pine from collected seed

[Dave E]

so i was at a local park and there are these two decorative pines,don't know the exact species but they remind me of j black and j white.
anyway i collected a few fresh pine cones that had fallen,assuming there are seeds in them what would i need to do to grow with them.is it just as simple as break them apart find the seeds and plant them or is there any preparation that needs to be done

 

[Cypress187]

Maybe you need to do stratification (keep it in the fridge for a few weeks) or scarification and that's 'breaking them apart'. But you should google it or wait for someone to give a more inteletual anwser.

 

[Dave E]

yeah i did some searching and some said stratifaction while others said it's a waste of time that they will grow with or without stratification.
from what i read every thing said to use seeds from pine cones from autumn-not sure if/why that makes a difference.

anyway i was back there and collected 4 or 5 more cones and have 75 or so seeds.so i'll plant some as they are ,strat some ,and try scarifaction-what do i do just crack em open?

 

[JoeR]

If they are japanese black pine, they dont need stratified. However, stratification supposedly increases germination rate but if you have access to as many seeds as you want I dont think its neccessary.

For my last batch of JBP seeds, I planted 20 seeds and 9 sprouted. It could be much better, it was only my second attempt and it was a feeble one at that. You'll do better.

Soak them for 1-3 days, sow them in a large shallow container filled with your normal bonsai soil (I used pumice, lava rock and pine bark) topped with a 1/4-1/2 inch of sand. This is what Eric does and it worked for me.

Read Eric's thread, "A few pine seeds, six years later"