RE: #BonsaiNews: What have I done?!?! 85 seeds of seven different species on the way!
Happy Black Friday.
Yes, you are quite addicted, my friend. Either you are adding to the humor of it, you need some serious help, or maybe a bit of both. I've also felt the experience of seed shopping, and it feels a bit like collecting pokemon. Gotta catch'em all!
Maples, and some dogwoods, are native to where I live. They really need lots of icy cold every year, including to germinate. Maybe consider using stratification also on the dogwood. Do you have a frost season where you live? They need that to go into winter dormancy, to store sugars for the next growing season. The dogwoods have such a short lifespan and grow very slowly. Any sudden change to their climate, and they seem to die. I find them growing low in the forest under the shade of very tall conifers.
I think you are right - crazy has everything to do with it. We do not have frost of any kind where I live so I am hesitant but thought about just going for it. There are a few people who have managed to grow both maples and dogwoods where I live. Some of them have made it to the age of 10. Others not so lucky.
Stratification is indeed the plan. Most of the seeds will be spending around 3 to 6 months in the fridge while I try other methods for some of the leftover maple seeds. I got a lot extra to try and find out which ways work best. Luckily, I do have a very large densely shaded area that is about 13 degrees celsius lower than in the sun so that might be a good place for the maples and doogwoods one day. I've got a lot of canadian peat to help keep the ground cool as well. It works very well for insulation from what I understand.
Got all of the other necessities today unfortunately, we don't have that pumice you've been bragging about yet.
Here are two of the trees I got today. Lovely pricing thanks to the good old Black Friday madness. Up to 45% off all of the trees. I wanted to get the really old black monkeythorn but there was no way to transport it in my car.
I'm thinking that if I add enough peat moss to the surface of the pot and add crushed ice it may help keep them cool during winter. Not too sure though. You hear a new story about peat moss every day now. I may either way be relocating to a part of the country where it actually snows so that may end up becoming the solution.
For the life of me I can't recall the name of the one species above but the second one is a Virginia juniper - lots of potential with this one.