Starting from Seed

[J P]

I have been considering starting a forest planting of some kind from seed just to see what happens. Has anyone heard of this being done or have any suggestions? I have wondered if it would be a more natural looking forest planting than trees grown independently and than grouped together. This is obviously a long term project. Thoughts

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Forests are really hard to create from scratch in the way that you are describing, because it is difficult to do all of the necessary development work (roots/nebari/trunk and branch development, etc) when the trees are closely grouped together. Additionally, it is much faster to grow out your stock separately and then chose stock that works best for your composition.

Not saying that what you are suggesting is impossible, just that it would be really hard and really slow...

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@Bonsai Nut is correct, most forests are assembled from older trained trees. However in Four Seasons of Bonsai by K. Murata, there are several forests started exactly the way you are asking about. Keep in mind the photos are of plantings over 40 years old, it is the "slow route" but if you enjoy the process, no reason to not do it.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Biggest issue is a handful of seeds in a pot often the largest seedlings will be on the outside edge of the group. For aesthetic reasons the tallest usually look best in the middle, or at least inside the group. It's easy to keep heights right, with pruning, but keeping the trunk diameters right, so that tallest also has largest trunk diameter is much more difficult.

Also, trees crowded together will grow more slowly than trees in individual pots.

So for these reasons, and possibly a few more, most often seedlings are grown separate then later assembled.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Also, trees crowded together will grow more slowly than trees in individual pots.

Not necessarily, some plants grow more vigorous in the viscinity of others. These are often caused by neigbor cues, foliage touching, or even signalling through the air.
Competition can make plants grow faster, but.. The drawback is that only the winner gets the most prized resources and the rest usually gets behind by a lot.
I grow plants in pots by the pair for that reason. At the end of a season, there's a 5-20% difference in mass and height. A comparative test I did, showed that single growing plants have a 50% chance of being a little larger, but another 50% of being way smaller. It's hard to make use of that in a practical sense, and hard to pinpoint which factors affect it the most. But it's just not always that plants grow poorer or slower when crowded. Look at any freshly created open forest spot, it's crowded in the first years, until one of the faster growers outcompetes the rest. When it's not crowded, plants tend to take their time, there's no hurry, no need to get bigger and taller to beat the rest for sunlight. If that's the growth we want.. I don't know. It tends to be leggy.

Fun fact:
In agriculture, people are trying to figure out how to get rid of that effect, by breeding plants that don't compete but act as a community instead. Sharing resources and not competing for it. This ensures equal growth and more reliable mechanical harvesting.