I have 2 monkey puzzles - the big one is a female I planted as a 3' plant 30 years ago. It's 30 - 35' feet and has been dumping tons of infertile seeds for at least 10 years. The younger tree I found as a single 5" sprig in a garden store labelled as a cactus. It's probably 20 years old. I'm hoping it's a boy. When should I expect to see cones? The closest male is several blocks away. Does anyone know how to tell when the male cones are ready to spread pollen and could I pluck a few and blow the pollen onto my female?? If my youngster is a boy, I imagine I'll have a zillion fertile seeds one of these days that I would be willing to share with anyone. In the mean time I'm willing to try fertilizing the cones by hand.
That's probably close enough for a small number of viable seeds to be produced, if the wind blows the right direction at pollination time. If you're willing to hand-pollinate, find a male tree, and harvest some pollen cones when they start to shed pollen - that'll probably be in the next 2-3 weeks (but start checking now if you're in a warm area). Let the pollen cones dry out so they shed their pollen, and then blow the pollen as high as you can immediately upwind of your female tree. Pic shows pollen cones at shedding age (photo 4 June 2007, northeast England)
Several years ago I did have two babies come up in my perennial border. I gave one to a friend who lives in Oakland, CA and it is doing great. The other went to an acquaintenace in TX where it died the first hot summer. The wind must have blown the right way at least once but I'm hoping for a higher percentage of viable seeds. I will go ask the owner of the male tree for a few cones. Thanks, Vickie
10-20 pollen cones will give you masses of pollen to use. I'd divide it into several small batches and blow into the crown every 3 or 4 days over 2-3 weeks to give better coverage in case the females aren't receptive over part of the period; store the batches dry and refrigerated. The cones take about 16 months to mature after pollination, about September 2010 for pollination done now. More of my pics: http://www.pinetum.org/kyloe4.htm (scroll just over half way down)
