AusBonsai

Hi All,
In autumn I collected 3 pine cones in Adelaide. I picked up one from the ground, that was brown. The other two I picked from the tree, one brown and the third still half green. They were all tightly closed, and still are. I have been keeping them in a warm sunny spot by the window, hoping they would open so I could access the seeds, but so far no luck. I don't know what kind of pine it is, I've attached photos of some details and a picture of a mature pine of the same kind from nearby. Can anyone tell me how long it takes for pine cones to open and drop seeds? Am I doing the right thing by keeping them in a warm sunny spot?
Cheers, Frank.

Raging Bull wrote:Hi All,
In autumn I collected 3 pine cones in Adelaide. I picked up one from the ground, that was brown. The other two I picked from the tree, one brown and the third still half green. They were all tightly closed, and still are. I have been keeping them in a warm sunny spot by the window, hoping they would open so I could access the seeds, but so far no luck. I don't know what kind of pine it is, I've attached photos of some details and a picture of a mature pine of the same kind from nearby. Can anyone tell me how long it takes for pine cones to open and drop seeds? Am I doing the right thing by keeping them in a warm sunny spot?
Cheers, Frank.

Pinus halipensis (Allepo pine) for sure.

I used to keep cones in a paper bag in a warm spot , the bag is to catch seed as they fall.

If cones were mature it should not take more than a week or two to dry out and open.

Grant Bowie

I picked up a cone in Tassie in April, brought it home and placed it in a paper bag. It opened up and dropped all the seed within a couple of weeks....Hang on a bit longer, you never know what's going to happen.

Thanks for that Grant & Mel. Yes I'll keep them a few months longer and put them into a paper bag, hopefully with a positive result. If they don't open perhaps they were'nt mature enough.
Cheers, Frank.

As usual each type of tree is different. I used to collect Black pine cones from some trees I had planted and found you could collect them while still green. The clue was that the white cockatoos started attacking the cones while still greeen and I guessed that if the seeds were Al dente" enough for them the seeds may be mature even though the outside cone was still green. Other pines you really had to wait while the cones turned brown and started to open ( scots pine was diffficult to collect as the cones often opened and shed seed before you could collect them).

Grant