名媛直播

Hello,
I am growing three types of trees: Mountain Pine, Silver Birch and Red Maple.
It is my first time so I have been following the instructions that came with the seeds.
It is now the second week since I planted and bagged the seeds.

The Mountain Pine has already started to shoot, but after 2 days the shell still remains on the stalk (see photo attachment).
The other two plant types have not yet germinated, but the soil is starting to look dry. I still have yet to refrigerate them before finally re-potting them.
I know seeds are fragile and really want to help them to grow but the instruction booklet does not give me much more than basic information.

I would like to know:
1) Even though it is still in pre-germination is it safe to open the bag and pour a small amount of water into the soil?
2) Will the Mountain Pine seed shell eventually drop off the stalk?
3) If the Mountain Pine has already started to germinate do I still need to go through the steps and refrigerate it?

Because I want to do everything to keep them alive please advise me.

Hello and welcome.

Growing from seed is something I consider as method for advanced. Also, these starter packs they sell to me are a bit off the real gardening and growing. If I start from seed I would do it outdoors and when its the natural and proper time for the seed to get into the process. These things should go naturally, not in fridges and stuff. All I can help you with is to provide you this basic short video below. Good luck.

Mechameg:
1) Yes, it is safer to keep them moist than it is to let them dry out.
2) Yes, of course. Be patient with the little things.
3) Nope! The reason to refrigerate is to get the seeds to germinate. If it's already germinating, cooking it is redundant until next year when it wants to go dormant.

There's nothing advanced about growing from seed, and any circumstances that nature can arrange by accident, man can devise by artifice.
In point of fact, the natural germination time can run in the order of years for certain species.
Maples, for example, can take up to two years if you don't stratify. That's the whole point to our techniques, to improve on the natural process.

Solaris wrote: Mechameg:
There's nothing advanced about growing from seed, and any circumstances that nature can arrange by accident, man can devise by artifice.
In point of fact, the natural germination time can run in the order of years for certain species.
Maples, for example, can take up to two years if you don't stratify. That's the whole point to our techniques, to improve on the natural process.

You cant wait years for seed to grow into tree without touching another tree on bonsai and knowing where you are heading. Planting the seed is simple process, growing it into 名媛直播, not.

I agree that we should benefit of ways to bypass the nature or to better it. Still, these starter packs are putting people more into confusion rather meeting them with real bonsai world. Not denying them but other options to grow should be explored by enthusiasts as well.

Welcome and congratulations. Amny people fail to even get the seed to germinate, often due to bad seeds but sometimes also to just bad practices. So.. Step 1. Done. You have a germinated seed.

Open the plastic bag on top. Do realize the air in your house is very dry, certainly compared to the baggy. So you should open it just a little bit, and a bit more every day so the plant inside gets time to adjust to the drier conditions. Or, if you have the option (No frost outside?) you can put the pot outside, without baggie. The latter I find is the best option.

Sometimes the plant does not manage to get rid of the seedshell. But in most cases it should push it off by itself. You probably did not have the seeds planted deep, and therefor there was not enough friction of the soil to pull the seed off. Pulling it off by hand is tricky and can caus you to kill the plant. So do not do this unless you are a week or two further and they are still on (At that point I would not think it comes of by itself anymore). Seedlings are VERY fragile, especially when grown indoors.

Cooling seeds is done to simulate winter, which 'wakes them up' and tells them: it is spring, get up and grow. So if your seeds are germinating, they either did not need a cold period to germinate (This is not the same between species) of they were stored cool.

The next few weeks will be tricky. Keep the seedlings on the dry side. Most people keep the plants too wet, causing fungus to develop, and the damping off (dying) of the seedlings. Never let it dry out however.

Thank you, everyone, for your replies.
I realise that getting seeds to grow is not the easiest task but I am going to take your advice and continue to monitor them well.

I will water them and put the Mountain Pine outside where the conditions are more suitable.
And continue the stratification process with the Silver Birch and Red Maple.

@Leatherback, @Solaris, thank you for your detailed insight.

In time to come, I hope I can show you all that it paid off!

spacewood wrote:

Solaris wrote: Mechameg:
There's nothing advanced about growing from seed, and any circumstances that nature can arrange by accident, man can devise by artifice.
In point of fact, the natural germination time can run in the order of years for certain species.
Maples, for example, can take up to two years if you don't stratify. That's the whole point to our techniques, to improve on the natural process.

You cant wait years for seed to grow into tree without touching another tree on bonsai and knowing where you are heading. Planting the seed is simple process, growing it into 名媛直播, not.

I agree that we should benefit of ways to bypass the nature or to better it. Still, these starter packs are putting people more into confusion rather meeting them with real bonsai world. Not denying them but other options to grow should be explored by enthusiasts as well.

True, but from my reading you need not wait years to begin training the plant - and care begins from before the thing is out of its coat. Perhaps not the most advanced techniques are applicable to the younger plants, but you can certainly begin grooming it for training.
As an added bonus, you learn to take care of the thing without risking a very expensive, already-trained bonsai plant - or wasting money on a soon-to-die mallsai. It grows up used to your care, and is already accustomed to your environment.
It may not be for everyone, but starting with your plants from seed is a viable way to get into the hobby of cultivating fancy little trees in pots... especially those of us who need to be conscious of the price tags and haven't the opportunity to look around for good yamadori (or worse, lots of nice little yamadori on land you can't dig them up out of).

I've been looking at those starter packs. From what I see of them, they involve pots you're not going to need for years, seeds of dubious quality, and everything significantly marked up in price because 'bonsai'. I think calling it confusing is being nice - those damned things are downright misleading.

We read same page and there is no discussion here. My point is that if you start your bonsai adventures with seed there will be a lot of time before you really get something to make bonsai and to understand it. Having this, an overwhelmed beginner enthusiast can easily end up losing interest and even forgetting where he started and where he goes. So, getting another bonsai ready tree or even mallsai is inevitable, as the person will need something to work with and learn and practice. I am not excluding other scenarios but they again require diving deeper and taking the things real serious.