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growing trees from seed

15 years ago

I know that the best way to grow a tree that is identical to the parent tree is to grow it from cuttings. However when a tree is grown from seed, should it grow to similar dimentions of its parent tree?

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Comments (7)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
15 years ago
so your question is... will my son ... who is the my pollen .. and mommas egg ... be as tall as momma .... yes???? ... since he is a nut that fell from momma .... lol

maybe he will be my height.. maybe her height ...

same with the tree ... genetics rule ....

i grow hosta .... i have thumbnail sized leafed minis ... and beachball sized leafed giants .... if i take the pollen from the mini .. and put it on the giant momma .... i will get some of both .. and a lot in between ... i hope you didnt want a scientific answer. .. lol ...

now i suppose.. if i took the pollen from a 50 footer.. and put it on a 80 foot oak ... i could roughly guesstimate.. that as you said .... it would grow to similar proportions of the parent .... there you go .. each nut has two parents .... and therein lies the problem with your question ....

i think my answer .. might add up to a lot of nothing.. lol ...

ken

ps: i hope he gets mommas height ... her side of the family is taller than mine .....
alexander3_gw
15 years ago
The answer will vary somewhat between species, depending on how much variation is found within a particular species. In other words, if you do this with seeds from a species where there is not a lot of variation in size, the seed grown tree will probably wind up a similar size. If you do this with a species where there is a lot of variation in size, then who knows what you will get. As an example from my limited experience, I planted a few dozen red maple seeds, all from the same tree, in a prepared bed this past spring. Their current heights range from three inches to about 12 inches. On the other hand, I grew up in a yard with 5 large elms. Every summer there would be dozens of seedlings at the edge of the garden, almost all identical in size.
Now, I can't be sure what would happen if these were all grown to maturity, but I suspect the maples would vary in size much more than the elms.

Other considerations:
If you do this with a tree that is susceptible to inbreeding depression, like Dawn Redwood, then the seed grown tree will likely be much smaller than the parent.

If you do this with a tree that easily cross pollinates with other related species, you could get something quite different than the parent. For example, if you plant seeds from a red maple that was pollinated by a silver maple, you could get a very vigorous seedling that will wind up larger than the red maple parent. Oaks are also known for hybridizing.

I'd guess that for most trees, the growing environment will usually be a bigger variable than genetics.

What tree did you have in mind?

Alex
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please go to your members page.. and add your location to your name .. so it pops up in every post ... presuming you are planning on coming back ... without knowing your location ... the question is impossible to answer ... an easy way to start.. would be to ID some of the local trees ... to find out what thrives in your area .. we could do that with pix of the tree and leaves ...you also have.. if you are in the US .. a COUNTY extension office ,.. and they could probably help you with some local information ... also .. if you did this.. how would do it .. pots.. in ground.. etc ... BTW .. it BIRCH .... and if you took that to the WWW ... found the latin name.. then added PROPAGATION to the search .. you could do some basic research into the process .. and then you could come back and ask for more help ... and this is why IDg what you would like to start with .. is important .. as your question is posited ... you would basically like someone to do a doctoral thesis on such.. from start to finish ... and good luck with that ... ken
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jlaitar
Original Author
15 years ago
I grew several eastern cottonwoods from seed this growing season. The parent was a large female tree that is probably 70 feet high and has a trunk that has to be eight feet across. The seeds that germinated are now all different heights ranging from 2 to 4 feet high. I'm guessing the saplings that have grown more vigorously probably have a better chance of attaining the same size as the parent tree as an adult. Does that sound correct?
alexander3_gw
15 years ago
That would be my guess as well.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
15 years ago
not necesarily a conclusion i would come too .. unless ALL variables were scientifically the same ....

if they were all in the same pot of potting media .. perhaps you could come to that conclusion...

but if you vary anything.. then you cant come to the conclusion you did ...

lets say you bought a potting mix with fert.. can you affirmatively state that each pot had exactly the same amount of fert.. did they all get the same light.. same water???

take them out of media.. and use soil ... and again ... how do you know.. each had exactly the same culture ...

you would think you conclusion is proper ... but you really cant say it is ...

what you will probably find.. is that the root structure on the bigger ones.. is more aggressive .... but then you have to ask why ...

ken
alexander3_gw
15 years ago
Gee whiz Ken, we have to work with the information available. The OP wrote "the saplings that have grown more vigorously probably have a better chance of attaining the same size as the parent tree as an adult"

The key phrase being "better chance". I certainly wouldn't choose the smaller ones.

Alex
jlaitar
Original Author
15 years ago
If anyone is curious, here is pictures of the cottonwood (parent tree) I got the seeds from this past spring, and how big the seeds grew this past growing season.

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