Rodrigo's JBP 6 year contest

Rodrigo

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I just ordered my seeds today from treeseeds.com.

I ordered some Coast redwoods seeds earlier this year and had pretty good success with them. Hopefully I'll have the same luck with these.

-Rodrigo
 

Rodrigo

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Post 3 - Jan. 1, 2017

I started soaking all my seeds in water today. I placed half of them (53/107) in a cold water cup, and the other half (54/107) in a hot water cup to see the difference, if any. After 24 hours, I will be placing them in the fridge for stratification for a week while I'm on vacation.

20180101_224417.jpg

I had 2 seeds in the cold cup sink right away, the rest of them stayed afloat. Within 24 hours any viable seeds should sink and the ones that don't, will be thrown out.
 

Fonz

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Rodrigo

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Rodrigo

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Post 4 - Jan 2nd, 2018

After 24 hours of soaking, I had a few floaters in both cups as expected. My original plan was to toss the ones that stayed afloat but thanks to some advice from @Fonz, I will be stratifying them all anyways.

One baggie for the seeds from the cold water and another for the hot, both labeled. I put all of the seeds in dampened paper towels in each corresponding plastic baggie and placed them in the bottom drawer of my fridge for stable temperatures. I will be taking about half out when I return from vacation in about a week's time to sow, and the rest will wait in the fridge for a bit warmer temperatures.

IMG-20180101-WA0016.jpg
 

Bonsai Nut

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I'm a paper towel fan... (having used it several times before) but consider a wad of sphagnum moss in each bag to help maintain humidity.

The key to cold strat is to keep the seeds humid, but NOT wet. Wet = fungus and death. The benefit of sphagnum is that it not only absorbs water and maintains humidity, but that it naturally has anti-fungal properties.
 

Rodrigo

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I'm a paper towel fan... (having used it several times before) but consider a wad of sphagnum moss in each bag to help maintain humidity.

The key to cold strat is to keep the seeds humid, but NOT wet. Wet = fungus and death. The benefit of sphagnum is that it not only absorbs water and maintains humidity, but that it naturally has anti-fungal properties.

Thanks for the tip! To clarify, do you mean I should put paper towel AND the sphagnum? Or completely substitute it?

I was using paper towels because, like you, I've used it before on some Scots Pine and larch seeds with great success. However I'm always open to new ideas so I'll definitely give this a try!
 

sorce

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Thanks for the tip! To clarify, do you mean I should put paper towel AND the sphagnum? Or completely substitute it?

I was using paper towels because, like you, I've used it before on some Scots Pine and larch seeds with great success. However I'm always open to new ideas so I'll definitely give this a try!

I use coffee filters instead of paper towel, it stays intact better.

Use em to microwave hotdogs too...

Back when I had a microwave....and ate hotdogs!

Sorce
 

Rodrigo

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I use coffee filters instead of paper towel, it stays intact better.

Use em to microwave hotdogs too...

Back when I had a microwave....and ate hotdogs!

Sorce

Well shit. I guess I'm just going to have to buy more seeds to try all these different methods! :rolleyes:

I didn't have a microwave for a while either and I realized that a lot of food actually tastes ok cold! Hahaha
 

Bonsai Nut

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Thanks for the tip! To clarify, do you mean I should put paper towel AND the sphagnum? Or completely substitute it?

I put my seeds in paper towel, and then put in a a wad of of sphagnum about the size of a pingpong ball in each bag. Over the course of a month, the moss typically won't dry out, but if it does, I remove the moss, wet it, squeeze out the excess water, and place it back in the bag. I water the moss NOT the towel.
 

Rodrigo

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Well I didn't have the room I thought I did to grow indoors while waiting for spring so I had to wait until last night to sow my seeds. I planted 12 seeds in regular seed starting mix from the pile which I stratified in hot water and another 12 in cold water to test the difference, if any.

20180311_202939.jpg From the hot pile
20180311_203904.jpg From the cold pile

I plan on taking cuttings of about half of them in a few weeks time to also test the difference in that. I will also be doing another batch shortly in another kind of substrate- haven't decided which one yet.

20180311_204630.jpg
 

Rodrigo

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After 6 days in the soil and full sun, the first seed sprouted! There's one more that seems to be peeking out but it's not fully out of the soil yet.

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This is day 6.

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The next morning.

Hopefully this week the rest will pop out. I will be taking cuttings of half of them when the first set of needles are out and leaving the rest alone. I have a one year old Scots Pine I'm growing from seed as well that I put into a full size pond basket when it was only a couple months old and it took off compared to the other one which stayed in a terracota pot. I'll probably do the same with one or two of these to see if I have the same luck.
 

Rodrigo

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Well I have some updates on my seeds. Two weekends ago I thought I'd start taking cuttings of a few of the seedlings so I could experiment with the timing of the needle size when the cut is made. As soon as I got one done I got a phone call and had to leave the house. I figured I'd leave that one to be the guinea pig just in case it was still too early. I planted it in a small terracotta pot in a mix of seedling starting soil, vermiculite, and perlite within a free flowing mix and covered it with a plastic zip lock bag.
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Two weeks later it seems to be growing and doing well.
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The rest of them I waited another week to cut and only selected 7 of the ones that were doing the best (8 total including the one done earlier). As I said before, I don't have the room to grow hundreds of them so I'll keep up with these and hope for the best- still have more in the fridge as backup.
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Anyone use these biodegradable pots before? It's the only ones I could find quickly because I didn't want to miss the pruning window, but now I regret getting them. I figured they'd last at least for a bit but they're already starting to break down because of the moisture.
I cut the 7 like before and planted them in the same mix but they ended up shorter than the first one I did.
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I then used some old wire to create a support "beam" that would keep the top of the plastic bag from touching the seedlings- kind of like a tent.
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So far I haven't lost any of the cuttings yet although they've been covered since they were cut. Most cutting deaths that I've read about so far are due to not covering them afterwards so we'll see how they do.
 

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Clicio

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So far I haven't lost any of the cuttings yet although they've been covered since they were cut. Most cutting deaths that I've read about so far are due to not covering them afterwards so we'll see how they do.
Are you keeping the tent under full sun, Rodrigo?
 

Rodrigo

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Are you keeping the tent under full sun, Rodrigo?
The one in the terracotta pot yes. It was getting really hot in the tent and I worried it would bake the cutting so I put some small holes in the tip of the baggie to help with ventilation a bit and it seems to have worked.
Last week I posted on @markyscott's contest post asking him if I should be keeping them in full sun and he said he wouldn't recommend it until they were a bit more established. So the other 7 I've been keeping in light shade and I'll slowly start taking them out into the sun. The single one was doing ok after I made the holes so I've just kept it there
 

Rodrigo

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Well I've had some deaths along the way, including the one in the terracotta pot. That one fell off the bench and broke, I picked it up and repotted it but then it fell again that same day and I couldn't save it.
I only have 3 left and out of those 2 are doing pretty well.
20180709_173920.jpg

This one is throwing needles out like crazy and has tons of buds up and down the trunk. I'm sort of putting my eggs in this basket
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The other one is taller but has less needles and buds. Still doing great though
20180709_173952.jpg

This is the one that's not doing so well. It's not doing bad but it's not thriving like the other two
20180709_174011.jpg

As you can see I'm having trouble with the cardboard falling apart. The plastic tray is the only thing keeping these together right now. Any suggestions?
 

Rodrigo

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Slip-pot into bigger plastic pots or pond baskets?
The thing is that when I try to pull them out, the piece of cardboard I grab breaks off. I'm thinking I'll probably have to cut the black tray into each pot individually so I can turn them upside down to get them out.
Considering there's risk of the soil just falling apart when I flip them I should probably wait until repot season though right?
 

Fonz

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The thing is that when I try to pull them out, the piece of cardboard I grab breaks off. I'm thinking I'll probably have to cut the black tray into each pot individually so I can turn them upside down to get them out.
Considering there's risk of the soil just falling apart when I flip them I should probably wait until repot season though right?
You don't have to follow my advice but I tried to dig some of my seedlings up carefully and then plant them in bigger pots, so far no problems. They are pretty tough.
 
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