat, but the seed coat on it didn't look right, so I pulled it. (Now I'm worried that when I die my hell will be learning that that little sprout was the only tree I was ever going to get.)

Still letting them go, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[ShadyStump]

Still nothin'.

Think I might go with a ficus since I'm apparently no good at seeds.

 

[nuttiest]

I have some of those ear tree pods sitting here two weeks I haven't planted yet. Want a pod?

 

[ShadyStump]

I appreciate it, but I have plenty of options lying around.
I'm mostly just disappointed in my terrible luck, or skill. Probably both.

 

[nuttiest]

Good thing determination still outweighs skill and luck issues.

 

[ShadyStump]

You're not wrong.

 

[ShadyStump]

So, since my first foré into starting from seed has turned out to be an epic failure, I present a ficus macrophylla tiger bark.

Grossly root bound in this teensy tiny little pot after being forgotten all summer.


Orientation of the rock?

Nah, I like the horizontal stratification better.

Let's uncover the roots.

Something like this maybe.

Mixed up some half-ass muck just to glue a long thin root into the position I wanted, then good old bailing wire to tie that big one into place.

I know the bailing wire will rust away fairly quickly, but that's the idea. By the time any roots out grow it, it'll be weak enough that it won't matter.

Potted up in coco coir with a fistful of cow manure because I suck at fertilizing, and loads of coarse zeolite.

Plenty of room for roots to grow downward, with the flat backside of the rock against the wall of the pot, where the fine, short roots are. They should grow down with nowhere else to go, and the roots on the front of the rock will have plenty. That way any new, extraneous roots I don't like can still aid growth, but I don't have to worry about them cluttering the rock and can remove them when it's time.

 

[ShadyStump]

So, it's been a year almost. I haven't done anything but pull some of the excess soil off the top when I was worried about it rooting out of the trunk. It's grown a bit, but nothing noteworthy. Pretty healthy overall.

I'm torn between pulling it from the pot and seeing what it looks like, or just let it go and be surprised. What you all think?

 

[Kievnstavick]

I am in the same boat. I am going for surprise next year, mostly because I got busy near the ending of spring.