Help with a fail safe method for propagating Bonsai seeds??

[siddhar]

G'day fellow forum members! I have just purchased some Trident Maple, Picea Abies and Chinese Elm seeds. I live in Melbourne and was going to cold stratify the seeds until July and then plant half in the garden beds and the other half in propagating mix/or sand

Am I on the right track or is there a better method I should be using

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[kcpoole]

Wat are Bonsai Seeds

No Such thing as any tree can be made into a bonsai with care adn skill, but not every seed will be a Bonsai
Maple seeds need to be stratified, I do mine for 6 weeks in the fridge.
Elm do not need it, Just pot up when you pot the maples

Picea I have no idea as I can never get them to survive in Sydney anyway

Ken

[siddhar]

Wat are Bonsai Seeds

Thanks Ken.. " Bonsai seeds " are all I could fit into the subject title on this forum. Obviously Im asking for advice on growing the species of trees listed in this post from seeds.

No Such thing as any tree can be made into a bonsai with care adn skill, but not every seed will be a Bonsai

You're not telling me anything I don't already know about the art form of Bonsai? Again Ken, thanks for the information that is relevant to my post.. the other information however

[kcpoole]

As you mention you were going Stratify them, then I assumed you would be able to decipher the info bits that I had posted, and separate out the tongue in cheek comment about Bonsai Seeds.
I find this term rather amusing. I have been working on an education project and this is one the more amusing phrases mentioned in it

Maple seeds need to be stratified, I do mine for 6 weeks in the fridge.
Elm do not need it, Just pot up when you pot the maples

Picea I have no idea as I can never get them to survive in Sydney anyway

Ken

to clarify.
I Stratify Maple Seeds for 6 weeks in the fridge ( both Trident and Japanese). Place them in a bag of damp Peat moss and leave in the bottom of the fridge. Pot them up into seedling trays the first week of spring. Keep moist and warm.

Elm seeds I have never bothered with stratifying, Pot up into trays at the same time as the Maples.

Picea, I have no idea as I can never get them to survive in Sydney as a mature tree so never tried to germinate them. others in the colder climes in Aus should be able to help.

[DavidN]

Hi siddhar
I have just collected from a roadside trident maple tree a whole stack of seeds. I too put them in the fridge until spring but I always put them into seed trays for initially growing. I have always been successfully in germinately maple seeds. I use the trays so that I can remove the tap roots easily when I repot them. Have a look at your street trees as I know their are chinese elms being used as street trees these days and they are abundant in seeds at the moment for you to collect.
David

[Kelv]

Just little side story
I too collected some Trident maple seeds from a street tree a while ago and they were sown immediately in seed raising mix (around the same time as now) and then left in the most revealing place I could find (Revealing as in, revealed to the elements as much as possible, nice and open and unprotected!)
A small handful germinated, alot less than the number of seeds that were actually sown...

Because I procrastinated, I did not repot the little tridents and they were left in the tray undisturbed for the rest of the season (but kept watered and alive).

Funny thing is (and what I really admire about seeds and germination) is that when the next Spring that came around... some more tridents popped up in the same tray in between the already 1 y.o seedlings.

The tenacity of nature is so interesting!

[siddhar]

I have just collected from a roadside trident maple tree a whole stack of seeds. I too put them in the fridge until spring but I always put them into seed trays for initially growing. I have always been successfully in germinately maple seeds. I use the trays so that I can remove the tap roots easily when I repot them. Have a look at your street trees as I know their are chinese elms being used as street trees these days and they are abundant in seeds at the moment for you to collect.
David

Thanks for your help David, great idea sourcing seeds from street trees!(why didn't I think of that..) and germinating seeds doesn't seem as complicated as I thought

Just little side story
I too collected some Trident maple seeds from a street tree a while ago and they were sown immediately in seed raising mix (around the same time as now) and then left in the most revealing place I could find (Revealing as in, revealed to the elements as much as possible, nice and open and unprotected!)
A small handful germinated, alot less than the number of seeds that were actually sown...

Because I procrastinated, I did not repot the little tridents and they were left in the tray undisturbed for the rest of the season (but kept watered and alive).

Funny thing is (and what I really admire about seeds and germination) is that when the next Spring that came around... some more tridents popped up in the same tray in between the already 1 y.o seedlings.

And 'Boomy' what a great side story! I think Ill try a few different techniques and see what results I get.. thanks again.

[RickE]

I bought some Japanese Maple seeds, Red Maples and some others a few months ago from an Aussie online seller called All U Need is Seed. Cost about $15 for about 50 various common bonsia tree seeds - they turned up in the post about a week later. For the Maples, - that need stratifying - I put them in the fridge the other day (early May,) wrapped in some damp peat after soaking them in luke warm water for a couple of days (until the seeds sunk.) I'll leave them in there for at least 60 days, maybe 90, but check them periodically pre Spring. Have timed it so they should be sprouting and good to go by early August. As for Chinese Elms, if you see a tree locally, keep an eye on it this time of year. When it is full of seeds, pick a whole heap. I've had a lot of succes if you then lay out all the seeds on a table and individually check them for viability. Ie push your finger on them to see if there is a small lump inside the seed. You will find that the majority are no good.( Non viable seeds are completely thin like tissue paper and viable ones have the small lump in them.) In spring, stick them in a tupperware container with some wet paper towel in the bottom & another layer of wet towel over the top. Leave them in a sunny window sill. They'll sprout in a week. Plant as usual. Success rate like this is almost 95%. good luck.

[chelsworthgale]

RickE,

just wondering how you went with stratifying the maple seeds you got online?

cheers,