TyroTinker's 6yr pine entry

[TyroTinker]

Ok, so I'm off to a late start but I just started soaking my seeds today 4/7/18 (My son turns 1 year old today!) These seeds will be my first actual step into the bonsai world besides internet research and 1 failed attempt at an airlayer last year.

I ordered way less seeds then a lot of people here but I got them from 3 different vendors. 1 had two types but we will see if that does anything different.
The picture below shows the seeds soaking with their separate labels that will follow them for at least the next 6 years.


I don't know where treeseeds.com seeds are from, but they are the two types the left.
Sheffield's states it's from China.
The third one is from India... (I forgot who the vender is)

 

[TyroTinker]

Well only had 2 seeds sink out of all of those seeds. Soaked them a little longer then I thought I would (36 hrs) but I got them all planted up now. Just under soil level in these small little cells I found online. The domes are on for now because they have to be in the garage, still a little cold out.

 

[Dorky_gearhead]

Only 2 sinkers?!?

 

[TyroTinker]

WAIT!! NO!! I only had 2 FLOATERS!!
My bad. It was long day yesterday my brain wasn't all there. Been working 6:30am-6:30pm for a couple weeks now.

 

[TyroTinker]

I've only got about 5 of sprouts started growing. It doesn't seem like much cause I started with a little over 100.... I think I need to work on my seed starting skills.

I know I'll kill a bunch of them in the future so I'm gonna buy some more seeds I think...

 

[TyroTinker]

$15 min order on rareexoticseeds.com so I got some other seeds too

 

[TyroTinker]

Seems I might be to impatient for this contest. 1 day later I found evidence of 24 sprouts starting to come out of the soil... and now I have 500 more pine seeds coming

 

[TyroTinker]

Sooo... given that I live in the Pacific Northwest zone 8b does anyone think it's to late to start my next batch of seeds?

I've been really busy lately and forgot to get them started. Is it to late? I do have those 500 seeds now...

I also would like to start those different maples if it's not to late in the year for that too....

Thanks for any input

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I've had extraordinary results with red pines sowing them in fall, 2 months before the frost came. The ones that survived are doing great.
Seeds naturally spread from cones in dry and hot weather, then germinate after some rain. So summer sowing? Sounds natural to me. But I've never been to japan, I don't know how the seasons work there.

 

[Dav4]

You have plenty of time to start the pine seeds if your first frost isn't until mid to late fall. The seeds germinate quickly and only need a few months of growth before hardening off for the winter. Maybe sow a quarter of your new seeds and hold the rest for next spring. The maples are a different story. I believe it's recommended to cold stratify tridents for 4 months before planting... I usually start the stratification process in October for a planting date in February here in N GA. Hope that helps.

 

[TyroTinker]

Ok so I started my second batch of seeds. I only did half of my order... I don't think I could handle that many pines for very long...

I started by soaking them in some hot water with a capful of H2O2. I've heard some other people trying it and wanted to see if it helped my germination rates. I plan on soaking for at least 24hrs if I do more I will probably change the water out for some more hot water but with out the H2O2 being added (I'm a tad afraid of over doing it)



I am a little surprised by how varied the color of the seeds are. Sure they were different colors before but they were more consistent. I don't think I had any seeds as light colored as some in this batch. And a couple were pure black too

I wonder what that will mean in the future?