We recently had some severe winds (some areas are still suffering from it). While walking the dog I found some European Larch cones that had been blown off. Always on the look out for seeds I picked up 5 cones.
I used some cotoneaster leaves from the garden to encourage the cones to open and when ready I set to extracting the seeds. In total there was 219.
This is how larch seeds are in the cone.
The wings were rubbed off and the seeds soaked in water overnight (I dropped in a couple of drops of washing up liquid to reduce the tension of the meniscus). The total ‘sinkers’ was 88 (the rest being floaters were discarded).
Next they were labelled and placed in a small plastic bag with some horticultural sand. A good mixing and sealed.
Then they were placed in the fridge (our Christmas fridge) with the rest of the seeds I either bought or collected. My wife is used to me doing stuff like this, not that she likes it, but more she tolerates it begrudgingly
They’ll stay in the fridge for 10 - 12 weeks before I sow them.
That’s potentially 88 new bonsai trees but not all will germinate. Even if I only get one or two, to me it’s a success and who knows, in 10 years they may even win a show.
I’ll keep this post going when my ‘bonsai babies’ are born.