I have two, actually now three, little October Glory Maple tree seeds germinating. I, on a whim, sometime in the last couple of weeks, put some that I’d found on the ground, where the tree lives in the front yard bern, into a little dish and filled it with water.
My methodology was based only on knowing that some seeds need to “soak first” in order to germinate, and that every other kind of seed needs time to germinate after it’s planted. The thing in unison about these two facts is: water. So, if I got the seeds soaking, eventually something would begin to sprout, right? Most likely. So I had five seeds in that dish.
Several days later, after changing out the water quite a few times, I notices a change on one seed. Indeed, it was beginning to sprout! So the other day, there were two in that state, time to do more.
I planted them into some soil/compost mix in a planter on the front porch. Every day, at some point, I go into that and find the seeds to check on their progress. They are growing. In fact, the first seed to sprout has cast off the seed covering entirely, and looks like a leaf pair with a tail. It’s green and pretty, and hopefully will be a tree someday. Seed number 2, which was a few days behind the first one in beginning to sprout, has come to have a long tail and the seed covering is splitting wide open, and should soon fall by the wayside.
I had trouble finding any more of the seeds, the ones that weren’t doing anything when I “planted” them. Then suddenly, there was a newly sprouting seed. It’s exciting!
I looked for more seeds under that tree last night, and found one. I have it soaking right now. I also looked under the Japanese Maple, and didn’t find anything. I’ve seen them there this Spring, but they are all gone, probably birds. There are still some growing the the tree though, and hopefully I’ll get at least one to try and germinate.
I’m really interested in how this will all turn out. I used to love propagating plants, when I was younger. Tropical and Sub-Tropical plants do well at that. So now, I’m trying it again, in a different manner, in a totally different place. I should do it “right”, correct? Well, anything that I have on-hand, with instinctive methods, if they work, they work. If they don’t work, they don’t work. That’s how I’m approaching this.
I would love to take parts of my trees, and plant them somewhere else someday. This is one step in that direction. Seeds. Sprout. Grow. Plant and grow huge! That’s what I’m aiming for, at least.