From Seed Division: Ginkgo, Pin Oak, American Elm, Sycamore, and Flowering Dogwood

Gabler

Masterpiece
Messages
2,364
Reaction score
3,197
Location
The Delmarva Peninsula
USDA Zone
7a
I'm sowing the following seeds:

Ginkgo biloba
Quercus palustris
Ulmus americana
Planatus occidentalis
Cornus florida f. rubra
I'll post pictures later, when I take the seeds out of cold stratification and sow them outside this spring.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

The Professor
Messages
11,337
Reaction score
23,254
Location
on the IL-WI border, a mile from ''da Lake''
USDA Zone
5b
For bonsai all are good choices except the Planatus occidentalis, sycamore. The sycamore has a coarse branching pattern, and very large leaves. It will likely frustrate your efforts to reduce leaf size and get fine ramification. Try to work with it. You might have more success than others have had.

The rest are excellent. I have a fair number of ginkgo seedlings scattered around.
 

Gabler

Masterpiece
Messages
2,364
Reaction score
3,197
Location
The Delmarva Peninsula
USDA Zone
7a
For bonsai all are good choices except the Planatus occidentalis, sycamore. The sycamore has a coarse branching pattern, and very large leaves. It will likely frustrate your efforts to reduce leaf size and get fine ramification. Try to work with it. You might have more success than others have had.

The rest are excellent. I have a fair number of ginkgo seedlings scattered around.

I'll more than likely plant them in the ground to grow into full sized trees, but I figure it can't hurt to experiment. Worst case scenario, I learn something.
 

Gabler

Masterpiece
Messages
2,364
Reaction score
3,197
Location
The Delmarva Peninsula
USDA Zone
7a
I've added some more seeds to the mix. The unlabelled nuts on the top left are shag bark hickory. They're not for bonsai, but for planting in the ground. Same with the dwarf maples.

1615334094217.png.

1615334288153.png

1615334352384.png

1615334421210.png

1615334520341.png

1615334825564.png
 

Gabler

Masterpiece
Messages
2,364
Reaction score
3,197
Location
The Delmarva Peninsula
USDA Zone
7a
Cold-stratifying in the refrigerator didn't work. Most of the seeds mildewed and failed to germinate. I've tried again this year with Quercus alba, Ginkgo biloba, Cedrus libani, and Pinus echinata planted outside in peat-based soil. The white oaks have begun germinating. I'm expecting at least twenty of them, though so far, only the roots have grown, not the stems. I've found the stems tend to come much later than when the radicle first emerges from the seed.
 

Gabler

Masterpiece
Messages
2,364
Reaction score
3,197
Location
The Delmarva Peninsula
USDA Zone
7a
My chestnut oaks are thriving, so I’m gonna go ahead and give them their own thread.

61F0386C-2D3E-4649-AE03-37E2903A3E3B.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom