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  • #1

    Growing trees from seed.

    I was out for my morning run and collected a few sycamore seeds, I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to go about growing them?

    I can't spend any more money on the garden, my budget for that ran out ages ago, if I want anything more I need to grow it myself from seed, it needs to be seed I collect too, I can't even buy seed. I have 75 trees growing around the garden already so really can't fit many more and I know sycamore are a big tree but I love them so I figure if I manage to even grow one out of the seeds I collected I'll be happy and I can stick it down the back along the drain/stream that's down there.

    My neice planted apple seeds 18 months or so ago and they're 4-5' tall now, I'd like to plant some of those with my daughter and stick them in the orchard when they're big enough, how would I go about that? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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  • #2
    Just put then in a pot or the ground with a marker, they may take a long time to germinate but they will. Don't forget how big sycamore trees get and they are considered weed trees.
    Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

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    • #3
      Any ripe, naturalised tree seeds just need putting in a pot of soil and leaving out in all weathers, you will get pretty good germination. I wouldn't plant sycamore as they are all over anyway but oak, beech and horse chestnut give good results. Hawthorn is quite easy, too - plant the haw and then thin out.

      Remember apple seeds won't give you the apple you ate - someone who can explain will be along in a while, I expect but crab apples grow well from seed.
      "A life lived in fear is a life half lived."

      PS. I just don't have enough time to say hello to everyone as they join so please take this as a delighted to see you here!

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      • #4
        Originally posted by roitelet View Post
        Just put then in a pot or the ground with a marker, they may take a long time to germinate but they will. Don't forget how big sycamore trees get and they are considered weed trees.
        Sorry, "crossed posting syndrome".
        "A life lived in fear is a life half lived."

        PS. I just don't have enough time to say hello to everyone as they join so please take this as a delighted to see you here!

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        • #5
          Originally posted by marchogaeth View Post
          Remember apple seeds won't give you the apple you ate

          And the tree resulting from the seed is likely to be much larger than modern trees on selected, smaller root-stocks.

          You may well end up needing a long ladder to access any apples that grow.
          The proof of the growing is in the eating.
          Leave Rotten Fruit.
          Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potasium - potash.
          Autant de têtes, autant d'avis!!!!!
          Il n'est si méchant pot qui ne trouve son couvercle.

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          • #6
            Thanks for the advice.

            What do you mean by weed trees, I haven't heard the term before? Undesirable or that they spread when you plant one?

            I don't mind how big trees get, the bigger the better really, I have an acre of a garden and love trees, as long as I leave a bit of lawn at the front and back the rest can turn into a mini forest. I figured it wouldn't be the same kind of apple tree but I wasn't sure if any apples would grow at all.

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            • #7
              Weed trees are the ones that seed themselves all over the place. Have you ever seen a wood planted with sycamore? Any trees in the wrong place are considered weeds.

              You would be better to gather the seeds of things like beach, hornbeam, chestnut end other hard wood trees.
              Gardening requires a lot of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. Lou Erickson, critic and poet

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              • #8
                Most native trees.....oak, sycamore, elm, ash, evergreen oak, rowans, hazel, birch, beech etc will grow easily from collected seeds.

                However, as mentioned, most need a period of cold to break the seed dormancy. This is called stratification. You can do this artificially by popping the collected seed into a bag of dry sand and putting it in the fridge for 12 weeks.

                But there's nothing like natural stratification.....letting all the elements get to the seeds. Sow them as normal in pots and trays then expose them to the wind, rain, frost, sun, snow etc. Then, in March, bring them into a fairly warm place. They will come up in no time.

                I do this for my Japanese maple seeds and i get so many up it's unbelievable.
                Last edited by andy_j; 11-08-2014, 06:52 PM. Reason: typos
                Please visit my facebook page for the garden i look after

                https://www.facebook.com/PrestonRockGarden

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                • #9
                  My garden is full of self seeded oaks, ash, hazel, wild cherry, silver birch, rowan, holly etc. Pity you don't live nearer, I'm for ever pulling them up!

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                  • #10
                    I must get Holly seeds off my Dad, he has Holly on the farm. I think I'll pot Beech, Rowan, Sycamore, Hawthorn and Oak if I can. It'll be fun seeing what grows next year.

                    I have almond and Cobb nut too, I'm assuming I just do the same thing with them.
                    Last edited by Darwin.; 11-08-2014, 06:18 PM.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Darwin. View Post
                      I
                      My neice planted apple seeds 18 months or so ago and they're 4-5' tall now, I'd like to plant some of those with my daughter and stick them in the orchard when they're big enough, how would I go about that? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
                      Apple trees grown from seeds/pips go through a juvenile phase before they will flower and produce apples. This juvenile phase can last for many years, but from what I have read, it can be defined in terms of the number of internodes (i.e. gaps between successive leaves up the main stem of the seedling tree). Once the tree has reached about 70 internodes it is able to flower, but won't necessarily do so. However, by the time it reaches about 120 internodes it will flower irrespective of environmental conditions. Hence, some commercial breeders will grow the seedling as quickly and tall as possible on a single main stem in order to produce the required number of internodes. Then they will graft or bud the 'post juvenile phase' growth from the seedling onto a semi-dwarfing rootstock. My advice, if you want the seedlings to flower as quickly as possible, is to let the main stem extend to around 8 ft high, pinching out or cutting back any laterals to around three leaves. This may only take three growing seasons if you are lucky.

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                      • #12
                        That's some pretty good and specific advice, cheers.

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                        • #13
                          I picked up what a helpful chap on iSpot told me was an unripe hazelnut. I'm wondering now if it"ll grow. Do I stick it in a pot or open it up and put what's inside in a pot?

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                          • #14
                            put some old compost/soil into a pot ,lay the seeds on this and then cover it with grit to cover the seed and stop weeds, leave the pot outdoors, I leave mine outside the greenhouse and keep an eye on it in the spring, this is how I germinate my maple seeds and we get a good proportion of the seeds growing on, but it always seems that the ones you want are always the slowest to germinate....

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                            • #15
                              Hello All,

                              Newbie here. However this thread seems like it's ongoing and it is basically what I am after.

                              I was out walking the other day and came across these - cobnuts I think.

                              http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qKA5DjX9xP...0/IMG_1933.jpg



                              I have them in a bowl at the moment. But I was thinking of trying to grow them from seed.
                              When is the best time for me to do this? They have started to turn brown. Can I plant in a pot to start with? Do I need to crack the shell?

                              Any advice will be appreciated.

                              Thanks

                              Rob
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