They are looking great! There is a big Sweetgum across the road from me that turns a brilliant orange every autumn. It is what is I assume the mother of many of the seedlings that grow like weeds around my property (though there’s a couple other less brilliantly colored so who knows). It’s so interesting to see the differences in them. There’s one I’ve let grow all year by my mailbox that has been uniformly purple for several weeks now. Another growing nearby has been pretty bland. Another in my landscaping has been hacked back over the course of years and I think will make an interesting tree which has yet to even turn at all. Trying to keep my eye out for nice colored volunteers to transplant and develop.
Wulfskaar's Liquidambars (Sweetgum) from seeds
- Thread starter Wulfskaar
- Start date
LuZiKui
Shohin
Cool progression, thanks for sharing! Those things thickened up nicely in a pretty short amount of time.
Wulfskaar
Omono
They have done well! I look forward to seeing what they look like without the leaves. Also plan to up-pot them in spring to let them grow thicker.
Wulfskaar
Omono
Dang wind!
Wulfskaar
Omono
All leaves are in color and many have already fallen off.
Wulfskaar
Omono
Just wanted to not something strange I noticed. You can see where the 2023 growth is separated from the 2022 growth. It's actually a bit thicker in 2023.
Wulfskaar
Omono
I have decided to keep these as a forest and I'll actually be adding to them when I repot in the coming days.
Because of this, I'm not concerned with the trunks getting too thick. I would rather try to get more branching and ramification down lower.
QUESTION: They are getting tall and it's repotting time. Should I prune them down now before the buds pop? If not, when would be the best time?
Because of this, I'm not concerned with the trunks getting too thick. I would rather try to get more branching and ramification down lower.
QUESTION: They are getting tall and it's repotting time. Should I prune them down now before the buds pop? If not, when would be the best time?
I just pulled three volunteers from the ground last weekend in central VA as their buds from last year were starting to swell but hadn’t popped. All have already started fresh buds lower on the trunk. It’s actually crazy. The biggest one a squirrel even dug out while I was away traveling this week, thankfully it has been wet here and most of the roots were still in contact with the soil. Doesn’t seem to have skipped a beat. I had everything on my deck last year and can’t recall ever having a squirrel problem but I built a custom bench last year that is now down on ground level and they seem to be messing around with my trees. Dogs might be getting lazy too who knows.
Wulfskaar
Omono
Repotted today into a box. Added one tree that was a volunteer in another pot.
I plan to keep adding trees as I go. There should be plenty of room to grow for another couple years.
I plan to keep adding trees as I go. There should be plenty of room to grow for another couple years.
Wulfskaar
Omono
I had a little bit of moss, so decided to try the method of chopping it with some sphagnum and placing it on the soil. We'll see how it turns out.
Wulfskaar
Omono
All is well. Added a different kind of moss that I found on a nearby hike.
Wulfskaar
Omono
I went ahead and chopped them down quite a bit 
. Made me nervous to do that, but I'm hoping to strengthen some of the lower growth right now.
. Made me nervous to do that, but I'm hoping to strengthen some of the lower growth right now.
Wulfskaar
Omono
Here they are now, just beginning to change colors for fall.
Wulfskaar
Omono
Showing a bit more color.
Coppersdad
Mame
@Wulfskaar , You have challenged me with all of the posts on this thread. Tomorrow I will make the trek all the way across the street to my neighbor's driveway and help him by collecting all the seed pods that have fallen there.
Thanks for the inspiration. Do you have any special tips for scarification?
Wulfskaar
Omono
It was pretty easy. I took the spike ball seed pods and smacked them repeatedly onto a paper plate to get the seeds out (the little holes have to open up first). The best ones are just starting to open, as the older ones have already lost most of their seeds.
Once I had the seeds, I put them in a lightly damp paper towel and tossed them in the fridge for a couple months. I live where it basically never gets to freezing temps, and the sweet gum seedlings still pop up all over the place, so I'm not sure that the cold stratification is necessary, although it may increase germination rates. Last year, I sowed a bunch of J. maple seeds and what popped up? A single sweet gum seedling that I didn't even sow. The maples never sprouted.
Once early spring rolled around, I sowed the seeds in normal potting soil and just kept that moist until they popped out.
If you do end up growing some, please post the progression! I would love to see it. Good luck!!!
Gabler
Masterpiece
If the seed pods have already fallen, it may be too late to collect seeds from them.
Gabler
Masterpiece
Dirr agrees. They have a "shallow dormancy." Germination rates were 78% at two months of cold stratification with no increase for those stratified for three months.
Totally by coincidence, I was just reading that before I looked at this thread.
Wulfskaar
Omono
I've had both experiences. I got all of these seeds from fallen seed pods.
But... the following year, on a mildly windy fall day, it was literally raining seeds from the tree. Basically, the seed pods were opening on the tree and not on the ground. I described it earlier.
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/wulfskaars-liquidambars-sweetgum-from-seeds.53087/post-921548
Wulfskaar
Omono
More fall colors. The leaves are dropping daily. I'll be adding another tree in spring that I'm growing separately and will also probably toss a bunch of seeds in there. I keep getting volunteers in there anyways, and the composition I am envisioning requires a lot more trees.
