Blake's Giant Sequoias

Seed #6 - Looking Good

2007-10-22T20:57:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted - look how much my seedlings have grown! From my original April batch, I only have five sequoias left. I'm confident that these remaining will stick around through next year, so long as I make sure to keep them out of the frost this winter.

Tree Seedling #11 - Two Days Without Water

2007-10-20T19:35:00.000-05:00

About a month ago, I thought my older sequoias were okay for a couple of days without watering... Apparently I was wrong. One of my three two-year-olds started turning brown. I was hoping that only parts of the tree had died, and that the tree would bounce back - no luck. Within a couple of weeks, the whole tree was gone. I had read that if sequoia roots dried up, the tree would die. Apparently that is the case. My wife's calling this our Charlie Brown Xmas Tree...

Oh well, 'makes for a pretty desktop wallpaper.

Seed #14 - Growing Fast

2007-07-29T22:09:00.000-05:00

In the past week, the branches have more than doubled in size and are now growing branches of their own.

Tree Seedling #11 - The Superstar

2007-07-25T19:43:00.000-05:00

Here's tree #11, my favorite of seedlings purchased from Welker's.

Makeshift Greenhouse

2007-07-23T21:03:00.001-05:00

I spent tonight putting together a little greenhouse for my seedlings. This should diffuse the hot summer sunlight but still allow airflow through the sides.

It basically consists of a 2'x4' table, bent rigid wire, 1/2" wood dowels, 1"x2" board, 3mil translucent tarp, and a bunch of staples and duct tape. I'm going to have to find a more permanent solution than duct tape - it'll fall off within a couple of days, but the staples should - for the most part - hold it together until I find that solution.

Seed #14 - Branches

2007-07-22T21:38:00.001-05:00

Seed #9 - Branches

2007-07-22T21:37:00.001-05:00

Seed #6 - Branches

2007-07-22T21:35:00.001-05:00

I couldn't be happier with this little guy. You can make out at least two of the branches in this photo. I was a little concerned about the wind blowing it over, but so far, it's handling it like a champ.

Moving Day

2007-07-22T21:22:00.000-05:00

I decided it was time to stop coddling my little sprouts. At this point, all of my seedlings had a good amount of secondary leaves and seemed ready to be moved out of the grow lights.

I had originally planned on keeping them in the lights for a long time, but changed my mind when I saw how the lights treated two of my older seedlings. I had a two-year-old and a one-year-old under the lights for three weeks. At the end of the period, the leaves had turned a deep blue-green color, and the trunks didn't seem as rigid. The color is an indication that the leaves were adjusting to find the best color to absorb the artificial light.

The color of a leaf shows the light waves that its chlorophyll reflects, and thus, doesn't absorb. Since the leaves were a little more blue than the ones outside, I can deduce that my lights are lacking in (at least) the blue spectrum.

As for why the trunks seemed less rigid - that may be due to there being no wind in my garage, that the light may not be bright enough, or that it's only really reaching the top parts of the tree, giving too little to the tree overall.

Anyway, the tree seedlings have spent two days in full sun with nothing but positive signs. The soil mixture is well-draining enough that I'll have to water these every day, possibly twice when it's really hot outside. I'm going to play it safe and keep the trees close to the house to protect them from heavy wind and rain.

In this photo are my coast redwoods, giant sequoias, and bristlecone pines.

Seed #13 - Transplant

2007-07-14T14:34:00.000-05:00

This was my last of five sequoia seedlings that has made it this far. I transplanted it into the same soil mixture previously mentioned.

Seed #6 - Transplant

2007-07-13T14:27:00.000-05:00

Seed #6 has always been the tallest. While under the grow lights, it's really grown significantly, now working on its first branches.

When transplanting from a cel-pack, it's important to (carefully) use a razor to cut the plastic away from the root ball. These little plants are still so delicate. If you disturb the soil, it could tear the thin root hairs - if you're lucky enough as to not snap the stem first. When cutting, you need to remember that there may be roots up against the plastic, so try to keep the razor from slicing into the soil. You're probably going to lose a few root ends, but it's better than killing the seedling all together.

Seed #5 - Transplant

2007-07-12T22:47:00.000-05:00

Another little guy that's done just fine under the grow lights. I gotta say that if not for the lights, I think I would have lost half of my seed seedlings while on vacation. They weren't growing very fast, and the damp peat moss was starting to damp them off, rotting the roots away.

The transplanted seedlings are going to love their new soil. I have a few more that are ready to move - I'll post them as they move.

Seed #14 - Transplant

2007-07-12T22:44:00.000-05:00

The grow lights have been kind to this little guy -
I transplanted him today as well.

It was really nice seeing the progress in the root structure. If you look closely, you can see the start of at least two branches.

Seed #9 - Transplant

2007-07-12T22:33:00.000-05:00

It's moving day! After the seedlings have a few sets of secondary leaves, they should have enough of a root system to hold together the cel-pack root ball. I just watered my seedlings yesterday with diluted fertilizer from bottom-up, so I was pretty confident that the soil would stick. I used a razor blade to carefully cut away the cel-pack, as to not damage this little guy.

I then put together a well-drained soil mixture, consisting of:

cheap potting soil
vermiculite
perlite
sphagnum peat moss
sand (just a bit)

and carefully planted this little guy in a six-inch pot.

This last photo is intentionally out of focus to show the soil mixture, rather than the seed leaves.

Seed #9 - How Quickly They Grow Up...

2007-07-12T22:26:00.000-05:00

After three weeks under the grow lights, just about all of my seedlings have taken off, growing several sets of secondary leaves. Before the grow lights, their growth had slowed to a crawl, and they were starting to damp off.

A great way to avoid damping off is to get the seedlings to grow as quickly as possible and to transplant them out of the cel-packs after they have a few sets of secondary leaves.

Road Trip!

2007-07-12T22:22:00.000-05:00

I'm going on a two week vacation, so I had to pack up my toddlers for someone to babysit. Believe me, this was a little embarrassing!

Grow Lights!

2007-06-20T23:16:00.001-05:00

I decided it's time to take this to a new level! I had planned on building this seed starting bench, but realized it would cost me around $300. Instead, I put together a simple rig of 40W, four-foot hanging fluorescents from a shelf in my garage. Each bulb set has one cool white and one soft white, to spread out the spectrum of light for the sprouts. I have the lights on a timer to turn on at five in the morning, and off again at nine at night -- sixteen hours of good light per day. I have plenty of room for at least three more seed trays - and I have no problem doubling this setup if needed. I just hope the DEA doesn't get the wrong idea! I swear, I'm just growing giant sequoias!

... Well, that, and coast redwood, bristlecone pine, dawn redwood, and red maple...

Seed #4 - I Really Need to Be More Careful

2007-06-20T23:07:00.000-05:00

Seed #4 has been one of my sequoia superstars. I just finished setting up my new grow lights to help speed up growth in my sprouts, and I might have accidentally killed this little guy. I tried gently wetting the sprouts with a spray bottle, and when the spray hit this one, he fell straight over. This is the second time this has happened to me. The first one didn't make it but another day or so. I've propped him up with a toothpick, and am going to wait it out a day.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try the equivalent of open heart surgery -- I'm going to see if I can put just the right amount of soil around the base of the sprout to help hold him up. I have no idea what the chances of him making it are, but I'm not that optimistic. If seed #4 dies, I'm down to only five sequoias (from seeds).

It's getting more and more difficult to keep these sprouts alive. I might be watering them too much - or, maybe they're not getting enough light. Whatever the problem is, they're not talking. I'm done using spray bottles, that's for sure. Instead, I've found that watering them from underneath works really well. I fill the tray with about an inch of water, and wait for the driest cel-pack to moisten, usually after thirty seconds.

In any case, I'm not looking forward to another sequoia dying. I think it's time to order a few hundred more seeds, and really go nuts. If they're going to give up on me, then I'm going to fight back by bringing in reinforcements!

Time for Sun and Fertilizer

2007-06-16T20:08:00.000-05:00

I think I've been coddling my sprouts a little too much. They're over a month old and haven't seen any direct sunlight. Each of them has a set of secondary leaves, and are seemingly healthy and eager for more growth. So, I've started giving them small doses of direct sunlight, and much more outdoor shade. I know I'm crazy, but I'm convinced that a few of my sprouts grew a tiny bit from their time outside today.

Also, since the soil is probably starting to lose its nutrients, I gave each seedling about a tablespoon and a half of 1/4 -strength fertilizer (24-8-16 water soluble from Giant-Sequoia.com). If they don't react negatively to the treatment, I'll continue to apply small amounts of diluted fertilizer every seven to fourteen days.

I also tried out watering the sprouts from underneath, which seemed to work well. To do so, I placed the block of nine cel-packs in an inch of water, and waited for the top to become moist (fifteen to thirty seconds). I'm going to try this out every other day, rather than spray the sprouts twice a day with a spray bottle.

Cold Stratification

2007-06-16T19:41:00.000-05:00

It's been several weeks since any of my remaining sequoia seeds have germinated in their damp coffee filter baggies. Of the sixteen germinated seeds, I'm down to only six that are still alive. Most recently, my first sprout, seed #1 just shriveled up and died. As silly as it sounds, that really brought me down.

So, I'm down to six sprouts and about eighty seeds. I can either throw out the seeds, buy more and start over, or I can try to turn around the seeds I have and see if I can get them to sprout.

It's likely that a third of those seeds are still viable, but dormant. In nature, conifers have a clever trick to avoid entire crops of seedlings to dying off in a catastrophe such as fire or drought...they don't all sprout at the same time. One way to break this dormancy is to mimic natural conditions that the seeds would go through, such as winter coldness. This is called cold stratification, and can be achieved by placing the seeds in moist peat moss (or other mixtures) in a refrigerator at a few degrees above freezing for one to three months.

Note: this isn't normally necessary for vegetable and flower seeds, since they've been cultivated to grow without the dormancy. For more information and other seed-starting tips, I highly recommend the following links: Seed Germination and Growing Conifers From Seed.

I split out my seeds into two groups, then dropped them into sealed baggies, each with a few tablespoons of seed starting soil mix. I sprayed spring water into the baggies until the soil mixture was moist, and stored them away in the back of my refrigerator.

Waiting two months isn't going to be easy, but it'll be interesting to see the difference that cold stratification makes. After that time, I'll probably keep the seeds in the baggies until they've sprouted, then move the individual sprouts into cel-packs. The coffee filter baggies worked really well, but only for the initially-sprouting seeds. After a couple of months, it's hard to stave off mold and frustrating keeping the baggies moist.

Seed #6 - Still on Top

2007-06-12T22:09:00.000-05:00

This little guy towers over the other sprouts by at least an inch and now shows a healthy set of secondary leaves.

Current State of the Union

2007-06-12T21:33:00.000-05:00

When I first started growing trees from sprouts a couple months ago, I didn't expect myself to go this far. My original goal was to photograph each tree sprout every few days, so you could track its progress with tag filters. That worked for the first month. At this point, here's what has sprouted so far (with more seeds still to germinate):

20 bristlecone pines - (9 outdoors in rocky soil, 11 indoors in seed-starting soil) between newly-sprout and 2 inches high
9 coast redwoods - between newly-sprout and 1 inch high
1 dawn redwood - about 1 inch high
7 giant sequoias (from seed) - between 2-3 inches high
13 giant sequoias (purchased as 1-2 year old seedlings) - between 6-15 inches tall

So, I'm at the point now where I can recognize that it's not feasible to keep track of each sprout anymore. I'm going to try to tone it down a bit and focus more on star-performing sprouts and my favorite photos... that, or completely lose what little sanity I have remaining...

Seedlings Showing New Growth

2007-06-07T19:43:00.000-05:00

My one and two-year-olds that I bought as seedlings from Welker's Nursery are really doing well in their new pots. They've been fairly inactive this past month, but recently, almost every branch on the seedlings has sprouted about an inch of new growth.

I Might Have Gone Overboard

2007-06-07T19:23:00.001-05:00

It's not until about two months into my obsessive hobbies that I realize I've gone too far. Upon checking my bristlecone pine, giant sequoia, dawn redwood, coast redwood, and sunflower seeds for sprouts (while waiting for my purple pitcher plant, sensitive plant, and venus flytrap seeds to arrive in the mail)... I started thinking to myself... Have I gone crazy? I mean, I shouldn't have a problem finding a place to plant one hundred giant redwoods... After all, I do have about ten square feet of back yard.

Seed 4 - Fun with a Tripod

2007-06-03T20:46:00.001-05:00

I just dusted off my old tripod, so I thought I'd try some extreme close-ups. This little guy is still my favorite.

Seed #15 - Cotyledons Opening Upwards

2007-05-30T21:18:00.000-05:00

Seed #14 - Secondary Leaves

2007-05-30T21:17:00.000-05:00

Seed #10 - Straightening Out

2007-05-30T21:13:00.001-05:00

This one is almost pointing straight up, but the seed coat still seems to have a pretty firm grasp. I'm never too optimistic about the seed coat coming off when it's on that tight.

Seed #9 - Secondary Leaves

2007-05-30T21:11:00.001-05:00

Seed #7 - Goodbye, Old Friend...Hey, Nice Roots!

2007-05-30T20:59:00.000-05:00

I was sad to see #7 go, but in his passing, I got a peak at some pretty cool roots. All of my sprouts that emerged with the seed coats have had a tougher time than the others, but on top of that, this guy's root system didn't go very deep at all. I wonder if that had a hand in his early death - too little surface moisture could have done him him.

Seed #6 - Secondary Leaves

2007-05-30T20:58:00.001-05:00

Not the best close-up, but you can see the little secondary leaves poking out.

Seed #5 - Secondary Leaves

2007-05-30T20:55:00.001-05:00

This is the first I've been able to see secondary leaves on this little guy.

Seed #4 - My Pride and Joy!

2007-05-30T20:51:00.001-05:00

This guy was my first to show secondary leaves, and since then, they haven't stopped showing off. In another couple weeks, I can start giving this one tiny amounts of direct sunlight, and shortly thereafter, diluted fertilizer.

Seed #3 - Pushing Cotyledons From Seed Coat

2007-05-30T20:48:00.000-05:00

I gave up on my toothpick method for this seedling. The seed coat was slipping out from the toothpicks, and the stem didn't look like it was responding well to the force. It's not looking too bad, however. If the cotyledons keep pushing, they might break free from the seed coat.

Seed #1 - Secondary Leaves

2007-05-30T20:45:00.000-05:00

Looks like this one's going to make it after all, despite the shriveled cotyledon. You can see the secondary leaves pushing out from the center.

Seed #16 - Radicle

2007-05-25T20:44:00.000-05:00

That's a toothpick next to the seed for scale.

Seed #15 - Sprout Turning Upwards

2007-05-25T20:42:00.000-05:00

Not the best close-up, but good enough to show what's going on.

Seed #13 - He Is... No More

2007-05-25T19:00:00.000-05:00

I mustn't have taken a photo of #13 on his deathbed, but don't feel like you're missing out, it wasn't that great of a passing, he just fell asleep and never woke up...

Seed #13
05/14/2007 - 05/25/2007
Survived by hundreds of brothers and sisters

Seed #3 - The "Toothpick Method"

2007-05-23T22:04:00.000-05:00

After so much success with seed #14, I'm trying again, this time with seed #3. This one didn't lend to my new method as well as the other - it was already pointing upwards, so I had to carefully bend the sprout in half so I could pin down the seed coat. I'm hoping to see the sprout opened in the next day or so, leaving the seed coat behind.

Seed #14 - The Toothpick Method Worked!

2007-05-23T21:48:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, this little sprout was still stuck in his seed coat. So far, those that come up with the seed have had a hard time breaking out of it, so I tried holding the seed coat down with toothpicks. Well, it actually worked! When I got home today, the seed coat was still pinned down, and the cotyledons were pointing upwards.

Seed #14 - Further Out of the Soil

2007-05-22T23:06:00.000-05:00

By tomorrow, this should be in a mostly upright position. So far, my sprouts that emerge from the soil without their seed coats seem to be the healthiest. What's happening is, as one stands up, if its seed is buried deep enough in the soil to be held down, the rising stem and buried seed coat help pull them apart.

I thought I'd try a little experiment here. I just placed two toothpicks (not pictured) in an X across the seed coat, with the hopes to keep it pinned down as the stem stands up. Hopefully, later tomorrow, the plan will have worked, and the seed coat is laying on the soil, with the cotyledons fully exposed.

Seed #13 - Standing Tall, Cotyledons Opening

2007-05-22T23:03:00.000-05:00

Just yesterday, this sprout was bent into the soil in an upside-down U. It's amazing what can happen in a day. This photo is a bit out of focus, but you can see how the cotyledons are paired up on either side. I expect them to open up in the next few days.

Seed #9 - More Progress With Seed Coat

2007-05-22T23:01:00.001-05:00

I wish I could just pop off the seed coat to help out, but I think it'll fall off in the next few days on its own.

Seed #6 - Tallest of the Bunch

2007-05-22T22:59:00.000-05:00

This seed was planted a couple weeks after my first few, but it's outgrown all of them in no time. It's a good half of an inch taller than of my other sprouts.

Seed #5 - Opened Up

2007-05-22T22:58:00.001-05:00

Seed #4 - Secondary Leaves!

2007-05-22T22:40:00.001-05:00

This was a very exciting find - my first sprout with well-defined secondary leaves. When these open up over the next couple weeks, this little sprout will be ready for half-strength fertilizer to help accelerate its growth. By the end of this year, there should be around six small branches with secondary leaves.

In the zoomed-out photo, you can see how the stem leans to find sunlight. This is known as phototaxis. Every morning, I rotate the seedlings so they point away from the nearest window, and when I get home from work, they're pointed back at the window.

Seed #3 - Cotyledons Emerging

2007-05-22T22:36:00.001-05:00

A little more progress - you can see the green cotyledons poking out of the bottom of the seed coat. In a few days, they should begin to open up and push the seed coat off.

Seed #2 - May 6, 2007 - May 22, 2007

2007-05-22T22:33:00.000-05:00

You will be missed, old friend.

Seed #15 - Radicle

2007-05-21T22:27:00.000-05:00

I've been so busy the past few days that I let this guy grow a little more than usual in his coffee filter baggie.

Seed #14 - Seed Coat Sprout

2007-05-21T22:26:00.000-05:00

Originally planted 5/14/07, seven days ago.

Seed #13 - Sprouting Without Seed Coat

2007-05-21T22:25:00.001-05:00

I'm always happy to see a sprout without the seed coat. They seem to stand a better chance of opening their seed leaves this way.

Originally planted 5/14/07, seven days ago.

Seed #10 - Seed Coat Sprout

2007-05-21T22:23:00.000-05:00

Originally planted 5/14/07, seven days ago.

Seed #3 - Seed Coat Sprout

2007-05-21T22:20:00.000-05:00

Originally planted 5/7/07, fourteen days ago.

Seed #11 - Replanted

2007-05-21T22:14:00.000-05:00

This sprout had managed to turn himself upside-down in the soil, aiming his radicle out of the soil. I removed it from the cel-pack and replanted it, radicle-down.

Seed #6 - Quick to Sprout

2007-05-18T08:33:00.000-05:00

This has been my quickest sprout to date - popping out of the soil and opening up overnight.

Originally planted 5/9/07, nine days ago.

Seed #9 - Cotyledons Pushing Seed Coat Off

2007-05-17T21:45:00.001-05:00

This seed coat should fall off in the next day or two. The cotyledons are looking healthy, as is the stem. I can't be sure from these photos, but I would guess that there's four cotyledons, based on the stem thickness and heartiness it's shown so far.

Seed #5 - Standing Up

2007-05-17T21:33:00.000-05:00

This little guy is looking healthy, but has the same thin, light-green stem as the others with three cotyledons.

Seed #4 - Cotyledons Opened Upward

2007-05-17T21:27:00.000-05:00

This is probably my healthiest sprout, and my first one with four cotyledons (that I'm sure about). There's definitely a difference between those with three and four. The latter seem to have much thicker, purple-brown stems, where the former are a light green and more frail.

Seed #2 - Seed Coat Fell Off - What's Next?

2007-05-17T20:20:00.000-05:00

When I gently touched the seed coat today, it fell right off. Underneath, the cotyledons are still bundled up, so I'm not sure that they're going to make it out in the open. If they haven't opened up in a couple days, I might try to gently pull the sheath off.

Seed #5 - Showing Three Cotyledons

2007-05-15T22:00:00.000-05:00

Seed #5 spent today unfolding and opening up. This is my second with three cotyledons (from separate batches, too), which is supposed to be unusual.

Originally planted 5/9/2007, six days ago.

Seed #4 - Showing Four Cotyledons

2007-05-15T21:21:00.000-05:00

Seed #4 is my first to have four cotyledons. In one day, he emerged from the soil and started opening up.

Originally planted 5/7/2007, eight days ago.

Seed #9 - Seed Coat Sprout

2007-05-15T21:10:00.000-05:00

Seed #9 pops out of the soil after six days.

Originally planted 5/9/2007, six days ago.

More Mold! (No Problem)

2007-05-14T22:38:00.000-05:00

For the past month, I've had between fifteen and one-hundred fifteen giant sequoia seeds sitting in damp coffee filters in the dark. I realize now that there's no guaranteed way to prevent mold growth, so rather than freak out, I spent tonight cleaning all of my seeds, and transplanting them in new coffee filter baggies.

I found the best way to do this was to place the seeds in a metal vegetable strainer with very fine holes (less than 1mm square), and run room-temperature water through them. For the few seeds that had a decent build-up of mold, I carefully gave them a little rub, and more water. I used toothpicks to help maneuver the seeds, discarding them after touching dirty ones. I didn't want to waste my time cleaning the seeds, only to give them back their mold afterwards.

Once the seeds are in the soil and sprout, the air circulation should help prevent mold problems at that point. My goal is to keep them as clean as I can until then, then make sure to remove the seedlings from the greenhouse as soon as they sprout. With germination taking anywhere from seven to ninety days, the baggie method really helps fight mold. If I had planted the seeds in soil from day one, there would have been a serious mold problem in the greenhouse pretty early on.

Seed #14 - Germination

2007-05-14T22:36:00.002-05:00

This is probably the best photo so far of the side of the seed coat splitting as the radicle pokes through.

Originally placed in the coffee filter on 4/27/07, seventeen days ago.

Seed #13 - Germination

2007-05-14T22:36:00.001-05:00

Originally placed in the coffee filter on 4/27/07, seventeen days ago.

Seed #12 - Germination

2007-05-14T22:34:00.000-05:00

Originally placed in the coffee filter on 4/27/07, seventeen days ago.

Seed #11 - Germination

2007-05-14T22:31:00.000-05:00

Originally placed in the coffee filter on 4/27/07, seventeen days ago.

Seed #10 - Germination

2007-05-14T22:28:00.000-05:00

I don't know how this wasn't more obvious in the coffee filter - this is the longest I've let any of the radicles grow before putting them in the soil.

Originally placed in the coffee filter on 4/27/07, seventeen days ago.

Seed #5 - Sprouting Without Seed Coat

2007-05-14T22:23:00.000-05:00

Seed #5 is sprouting just like seed #4 (and probably seed #1, though the seed coat isn't visible) - just to the side of the seed coat, leaving it behind in the soil. You can still see it in the bottom of the photo.

Originally planted 5/9/07, five days ago.

Seed #4 - Sprouting Without Seed Coat

2007-05-14T22:19:00.000-05:00

Following seed #1's lead, this little one is sprouting without his seed coat. That yellowish blur in the bottom right of the image is the seed coat. The roots and stem have poked out of one side, but I don't think it's completely detached from the seed coat.

Originally planted 5/7/07, seven days ago.

Seed #2 - Taller Stem, Still Hasn't Shed Its Seed Coat

2007-05-14T22:14:00.000-05:00

Four days after first sprouting, seed #2 is now 3/4 of an inch tall. He still hasn't shed his seed coat, which isn't out of the ordinary. The sides of the seed coat have split, showing that it won't be long now before we see how many seed leaves it's hiding.

Seed #1 - Seed Leaf Shriveling

2007-05-14T22:09:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure exactly what caused this, but it does concern me. The seedlings are supposed to have four cotyledons, and this guy starts off with three. Now one is shriveled up - who knows how long it's going to last. Luckily there's several more in the queue.

I'm hoping that this was due to my keeping it in a glass that was taller than the seed leaves. Maybe there wasn't enough air circulation around the leaves, which started killing it off. I removed it from the glass, and now have it out in the open, receiving a tiny bit more sunlight, though not yet direct -- I'm waiting for the secondary leaves to come in before I give this guy direct sunlight.

Seed #2 - Showing Off

2007-05-11T23:41:00.000-05:00

After five days in the soil, seed #2 has sprouted. Unlike seed #1, this one brought the seed coat up with it. Just today alone, the sprout has grown over half of an inch - it's going to be pretty exciting when the seed coat opens up. These two photos show the sprout from either side.

Seed #9 - Germination

2007-05-09T21:45:00.000-05:00