Seedling update:
my first batch of seeds had pretty good germination rates. I planted 72 and most have germinated by now. I think there are a few late sprouters, but in all I am pleased with my first go at starting seeds.
These seeds are Mikawa JBP seeds that I purchased from Clark M Long Biogold Original. They are said to be directly imported from Japan and cost $16/gram of seeds. This seems a little pricey compared to what I read some people here paid for seeds, but I am hopeful that they will be of high quality!
I ended up buying 4 grams of seeds all together. 2 grams of seeds I started by scarifying In hot water over night. The seeds that were still floating after about 24 hours I discarded and the rest I put into little ziplock bags with moss and put into the refrigerator for about a month. This was done in the beginning of January or so. I can’t remember the exact date.
I sowed the seeds on February 12th in a Jump Start germination station that I purchased on Amazon. The germination station game with a humidity dome and a heat mat which I found the be very helpful with germination. This tray has 72 cells so I still have quite a few seeds from my first batch still stratifying in the refrigerator and I still have 2 grams of seeds in the shipping baggies in my garage. I plan on sowing the remainder of seeds in my fridge in a few weeks and the other seeds I think I will experiment and just scarify and not stratify and compare germination rates and times.
As for my plan with the seedlings, for this first batch I will probably exclusively do the seedling cutting technique to try to make shohin and mame black pine, but in the future I want to try to make larger pine bonsai.
