Tag: seed germination

The Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) that are under lights rn are survivors of the starving birds and mice (during that spring snow out we had a few weeks ago) that were scavenging the tray in the greenhouse. So, we see why these trees are so expensive; it’s not just that they grow slow as balls, it’s the fact that even at seed/seedling stage EVERY FUCKING THING WANTS TO EAT THEM. It’s not just us humans who find Sugar Maple deliciously enticing.

However due to the fact that autumn 2017 I had a lot of sugar maple seeds on hand thanks to our neighbour John, I had a lot of seedtrays of them, and consequently experimented stratifying them in different locations. One of said locations being the new experimental outdoor seedbed. It flooded and had severe freeze/thaw late winter / early spring so I thought pretty much every seed would’ve croaked. However as you can see here not only are they doing splendidly but the birds/mice couldn’t get their grubby mouths into them.

So to the Birds/mice that were total dicks to one of my most valuable future plant crops;

Photographed May 13th 2018

Alright since the previous seedling post didn’t get much reception HERE’S SOMETHING TO RECEPTION ABOUT!

Cornus kousa, Cercidiphyllum japonicum, Asmina triloba, Magnolia macrophylla, Cercis canadensis, and Liriodendron tulipifera seedlings oh my (also Acer saccharum in the group shot but shhh we’ll get to that).

I severely underestimated the seed viability of the majority of this year’s indoor stratified seeds. Due to this a lot of sprouting seeds of Cercis, Magnolia, and Cornus had to be discarded due to very limited growlight space. Pawpaw in the future definitely is going to be indoor stratified like this despite it being a space hog, as I have gotten far more seedlings from this over outdoor style. For some unusual reason several of the pawpaw seedlings sprouted out in a twisted form (which unfortunately kills them for sellability which sucks ass). Now from here I chew my nails as I wait for space to be made in the greenhouse to move some of these guys out of the lights cause jfc they’re getting too big too fast for such a cramped space.

Photographed May 13th 2018