When is the best time to harvest seeds from JM? I live in North Texas, just above Dallas, and there are several interesting JM in my neighborhood that have seeds. I am curious to see what kind of plants these seeds might produce. Currently (late August) these seeds are still green and the stems are still soft. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Tom
Tom, I consider the seeds ripe and begin harvesting when they fall off on their own. In my area it starts mid sept and goes into late nov.I don't think there is an exact moment more like when they are ready to break from the tree. It's very exciting to germinate JM seeds.If you have hopes of finding something unusual you may need to harvest quite a few samaras.
I really had fun with growing the seeds this year. The grafts are exciting and I love doing them, but the seeds hold the promise of something new - its really a kick! Many thanks to Ed and Poetry for sending me LOTS of material! Gather, rinse, and repeat? I'm game...
Tom, I begin picking and planting my seeds October 1st. You will get better percentages of germination if you 'cold stratify' which means putting the seeds into the refrigerator (if u have an extra one) for 90-120 days at temp around 39F to simulate their natural environment. As other board colleagues have said above, germinating seeds is a real kick - I LOVE IT! Have fun.
koto no ito was packed with flowers and tiny samaras earlier this year. I just checked, there are 2 remaining, each with 1 seed (the other side is empty). Clearly not ripe, nor is the more plentiful seed on the japonicum 'Aconitifolium' next to it. -E
Gil, I've not seen seeds on my Aekan and Fairy Hair but they are still smaller. I wud love someone to send me seeds from a witches broom like Shaina, Aratama, Skeeters broom etc. I've never seen seeds on a witches broom and I collect them and have some big ones but nothing.
Mike, Per our conversations, I'll send you a few seeds from my 'Orion'. It only put on a few this year, but I can send you a couple. If they are viable (who knows) it will be interesting to see what they do. The late Dr. Sydney Waxman from UCONN introduced many (maybe 30) cultivars of dwarf pines, nearly all were seedlings from seeds collected from brooms. His most famous were Pinus strobus 'Blue Shag', 'Green Shadow', 'Sea Urchin', and 'Soft Touch', and pinus densiflora 'Low Glow'. He also introduced some very cool varieties of Larix ('Varied Directions') and Sciadopitys ('Winter Green', 'Joe Cozey'). Brian
