Seed #4 - Germination

This never gets old... Another little radicle, this time from seed #4. This is from the second batch of seeds, along with seed #2. It spent ten days in its baggie (from 4/27 to 5/7) before showing activity. It's now sitting in the greenhouse with seed #2 & #3.

I'll continue to monitor the rest of the seeds, as they may sprout between 7 and 90 days after first soaked in water. If I'm lucky, I'll receive 40% germination rate. I'm hoping for 20%, since I didn't stratify the seeds as most reading recommended. As of right now, I've seen 4 radicles from 117 seeds, or 3.4% within the first two weeks - not bad so far.

Unfortunately, while planting this one in the greenhouse, I found two more moldy seeds in the baggies. I discarded them to prevent further spread.

Seed #3 - Germination

Here's seed #3, from the same, original batch as seed #1. This seed was in its baggie from 4/19 to 05/07 (18 days) before germinating. Into the greenhouse it goes, 1/16th of an inch into wet seed-starting soil, radicle downward.

I had kept the yet-unused cel-packs in the greenhouse filled with seed-starting soil in all along, and found it difficult to re-moisten now that it had dried out. I just emptied the rest of the soil back into its bag, along with a few sprays of water to make it more usable in the future.

Seed #2 - Germination

So it looks like seed #1 wasn't a fluke after all. Today, this little guy came to life. This was from my second, less-expensive batch from Whatcom Seed Company. This seed spent only seven days in its baggie before showing its radicle, which was on par with the previous batch. As I did with seed #1, I planted this in a cel-pack in the greenhouse, radicle downward, with a 1/4 inch soil covering. I moistened the soil and placed the greenhouse in some shade in the corner of my kitchen.

Preparing the Babies' Rooms...

With thirteen little seedlings in a on the way, it was time to set up their homes for the next 2-3 years. I'm going to keep the seedlings in plastic 5/4 gallon pots of soil/sand mixture, fertilizing them bi-weekly with a soluble 24-8-16 mixture from Welker's Nursery, designed especially for potted giant sequoias.

For the soil mixture, I combined all that I had read online with some small changes to cut costs. It's very important for the soil to be well-drained, so I filled the bottom 1 1/2 inches of the pot with drainage rock. The soil is a mixture of roughly half tree & shrub planting mix and half cheap potting soil, along with about 1/8 sand mixed in for drainage (I'm aware that doesn't add up to 1, but am too lazy to do anything about it).

First Germination! Meet Seed #1

Most reasonable people would be able to check their seeds just once a week. Unfortunately, I can't go a day without peeking to see if any of the seeds has 'hatched' yet, sprouting its embryonic root, or radicle. I didn't expect to see any action for the first few weeks, especially since I didn't stratify the seeds first in the refrigerator for a month like most resources suggested.

Well, I was happily surprised. After nine days in its wet, unbleached coffee filter, one of my original fifteen seeds (now known as seed #1) sprouted its millimeter-long, white radicle. Because I folded the coffee filter like Shoot recommended (covering the seeds with one fold on one side, three on the other), I was able to see the radicle by holding the coffee filter baggie up to the light (second from the left in the photo).

In keeping with Shoot's Blog entry, I carefully removed the seed from the coffee filter, placing it in this simple greenhouse seed starter kit I bought at Lowes. I used starter soil, making sure it was wet and that the radicle is pointing downwards. I then buried the seed only slightly, keeping it about 1/4 inch below the surface. The greenhouse kit comes with a clear plastic cover which will keep the seeds warm, allowing sunlight and retaining moisture.

Now's the tough part... waiting. Hopefully this early germination wasn't a fluke, and more are on the way shortly. In the meantime, I've put the mini-greenhouse away in the corner of my kitchen where it can avoid direct sunlight. I'll need to check on it every day to make sure the soil doesn't dry out, killing the little giant before he has a chance.