Shoot's Blog

Planting my morning glories

After we lost our sunflowers to some "mean guys" (as they are now known to our five-year-old!) my mother went out and bought about fifty different kinds of seeds. October isn't necessarily the best time to start growing flowers--but the purchase did help to calm down our son.

We started the lupins first (a poor choice, considering that they take six months to bloom), then zinnias and alyssums (only two months!), and then finally morning glories.

I am delighted with the morning glories. After growing so many trees, which might grow a couple of inches per month, it is a joy to watch the morning glories rocket skyward. I could swear that they're growing about an inch a day.

Anyhoo, the time has come to transplant them, and I realized that I don't know much about supports for vines. I found a site that suggested fishing line looped around nails, which sounds nice and unobtrusive, so I guess I'll try that. The site also says that once you start the vine on its support, it will continue to climb without further encouragement. This will be a welcome change from our bougainvillea, which needs to be tied up again after every fresh spurt of growth.

Scarification of sugar pine seeds

I posted some time ago on my efforts to grow sugar pine from seed. The outcome of that first effort wasn't good: only one seed germinated, and it later died of damping off! But I vowed to try again...

I asked about my problems over at GardenWeb and was advised to buy new seed from a reputable supplier, in which case I might expect about 70% germination after 10 weeks stratification.

So I purchased new seed, but couldn't resist experimentation. I divided the seeds into three groups, to be treated as follows:

1. Soak overnight, then stratify 10 weeks at 4C, then plant in soil
2. Soak overnight, then stratify 10 weeks at 4C, then germinate in a baggy, and
3. Scarify in 50% sulfuric acid for five minutes, then stratify 10 weeks at 4C, then (my plan was to) germinate in a baggy

Today the ten weeks of stratification finally came to an end! Ten weeks is just a ridiculous amount of time. Anyway, I took the unscarified seeds out and split them, half to soil and half to the baggy, as planned. But when I took out the scarified seeds, I found that 8 of 12 had germinated in the refrigerator! So I put them in soil instead of the baggy.

We'll see how this turns out. I'll continue the experiment and let you know. But, at first blush it would appear that scarification of sugar pine seeds worked out very well. At least I've been spared a week or two of waiting for germination.

Nice to have something work!

Sunflowers are tasty. Not the seeds, the leaves...

...if you happen to be a snail, a common garden snail, Helix aspersa, my nemesis.

OK, I should have expected a snail attack from the moment I planted the seeds. I've been focused on conifers for so long that I've almost forgotten how snails like to eat tasty young seedlings. Somehow I convinced myself that it was going to be OK, then forgot about the sunflowers for a while. Now I have a bunch of half-eaten sunflowers, covered in bits of black snail poop. A few are flowering, which seems to be reward enough for my son.

To add insult to injury, though, it turns out that my young son loves the snails. He has collected them in an old yogurt container and is feeding them lettuce (not iceberg, mind you, but romaine). We were at the garden center the other day and he asked me to buy some "snail food"--a box with a picture of snails and slugs on the front of it. I gently explained that it wasn't really snail food. I should have gone ahead and bought it.

That's OK. The sunflowers are semi-ruined for this year anyway. Next year I'll put down snail poison as soon as I see the seedlings start to come up.

Received my pinus longaeva seeds today

Today I received my Pinus longaeva seeds in the mail from Sheffield's. This was a huge relief because I don't have any seeds germinating right now. The situation makes me feel off-kilter.

Resin suggested that I go to the White Mountains and gather seed, but I finally admitted to myself that it wasn't going to happen. The mountains are four hours away and I've got two kids, which leaves me with about 10 minutes to myself every day.

Sheffield's claims that the seeds don't need stratification, which surprised me since the trees grow in the mountains. I soaked 12 seeds for a few hours and transferred to coffee filters. I'll keep you posted on the results.

Sunflowers in the Sunset

This weekend I unearthed an old wooden frame in the backyard and decided to try to plant something in it. The frame had been overgrown with grass, was contaminated with paint, and was cluttered with junk. I decided to try planting sunflower seeds from the store, something I'd always wanted to try (poppy seeds are next).

I picked up a bag of raw, shelled sunflower seeds from Trader Joe's for $2. The bag was filled with dry seeds, many of which were cracked. Not very promising.

I picked the junk out of my old frame, mowed the grass, and removed the roots with a hoe and some hard work. Raked the old, contaminated sand smooth. Then I got my four-year-old son, and told him that we were going to plant a LOT of seeds. We scattered them on thickly, leaving a seed probably every 1 square centimeter, on average. We put some potting soil on top, watered, and waited.

By yesterday, two days after planting, the seeds had started to put out roots already! Now I'm worried that I planted too many, since I understand that the ideal spacing is one sunflower every 6-12 inches. I usually have a burst of overconfidence at the start of every new project, though. We'll see how it goes.

I recommend this exercise highly, though. Taking these seeds from the store and watching them put out roots really drives home the fact that they are...seeds. I guess it says so right on the package, but somehow I didn't expect them to grow.

I'm not crazy

Check out this abstract in the Academics section.  I quote:

The most effective method of breaking dormancy was to remove the seed coat totally

So my little adventure with the sugar pine seeds wasn't insane, only silly...as it appears that sugar pine is not so very hard to grow.  I'm trying again with a longer (2 month) stratification.

I took some heat for this over at GardenWeb, and now I feel vindicated.

Sugar pine seedling died

I report this news with a heavy heart indeed: my sole sugar pine seedling died, of damping-off disease. The seedling looked great for a while, but then just seemed to stall. The true leaves took forever to appear, and then stayed at <1 mm in length.

Surprisingly, I have little experience with damping off. Perhaps conifer seeds are relatively resistant? The symptoms are disturbing because they seem fixable. It seems like the plant would survive if you could just prop it up.

The good news is that this little seedling awakened me to the beauty of sugar pines. I am nothing if not persistent. I'll have more sugar pine seedlings soon enough.

Growing giant sequoias in pots

The most common query I receive from visitors to this site is: how can I grow giant sequoias from seed?  There seems to be lots of interest in growing these beautiful trees, which is wonderful.  This post is a simple how-to guide.

Growing sequoias from seed turns out to be easy, if you know what to expect.  Unfortunately, depending on your climate, keeping the trees alive can be difficult.

First, procure a decent number of seeds (perhaps 50) from a reputable dealer.  I use J. L. Hudson.  You need more than a few seeds because only 30% germinate, and in difficult climates up to 75% of seedlings will succumb to disease in the first year alone.

I recommend the "baggie method" for both optional stratification (cold incubation) and for germination.  Germinating the seeds in a bag allows you to plant only those seeds that will germinate, and not the 70% that won't.  Soak the seeds overnight in a cup of water.  The next day, spread the seeds onto one quarter of a circular, unbleached, wet coffee filter.  Fold the filter in half, then in half again, so that the seeds have three layers of filter on one side and one layer on the other.  Place the filter and seeds into a zip-lock bag.  Blow into the bag gently while closing it, so that the bag is slightly inflated and the seeds have access to air.

One month of stratification will boost your germination rate somewhat.  To stratify, place the zip-lock bag into the refrigerator (4C).  Open the bag weekly to mist if necessary to keep the filter moist.  Blow gently while closing so that the seeds have access to air.

After stratification, or immediately if you've decided not to stratify, place the bag in a dark spot at a constant temperature of around 70F.  Check the bag weekly.  Hold the bag up to the light and check whether any seeds have started to grow a white root (the tree's first root, or radicle).  If some seeds have germinated, prepare a small plastic pot or cel-pack by filling with wet seed starter mix.  Note that it can be difficult to wet seed starter after it has dried completely, so don't be bashful with the water.  The seed starter mix must be wet.  Make a hole about as deep as the radicle is long by poking a chopstick into the seed starter.  Gently plant the germinated seed into the hole, radicle first, holding only the seed itself and not the root.  Cover the seed with a very small amount of seed starter (about 1/16").

While removing germinated seeds from the filter, be careful not to let the filter dry out, as this will prevent germination of other seeds.  Fold the filter again, put into the ziplock bag, and continue to incubate in the dark at 70F.  Seeds will continue to gradually germinate over the course of about two months.

After transferring germinated seeds to a cel-pack, place the cel-pack into a simple greenhouse that is shaded all day, but that receives indirect light.  Any corner of a well-lit room will do, so long as it does not recieve direct sun.  For a greenhouse, I use a chicken wire "cage" covered by an enclosed, transparent plastic bag, but any makeshift arrangement will do, as long as it retains moisture and transmits light.

Mist the cel-pack weekly until the seeds have lifted themselves out of the soil.  Soon afterward, you can remove the seedlings from the greenhouse.  Keep the seedlings moist with a mister until the seed leaves have emerged.  Giant sequoias have four seed-leaves, which form a beautiful green "cage" that is topped by the seed coat, which will gradually be pushed off the top of the seedling.

The seedlings can remain in the shade, with indirect light, until true leaves have started to grow from the center of the four seed-leaves.  At this point, you can start to gradually expose the seedlings to some direct light, starting with only a short period each day.  You may consider feedling the seedlings once weekly with 1/4- or 1/2-strength Miracle Grow, as the seed starter contains very little nutrition.

There is no single correct time to transplant the seedlings into pots.  I usually transplant the seedlings after they have two sets of true leaves.  By this time, the radicle has reached the bottom of the small amount of soil in the cel-pack, and the seed starter is usually cohesive enough for transplant.

Sequoia seedlings require good drainage.  With wet feet, they become susceptible to disease.  Therefore, to avoid heartbreak, use only clay pots, not plastic, and well-drained soil.  I use an 8:1:1 mixture of potting soil, sand, and gravel.  Fill the bottom 1/2" of the pot with large gravel, then add a layer of your potting mixture.  Place the individual sequoia seedling in its pot (cut from the cel-pack with a razor blade, if need be) on top of the potting mixture, then fill in around the sides with more mix.  Soak the mixture with water, and then add more potting mix so that the seqouia in its pot is effectively "planted" in its new home.  Then remove the seedling and pot.  I use a razor blade to cut away one wall of the pot, then tip the soil and seedling out onto my hand.  You should see the white radicle emerging from the bottom of the seed starter plug.  Transfer the whole plug to the site you prepared, then water well.

After transplant, expose the seedling to sun gradually over the course of a month.  Water the seedling only weekly, to avoid disease.

Raising the seedling into a tree from this point can be tricky or remarkably easy, depending primarily on your climate and the prevalence of various diseases.  Young trees are susceptible to botrytis and cercospora infections.  An overly hot, humid climate makes this problem worse, particularly on the East Coast.  In addition, the trees probably require zone 6b or higher to survive the winter.  Greyneedle has compiled a remarkable collection of information about growing sequoias on the East Coast, including a helpful map showing where you are most likely to be successful.

I've posted pictures of my seedlings, and will continue to post new pictures as they grow.

Growing these trees is lots of fun, and I highly recommend it to everyone.  In my opinion, giant sequoia seedlings are almost as cute as a human baby, and they grow faster, so they are more rewarding in that sense.  They talk less, though.

Sierra Juniper seeds

I have a long history of failure with Sierra Juniper seeds.

I first tried to throw some seeds in pots, stratify outdoors, and wait.  Nothing.  Nothing.  I had been planning to wait another year, after hearing that repeated stratification can help, but finally decided I couldn't take those seeds along during my recent move.

I then tried to stratify for about 8 weeks after subjecting to various treatments: scarification, boiling water, acid, etc.  Nothing.  So I put those seeds back in the refrigerator (using the baggie method) and I'll try again this year.

Finally, though, I found what must be the ultimate authority on germination of Juniper seeds, in Forest Science.  These guys studied germination of western and Utah juniper for a solid TEN YEARS.  They tell me that I just need to stratify longer; also they recommended a blender for harvesting juniper seed.  The harvesting went famously.  As for the stratification, we'll see.  I put 192 seeds in the refrigerator yesterday, for a projected 14 weeks.

Their best conditions, though, were--get this--14 weeks in water at 5C, with constantly bubbling compressed air.  I tried to convince my wife that it would be fine.  I was going to get a little fish-tank air pump, snake the tube into our refrigerator, and go for it.  I was ready, but she couldn't be convinced.  Perhaps I'll be revisiting the issue in 22 weeks or so.  I am determined to grow these plants from seed.