Seed Collecting: Japnese Maple now have seed pods

[Zombiefreak]

I was out for a walk to the store the other day I managed to spot some seed pods on the Japanese red Maple a few blocks away from me. I collected about 28 seeds and plan on experimenting with several methods of propagation. Any experiments or ideas for various forms of Propagation I would be happy to try and also happy to post my results in the long run. I was also wondering if anyone had tried hydroponic propagtion for cuttings and to what degree it did or didn't work.

[JoeLewko]

For the seeds, there's always the simplest method, which is to put them in dirt, and see what happens. I havent really tried maple propagation before, but I did this once with an acorn for an oak tree and it worked. All I did was put an acorn in a cup of water, on the windowsill of a west facing window. After a few weeks, a single large root appeared. I took the seed out of the water, and potted it. It grew ver nicely, and lived in its pot for about two years, until it didnt survive a harsh winter.....I just gave up on it, but thinking back, maybe I could have brought it back to life if I tried harder...so the water method seemed to work. Not sure if it'll work with the maple, I know they are two completely different trees with different seeds, but since you have 28 seeds, its worth trying. Even if its only with one seed.

[Gnome]

Zombie.

Are you sure that the seeds are mature? Did you pick them off the tree or the ground? Were any falling naturally? Icollected some last fall but as I recall it was considerably later in the season. Break a few open, you should be able to make out obvious, if immature, leaves. I suspect that you may have been a little early in collecting them now. You can try with what you have but I would consider collecting another batch later in the season.

The seeds will need a stratification period, (cold storage to break dormancy), of 60 to 120 days. This can be accomplished artificially or naturally by planting the seeds in the fall and letting nature take its course. At any rate the seeds should never be allowed to become dry.

After collecting mine last fall I stored them with some barely damp sphagnum moss in a cool location until spring. I have an unheated garage and my climate is cold over the winter, you can also use your refrigerator. when the weather broke I planted them out into a raised bed and got good germination. Unfortunately I lost most of them later, I believe that I transplanted them too early. I suggest leaving them in place until the following spring so adequate spacing will be important. Be aware that the resulting plants will not neccessarily come true to the parent tree.

Norm

[Zombiefreak]

They may be to young but we will see this is all experimentation. I have a small lined journal in which I will keep track of all my experimentation. I will probably collect more in fall as well but I have a theory that the current seed may not be hard to germinate really quickly because they have not gone dormant like the ones in the fall that appear and turn brown in about 4 days but Like I said this is all for the sake of curiosity. I know about the cold dormancy and I'm going to try several experiments with these one at three days of cold, one at 30 days of cold and one at 60 days of cold. Artist, scientist, horticulturalist some of us learn best by our own observations the more you know about possibly negative results the better you will be at avoiding them. I also plan on trying water "hydroponic" germination Moisture or humidity germination, in ground planting and in a wooden box all at those various stages. I don't know what drives me to do all this but I find it quite enjoyable. I know that the tree may not ontain the parent plants traits as well but I mostly just want some Japanese maples and was utilising the fact that I can find the seeds rather than purchase them. I was going to try some variety of pines as well but unfortunatley I was to late in collecting my seeds for the tree I was going to use.