Trident Maple seeds

digger714

Shohin
Messages
367
Reaction score
7
Location
Mooresville, NC - USA
USDA Zone
7B
Hello all. I have several hundred trident maples seeds that i soaked, and have kept in the fridge for about 40 days now. Should i leave them in the fridge until spring? or put them in small pots and start under lights? I have room, and a very large light i could start them under. or should i grow them in containers until they get large enough to put into the ground. Thanks for any info on this. I plan on putting them in the ground at what ever stage would be the best.
 

digger714

Shohin
Messages
367
Reaction score
7
Location
Mooresville, NC - USA
USDA Zone
7B
I was hoping that would be ok. The instructions said to put in for 30 days, then plant. Its still very cold here, so i would be scared to put them out yet. Thanks for the info.
 

pwk5017

Shohin
Messages
373
Reaction score
23
Location
Pittsburgh
USDA Zone
6/7
Agreed, 40 days is not long enough. Last year i did 60-90 in the fridge and had poor germination rates. This year, i went the way of the outdoor sowing. Ill let you know how that goes. Ok, on to my experience growing indoors. Ive done it with red and black pines. I used 6 flourescent bulbs of varying coolness/warmness. That will give you a desired spectrum of light. Another element that i thought was key, growing on a window sill. My pines grew strongly from mid december-april, when i transferred them outside. So, give them plenty of light, artificial humidity(plastic covering etc.), and ventilation. If you do all those steps, you should be able to grow seedlings indoors. However, your tridents wont germinate with 40 days of cold stratification, so all my advice is pointless.
 

digger714

Shohin
Messages
367
Reaction score
7
Location
Mooresville, NC - USA
USDA Zone
7B
Thats what ive always heard, but when i got the seeds, the directions said to soak for 24 hours, put in fridge for 30 days, then plant. Im gonna leave them in the fridge for at least another month, unless any start sprouting, then will start to move them under the lights. I have a 1000watt HPSV light that came from a nursery that we did the demolition on. Its bright. Anyway, thanks for the help, ill definately leave them in fridge longer. Its a garage fridge, so isnt taking up any of wife's room, lol.
 

grizzlywon

Shohin
Messages
259
Reaction score
5
Location
Fresno, CA. Were all the food comes from if we ha
USDA Zone
9A
Digger, I wish I had an outdoor fridge and so does my wife. I have about 5 lbs of seeds in our fridge right now. They take up almost the whole Veggie drawer. Oh well, I hate veggies, so my wife is the only issue, but she is very good to me so I can't complain.
 

digger714

Shohin
Messages
367
Reaction score
7
Location
Mooresville, NC - USA
USDA Zone
7B
Hey ill let ya use the fridge for some of those seeds. lol. If shes letting you keep that many seeds in the fridge, shes a good one. Wow, thats gotta be alot of seeds. What types do you have?
 

BUBBAFRGA

Mame
Messages
203
Reaction score
5
Location
Darien, GA
Put them in fridge with moist spagaum moss. After 30 -45 days check weekly and pull out the ones that have sprouted and plant in 4" pots keep them protected / above 34 degrees. I would keep them in pots for first year and keep them protected. Second year put in bigger pots are in ground.

This works for Japanses maples so should work for Trident.
 

digger714

Shohin
Messages
367
Reaction score
7
Location
Mooresville, NC - USA
USDA Zone
7B
Do you put them into pots for ease of taking care of, or are they just too small to be in the ground? I have seen beds where they are just growing 18" apart, and different sizes. If i have a place thats protected, would it be just as good to put them outside? How big do they usually get the first year? Height? Trunk? Will they all eventually sprout from inside the fridge, or should they go into the ground in spring?
 
Last edited:

pwk5017

Shohin
Messages
373
Reaction score
23
Location
Pittsburgh
USDA Zone
6/7
wow!!!! man, 1000 watts is intense. Probably want to watch how close that sucker is to your seedlings. Could fry them if its within 6 inches or so. Pretty much what everyone has said works. Im still trying to figure out how to get high percentages of germination with maples. They are tough cookies. Just keep an eye on them. When several begin to pop, you know you are there.
 

digger714

Shohin
Messages
367
Reaction score
7
Location
Mooresville, NC - USA
USDA Zone
7B
Yeah, its like the sun. I have the plants about 2-3 feet away. Some even more. Up to 6'. I have some of my tropicals out there, and as a backup if any plants start budding early. we have crazy weather here. 60 in the day, and 25 at night sometimes.
 

grizzlywon

Shohin
Messages
259
Reaction score
5
Location
Fresno, CA. Were all the food comes from if we ha
USDA Zone
9A
Their not hard to grow from seeds if you stratify them and follow directions from the internet and other sources.

I did however have problems with many of them dieing off after they were growing strong. I think a good spray of anti-fungicide might help. I still ended up with a lot of seedlings. I have them for sale if anyone is interested. This year I am planting out a lot more tridents, Acer Campestre, acer davidii, acer platanoides, acer negundo, some flowering quince, hawthorn, and prunus mume. Wish me luck


What I have now.
$1.00 Japanese Green
$2.00 for tridents, Red(bloodgood), and amur.
Plus shipping.

PM me if interested.
 
Last edited:
Messages
3
Reaction score
4
Hi, I know this post is 4 years old but I wanted to reply just so the information is out there for anyone else new to germinating not only trident maple seeds but ANY maple seeds. Maple seeds are so easy to germinate artificially especially trident maple seeds. The key is freshness. I will not purchase seeds if the seller does not specify what year the seeds were collected and I will not buy seeds that are more than a year old. Each year that passes more and more of the seeds get less viable. Especially stored dry. Any professional seed suppliers will keep their fresh seed stock refrigerated at 39F-40F, this keeps them fresh and viable for much longer. If you are able to get maple seeds straight from the tree or are still soft and green they can be sown right then and will grow. If you have to purchase your seeds they are usually dry and require cold moist stratification. The length of time depends upon how fresh the seeds are, the temperature of your fridge which ideal temps are the same as storing the seeds 39F-40F. Its the moisture that makes the difference mostly. Ok now, take your seeds and soak them in distilled water for 24 hours. NOT HOT or BOILING but if you have a heat mat keeping them a bit above room temperature is best. Always use distilled or sterile water and never touch your seeds with bare hands and anything dirty. I use stainless tweezers cleaned in a bleach solution and I'm about to get to that solution now. After soaking 24 hours drain the water and use distilled water again and prepare a bleach solution of 10 parts water/1 part bleach and swish the seeds around in this solution for no longer than two minutes then rinse them immediately with clean fresh distilled water. This kills any bacteria that may cause the seeds to mold before germination can take place. Now your seeds are sterile and you should keep everything sterile if you want the best results. Now take fresh new sphagnum moss(dry) and put it in a mason jar with the lid on up side down but don't tighten the lid past snug. Put this in an autoclave for one hour at 15psi. If you don't have access to an autoclave just wear non powered latex gloves and hope for the best. If you sphagnum is new and not been handled and isn't dirty you should be fine because sphagnum moss does have some antibacterial properties though mild. Take a brand new zip lock baggie and clean it with the same bleach solution, its usually best in a spray bottle for this. Swish the bleach solution around in the baggie about 2 minutes then rinse several times with new distilled water until the small of bleach is gone or very faint. Place your seeds the bag and put about an equal part of the moss and put just enough distilled water in the bag to make the moss moist. Not wet/ not dry! This is very important, too wet and the seeds will rot, too dry and they won't germinate. Its also usually best to cut your moss up much smaller before you sterilize it or use it but not powder small. About the consistency of peat moss. Again always clean your tools with the bleach solution first. You may have to add a few drops of distilled water at a time and wait for the moss to absorb it, this may need repeated a few times until you get the moss just evenly moist. Like if you wet a sponge or a rag and wring it out as dry as you can by hand is how damp you want your moss. Put the bag containing your seeds in the fridge at 39F-40F. Once a week shake the bag around to keep the seeds mixed around and open the bag after you do this each week and fan the carbon dioxide out and new oxygen in. This is critical! Now every two weeks in between the shaking and fanning your going to set the bag out of the fridge just long enough for it to get to room temperature. Do not try to get clever and heat the bag in any way, just allow it to naturally reach room temperature on its own and if your seeds are a year old or less and you do everything just as I said your seeds will let you know when they have germinated because they will have tiny little white roots sticking out of the seeds! I have tridents germinate in as little as 4-6 weeks! If yours don't germinate that fast don't worry because they can take up to 90-120 days if there older than a year. If the seller guarantees they are less than a year old they will germinate with this method in 6 weeks or less. They will not all germinate at once however, it will be a few at a time over a few week period. Be very careful when planting your sprouts because the tiny white roots break very easily! Plant in a fast draining quality potting mix or seed starter mix. I germinate mine through the winter and start them with CFL grow lights until about a foot tall then I put them under a Metal Halide grow light until after the last frost usually the first week of May. They can be fertilized with a half strength liquid feed such as miracle grow or peters as soon as they have 4-5 mature leaves. I also use pro-tekt with every watering because they can burn a little going from indoor growing to sunlight so when taking your maples outdoors for the first time they should be put in the shade for a week or two slowly exposing them to the sun over that two week period. This is a sure fire method of germinating any maple seeds and works especially well with trident and japanese maple varieties. Japanese maples however can take a little longer than 6 weeks even if they are less than a year old. I hope this helps anyone contemplating germinating maple seeds for bonsai or any other reason. I don't know if I'm allowed to do this but if not I guess ill know soon but if anyone has any other questions feel free to email me at forbiddenink@rocketmail.com. All serious and reasonable questions are welcome! Thank you for reading my post!
 
Messages
287
Reaction score
192
Location
Delano, California
USDA Zone
9b
Newbie question, when you guys say put it to a fridge, does the temp there matters?
or as long its in the fridge?
 

Shibui

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
7,545
Reaction score
15,211
Location
Yackandandah, Australia
USDA Zone
9?
Personally I have found that stratifying does not make any difference to trident germination but if you want to try there seems to be no set temp. Most sites recommend the crisper drawer but I've also seen some recommend freezing. Basically anything that can happen over winter is OK for seeds.
Freezing does not kill most seed. See the number of cryogenic seed storage facilities that have sprung up to try to preserve different seeds for the future. I've seen some saying that colder temps can even reduce the time that is needed for stratification (but that may just reflect that stratification may not actually be needed at all??)
There may be some differences depending on whether the seed is fresh or has been stored for some time. Some research shows that some maple seed enters a deeper dormancy if stored dry for a period of time and that deeper dormancy can be difficult to break.

Many growers find it far easier and less problems to stratify outdoors just as nature intended -ie sow and place the seed tray outside to experience whatever cold you have through winter.
 

leatherback

The Treedeemer
Messages
13,937
Reaction score
26,874
Location
Northern Germany
USDA Zone
7
Many growers find it far easier and less problems to stratify outdoors just as nature intended -ie sow and place the seed tray outside to experience whatever cold you have through winter.
Yup. This is how mother nature has been doing it for a while.
 
Messages
287
Reaction score
192
Location
Delano, California
USDA Zone
9b
Yup. This is how mother nature has been doing it for a while.
So are you guys saying that its okay without stratification?
Just need to put the seeds on water overnight or two days then put it directly to seed starter soil?

Just asking because I want to test it this upcoming season.

Thanks
Chris
 

Wulfskaar

Omono
Messages
1,197
Reaction score
1,842
Location
Southern California
USDA Zone
10a
So are you guys saying that its okay without stratification?
Just need to put the seeds on water overnight or two days then put it directly to seed starter soil?

Just asking because I want to test it this upcoming season.

Thanks
Chris
Why not try both if you have enough seeds? You might lose half your seeds but you'll know next year.

Also, you live in the central valley of California, so I don't think outdoor stratification is an option for you.
 
Messages
287
Reaction score
192
Location
Delano, California
USDA Zone
9b
Why not try both if you have enough seeds? You might lose half your seeds but you'll know next year.

Also, you live in the central valley of California, so I don't think outdoor stratification is an option for you.
Got it, Thanks @Wulfskaar I will definitely try both and see whats going to happened.

Thanks
Chris
 
Top Bottom