Where to buy seeds

[Yoppyx]

Hello good sirs, I am relatively young so I thought it would be a smart idea to start sowing seeds. I would like to grow j maples and trident maples from seed, but in this world filled with tricks and traps, I don't know where the best place to buy online is. I live is southern Ontario so they would have to ship seeds to canada. Also the order price would have to have a lowish range. Not trying to get thousands of seeds for 500 dollars.

Thanks,
Yop.

 

[jeanluc83]

Take a look in the 6 year JBP contest threads. You should find some good companies there with some feedback on people's experience with them.

I've had good luck with treeseeds.com

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I can say I've had reasonable results with cheap ebay seeds.
Average germination rates are in the 70%-ish range.
With 2 dollars and free shipping from China per 100 seeds, I feel fine doing it over a few times.
Just make sure that you don't fall for obvious scams like blue maples.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

sheffield seeds
excellent provider

 

[Yoppyx]

sheffield seeds
excellent provider

This site is massive ty ty! One more question. Why are some seeds listed as dry and others as fresh. I assume that buying dry seeds is better? What is the point of fresh seeds?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Dry seed versus moist seed is a species by species decision. If ginkgo seed were to dry out the seed embryo would be killed, dead, the seed will not germinate. So moist ginkgo seed is good, the only type of ginkgo seed worth buying.

Pine tree seed, if moist will either germinate in transit or it will fungus and die. Dry pine seed is good.

I guarantee you if Sheffield's offers an option of wet or dry seed,, there is a reason. BUT there is no blanket reason I can give you, it is a species by species decision.

One more example. Japanese maple seed, often is offered wet or dry. Dry seed requires a warm stratification, which means for 3 months the seed should be moist and warm (50 F to 80 F). This treatment then needs to be followed by a 3 month cold stratification, where the seed is moist and cold. It should be timed so that the end of the second or cold stratification is about the ideal time for spring planting outside. After this the seed should sprout. The other method for dry maple seed is to plant dry seed in a flat sometime in early summer. Mark the flat well so you will know what is in it the following year. Then leave the flat outside all winter. In spring the seed will sprout. This is to be expected with dry maple seed and the seed of other species that need both a warm stratification and a cold stratification. Others are Carpinus, Ostrya, and a number of others.

If you purchase moist Japanese maple seed, that has not been dried out, and then immediately put it into cold moist stratification, the majority of the seed will sprout in spring without the need for a warm stratification. This means purchasing moist Japanese maple seed saves the grower 3 months of warm stratification and makes it easier planning the spring plant out because you don't have to have a flat of unsprouted, warm stratifying trees laying around until the next year.

So while browsing Sheffield's read the fine print on germination instructions. This will give you an idea how easy or difficult it will be to germinate the seed. Not all seed is as easy to grow as tomato seeds.

 

[Yoppyx]

Dry seed versus moist seed is a species by species decision. If ginkgo seed were to dry out the seed embryo would be killed, dead, the seed will not germinate. So moist ginkgo seed is good, the only type of ginkgo seed worth buying.

Pine tree seed, if moist will either germinate in transit or it will fungus and die. Dry pine seed is good.

I guarantee you if Sheffield's offers an option of wet or dry seed,, there is a reason. BUT there is no blanket reason I can give you, it is a species by species decision.

One more example. Japanese maple seed, often is offered wet or dry. Dry seed requires a warm stratification, which means for 3 months the seed should be moist and warm (50 F to 80 F). This treatment then needs to be followed by a 3 month cold stratification, where the seed is moist and cold. It should be timed so that the end of the second or cold stratification is about the ideal time for spring planting outside. After this the seed should sprout. The other method for dry maple seed is to plant dry seed in a flat sometime in early summer. Mark the flat well so you will know what is in it the following year. Then leave the flat outside all winter. In spring the seed will sprout. This is to be expected with dry maple seed and the seed of other species that need both a warm stratification and a cold stratification. Others are Carpinus, Ostrya, and a number of others.

If you purchase moist Japanese maple seed, that has not been dried out, and then immediately put it into cold moist stratification, the majority of the seed will sprout in spring without the need for a warm stratification. This means purchasing moist Japanese maple seed saves the grower 3 months of warm stratification and makes it easier planning the spring plant out because you don't have to have a flat of unsprouted, warm stratifying trees laying around until the next year.

So while browsing Sheffield's read the fine print on germination instructions. This will give you an idea how easy or difficult it will be to germinate the seed. Not all seed is as easy to grow as tomato seeds.

Damn thanks for the thick reply. You actually saved my ass on this one. I assumed dry meant i could just soak em in warm water for a day then cold stratify them for 3 months.

 

[Yoppyx]

Dry seed versus moist seed is a species by species decision. If ginkgo seed were to dry out the seed embryo would be killed, dead, the seed will not germinate. So moist ginkgo seed is good, the only type of ginkgo seed worth buying.

Pine tree seed, if moist will either germinate in transit or it will fungus and die. Dry pine seed is good.

I guarantee you if Sheffield's offers an option of wet or dry seed,, there is a reason. BUT there is no blanket reason I can give you, it is a species by species decision.

One more example. Japanese maple seed, often is offered wet or dry. Dry seed requires a warm stratification, which means for 3 months the seed should be moist and warm (50 F to 80 F). This treatment then needs to be followed by a 3 month cold stratification, where the seed is moist and cold. It should be timed so that the end of the second or cold stratification is about the ideal time for spring planting outside. After this the seed should sprout. The other method for dry maple seed is to plant dry seed in a flat sometime in early summer. Mark the flat well so you will know what is in it the following year. Then leave the flat outside all winter. In spring the seed will sprout. This is to be expected with dry maple seed and the seed of other species that need both a warm stratification and a cold stratification. Others are Carpinus, Ostrya, and a number of others.

If you purchase moist Japanese maple seed, that has not been dried out, and then immediately put it into cold moist stratification, the majority of the seed will sprout in spring without the need for a warm stratification. This means purchasing moist Japanese maple seed saves the grower 3 months of warm stratification and makes it easier planning the spring plant out because you don't have to have a flat of unsprouted, warm stratifying trees laying around until the next year.

So while browsing Sheffield's read the fine print on germination instructions. This will give you an idea how easy or difficult it will be to germinate the seed. Not all seed is as easy to grow as tomato seeds.

One more quick question. So if I were to buy moist j maple seeds now and stick them in the freezer. Would that be too long of a time for cold stratification, since spring is so far away?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

One more quick question. So if I were to buy moist j maple seeds now and stick them in the freezer. Would that be too long of a time for cold stratification, since spring is so far away?

Cold stratification - this occurs while the seed is cold, but warm enough to still have some metabolism occurring. FREEZER IS TOO COLD. Ideal cold stratification temperature is 32 F thru 40 F, warmer than 40 F the ''internal clock'' stops counting down, colder than 32 F the seed freezes, which stops the ''internal clock'' from ticking.

So use the refrigerator. Not the freezer.

Second item, my freezer is somewhere between 0 and -10 F, don't know how cold your freezer is. This is colder than the cold tolerance for some trees. Japanese maples are zone 6 trees, temps near -10 F could outright kill the seed. The freezer is usually a very bad place to store tree seed. Many trees will have their seed killed by -10 F.

I keep a number of bags of seed mixed with sphagnum moss in my vegetable crisper of my refrigerator.

Dry seed that does not need any stratification is also stored dry, in the refrigerator. If dry seed is stored at room temperature the % germination will decline as time passes. For some species quickly, for some species slowly. Tomato seed will still be 50% viable stored 5 years at room temperature. White pine seed will be less than 50% viable after 6 months at room temperature, but in the refrigerator white pine dry seed will be 80% viable at 18 months. In the refrigerator dry seed of scotts pine will be 80% viable for 5 years or more.

There is a book called "Manual of Propagation of Woody Trees and Shrubs" by Michael Dir, the edition I have was published in 1987, but it is so useful there have been editions since and it is quite common in the used book markets. Worth the modest investment. Used should be less than $20 usd. It has chapters on seed propagation, and it lists specific directions for hundreds of species of trees and shrubs. The general chapter on growing trees from seed will give you the background you need to really get started. It is an in depth manual, intended for the professional commercial nursery. He recommends elaborate set ups where needed that may be more expensive than practical for the home grower. There are fun and inventive ways to dumb down some of his recommendations, but generally if it is really complicated to raise a particular species from seed, then it is easiest to accept that you should leave it to the pros and try something easier.

 

[Shinjuku]

In the Japanese Black Pine contest, many of us had good luck with www.treeseeds.com.

 

[Yoppyx]

Cold stratification - this occurs while the seed is cold, but warm enough to still have some metabolism occurring. FREEZER IS TOO COLD. Ideal cold stratification temperature is 32 F thru 40 F, warmer than 40 F the ''internal clock'' stops counting down, colder than 32 F the seed freezes, which stops the ''internal clock'' from ticking.

So use the refrigerator. Not the freezer.

Second item, my freezer is somewhere between 0 and -10 F, don't know how cold your freezer is. This is colder than the cold tolerance for some trees. Japanese maples are zone 6 trees, temps near -10 F could outright kill the seed. The freezer is usually a very bad place to store tree seed. Many trees will have their seed killed by -10 F.

I keep a number of bags of seed mixed with sphagnum moss in my vegetable crisper of my refrigerator.

Dry seed that does not need any stratification is also stored dry, in the refrigerator. If dry seed is stored at room temperature the % germination will decline as time passes. For some species quickly, for some species slowly. Tomato seed will still be 50% viable stored 5 years at room temperature. White pine seed will be less than 50% viable after 6 months at room temperature, but in the refrigerator white pine dry seed will be 80% viable at 18 months. In the refrigerator dry seed of scotts pine will be 80% viable for 5 years or more.

There is a book called "Manual of Propagation of Woody Trees and Shrubs" by Michael Dir, the edition I have was published in 1987, but it is so useful there have been editions since and it is quite common in the used book markets. Worth the modest investment. Used should be less than $20 usd. It has chapters on seed propagation, and it lists specific directions for hundreds of species of trees and shrubs. The general chapter on growing trees from seed will give you the background you need to really get started. It is an in depth manual, intended for the professional commercial nursery. He recommends elaborate set ups where needed that may be more expensive than practical for the home grower. There are fun and inventive ways to dumb down some of his recommendations, but generally if it is really complicated to raise a particular species from seed, then it is easiest to accept that you should leave it to the pros and try something easier.

Thank you sir. I will definitely hunt down that book!