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Growing from Seed

Paper Birch Seeds - How to germinate?

16 years ago

I bought some paper birch seeds (and Japanese Maple seeds) off eBay and received both yesterday. The instructions said to soak the seeds in water for 24 hours and then put them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for 30 days. I think the seller was referring to the Japanese Maple seeds, as I saw a video on YouTube that says this method is the "secret". I'm not certain if the same technique can be used with these tiny paper birch seeds. I went ahead and did it anyhow. It was frustrating to pick the little birch seeds off the paper towel that I drained the cup on to collect the seeds, so after I got tired of picking seeds off to put in a refrigerator-bound plastic bag, I just popped the wet paper towel with remainder of seeds into another zip lock bag and laid it on top of the fridge.

I put the seed-only bag in the fridge with the Japanese Maples. Will either birch seed baggie germinate? If so, which will germinate first? Thanks!

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Comments (4)

georgez5il
16 years ago
Birch seed do not need i pretreatment ***IF*** fresh as when they are harvested otherwise store without soaking at 40F for 2-3 months. when planting do not cover the seed soil temp 65-70F & takes 30-90 days to germinate.....
bencjedi
Original Author
16 years ago
Do the seeds laid on soil need light to germinate like Foxglove? I may put some on top of my hot water heater if that is recommended for faster germination.
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Very interesting Sunni. I am getting into growing vegetables (having grown tomatoes, peppers, eggplants in the past), so your feedback is appreciated. If I need to start anything inside, I'll probably try this method first. For some reason, I did not have any germination from eggplant seeds even after more than two weeks. I did one set of seeds with paper towel and the roots did stick. Have not had that issue with coffee-filters, especially moist ones. Californian, I have noticed when I could not get to transplanting the sprout in time, the seed-leaves separated from the seed heads within the filter. I also tend to bury the sprouts almost completely with just the seeds head showing, when I transplant them and the seed heads separate nicely. I just leave the seed coat alone. So you should plant as soon as the seed has sprouted. If you go to the post linked with the first post, in the 3 or 4 the response, the poster shows images of the process. The last image would give you a good idea of when you can transplant.
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I thought your temp would be reasonable by this time of year, although I'm near Darwin, so you sometimes get as bit out of touch with down south. I'd give them a bit longer. If you want to, you can put some in ziplock bags. That holds in moisture and moderates the temps a little. Keep them on top of the fridge, it's warmer there over night. You need to wash them regularly, to freshen the moisture around them, change the air, and reduce the build up of fungus, etc. I wouldn't just leave them sealed in the bags until they germinate. From seeds it can take 7 or more years to get fruit. Grafted trees produce fruit within a year or two. You'll sometimes see grafted fruit in the nurseries with flowers/fruit already on them. Also, with seed plants you never know what sort of fruit you're going to get. Seeds never produce true to the parent plant.
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Thanks again for all the really interesting comments, I can never stress enough just how much I love this site. Vanisle: I've not gotten peas this year, but I do have some pole beans which I'm in the process of soaking now. I've taken dans advice on simply soaking the larger seeds, and decided to use a cupcake pan, filling the compartments ~60% with water and labelling them. The smaller seeds come in a secondary "bag-inside-a-bag", smaller, very robust and foil lined on the inside. I've simply left them inside the small bag, poked a few holes, and placed them in a compartment of water. The tiny seeds are saturated (pigmented sweet red pepper plants) and the tiny baggie is half full. As for why to pre germinate them, it's just our weather. There's currently snow on the ground and the soil is frozen. It will be 16.1*C / 61*F come next friday. Spring here is a real roller coaster as we change from -45*F in the dead of winter to the high 70's- low 80's F in summer, a modest change of temperature by a mere 125* F. Most if not all plants are started indoors here... many do catch up, but with the short growing season, I try to get more than 2-3 weeks of fruit production from my plants after months of literally babying my garden. @digdirt the coffee filter idea was a great idea, so much so that I think I'll scrap the idea of paper towels for the filters.
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I had one very eager seed germinate within a week. After that I took them all out of the bags and put them into a container with sterile mix. I then labeled them with species, date and number of seeds. I figured I should start to see some action in the container by the end of the month. palmsandsnow I used to have horrible luck with palms seeds but not this time. I found that fresh seeds are the key. Oh yeah and mucho patience. Good luck.
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morz8 - Washington Coast
16 years ago
I just wanted to add, 30 days moist chill may be a little brief for your maple - 90 days is often suggested. You mentioned putting them in plastic zip lock after soaking, but did you add something moist besides the seeds to insure they do not dry out again before sowing? Just a tsp (for larger seeds like maple, I'd use more like 3 tsp) of moist sterile vermiculite or moist sterile sand will do, when you are ready to sow, sow the entire contents of the bag.
Acer japonicum , Japanese maple , sow 3 months @ 39ÂºF, move to 70ÂºF for germination.

As for the birch, if the seeds aren't planted immediately upon harvest as George mentions, they need 60 - 90 days moist chill before bringing back to warmth. Surface sow, some light may be beneficial to germination. Putting them someplace warmer than 65 - 70 will not necessarily bring about sprouting any faster than the average of 30 - 90 days and could even delay/inhibit germination.
cindra
16 years ago
Last year while browsing around the local garden center I squished and received a hand full of birch tree seeds from a tree that appeared to be really dead and was marked way down. What didn't fall on the ground ended up in my pocket. I went home and forgot about them for a day or two. When I remembered I tossed them in a pot that had soiless potting soil in it, watered them and by the end of the summer I had over 20 birch trees sprouting. I think you will find birch tree seeds pretty easy and fast to germinate. I also heard they don't come true from seeds but I don't really care, I will just be happy to have more trees around here, whatever they are. :-)

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