Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
i bought acer rubrum seeds from sheffields.com in may 1st. I soaked them for 24 hrs, drained, and put all of them in a moist paper towel inside a freezer bag. I put the bag in the back of the fridge and its been 21 days and no signs of germination. the seeds are not dead because i cracked one open and it was completely green inside, with everything intact. I soaked them again in cold water for 12 hrs yesterday, drained them today, and put them in moist potting soil in a sandwich box with the lid on in the back of the fridge. what should i do? how do i deal with dry red maple seeds?
Acer rubrum requires no stratification. Get the seeds out of the fridge right now and, since you have already soaked them, you must now plant them immediately directly into containers of warm, moist soil to germinate or else plant them directly into the warm, moist soil in the locations outdoors where you intend them to grow permanently. Place the containers or the directly planted seeds in a location where they will get full sun to partial shade so the seeds don't get chilled overnight but not too hot and dry in the daytime either. Keep the soil evenly moist but not soaking wet. It will not take long for them to germinate once they have reached and maintained a comfortable warm outdoor temperature.
What if the seeds are a year old? Do they develop a secondary dormancy? The seller collected them a year ago and reccomended a short cool stratification.
Acer rubrum means red maple, but there are many species / cultivars of red maple. Some types which drop their seeds in the fall require stratification and that's why they drop the seeds in the fall. But they will not actually germinate until the warmer temperatures of spring arrive. They won't germinate in the cold temperatures of the fridge.
Some types of red maple (most commonly) drop their seeds in the spring, some wait until early summer, because they don't require stratification, so they will germinate right away after dropping from the tree.
If the seller told you he collected them a year ago (last spring presumably) it likely means they are seeds that dropped last spring so that means they do not require stratification. If, as you say, they are still green and intact inside the shell then that means they're still capable of germinating regardless of whether or not they're a year old or more. Maple seeds don't develop a secondary dormancy.
The only way you are going to find out if your seeds will germinate is if you plant them now in warm, moist soil. You MUST plant them now because you have already moistened and subjected them to cold stratification in the fridge (whether they needed it or not). If you leave them there in the fridge they will never germinate in the cold temperatures of the fridge and will just rot. Plant and warm those babies up in moist soil and sunlight now.
So do you know what species or cultivar of red maple you got? If you don't know what cultivar they are you should contact the seller and ask him what cultivar they are. It's advisable to familiarize yourself with the exact growing habits and needs, the length of growing time to maturity and what the mature size will be, etc. of the cultivar you got before you plant them in their permanent location in the ground. You need to plant them in the right kind of environment that the specific cultivar needs.
Acer rubrum means red maple, but there are many species / cultivars of red maple. Some types which drop their seeds in the fall require stratification and that's why they drop the seeds in the fall. But they will not actually germinate until the warmer temperatures of spring arrive. They won't germinate in the cold temperatures of the fridge.
Some types of red maple (most commonly) drop their seeds in the spring, some wait until early summer, because they don't require stratification, so they will germinate right away after dropping from the tree.
If the seller told you he collected them a year ago (last spring presumably) it likely means they are seeds that dropped last spring so that means they do not require stratification. If, as you say, they are still green and intact inside the shell then that means they're still capable of germinating regardless of whether or not they're a year old or more. Maple seeds don't develop a secondary dormancy.
The only way you are going to find out if your seeds will germinate is if you plant them now in warm, moist soil. You MUST plant them now because you have already moistened and subjected them to cold stratification in the fridge (whether they needed it or not). If you leave them there in the fridge they will never germinate in the cold temperatures of the fridge and will just rot. Plant and warm those babies up in moist soil and sunlight now.
So do you know what species or cultivar of red maple you got? If you don't know what cultivar they are you should contact the seller and ask him what cultivar they are. It's advisable to familiarize yourself with the exact growing habits and needs, the length of growing time to maturity and what the mature size will be, etc. of the cultivar you got before you plant them in their permanent location in the ground. You need to plant them in the right kind of environment that the specific cultivar needs.
.
Thank you. Ill folow your advice. The seeds are collected from the drummond variety of the red maple in lousiana
Okay, that is Acer rubrum var. drummondii - Drummond maple. That is a spring bloomer and fruiter so it does not need stratification and will germinate right now. At full maturity it can reach heights of 75 - 100 feet tall and they have a wide spread. Very BIG majestic looking shade trees! Heat tolerant but not drought tolerant, requires plenty of access to moisture at all times. Young trees should have part shade/part sun, not full sun all day.
Here is some information for you about Drummond's Maple, read all of the specifications but you should do some further research on other sites too before planting the seeds directly in the ground. I'll suggest that you germinate each seed in its own individual container (maybe large plastic drinking cups to start with) because they don't like to be germinated in crowded, competitive conditions and won't share space with each other so they need lots of room to germinate as individuals in their own space. You won't be able to leave them in containers for long because they rapidly grow deep tap roots and need to go into their selected locations in the ground soon after you see the 2nd or 3rd set of leaves.
This is a "october glory" red maple that i planted 2 years ago. Its leafing out late because it was orignally on the hill for 2 years but in april, i dug it up while it was still dormant and planted in in the lawn to save it.
[IMG]053D29BD-09A7-44C6-8876-BA20641FBF00 by Soumil Yarlagadda, on Flickr[/IMG]
Last edited by Weatherdude123; 05-22-2021 at 07:49 PM..
They are like weeds here. We just cut down 5 of them. Fast growing, weak wood invasive roots. There are much better trees out there. You can most likely buy a seedling for cheap, why waste a few years?
They are like weeds here. We just cut down 5 of them. Fast growing, weak wood invasive roots. There are much better trees out there. You can most likely buy a seedling for cheap, why waste a few years?
they are extremely rare here in southern california, but they do well given irrigation. seeds are far more plentiful. also i have a silver maple seedling in one of the photos. why is it scorching? the high temps have been in the low 70s and high 60s.
It's a baby maple tree that is getting too much direct sunlight and has what's called sun scorch, it's suffering from UV damage. You can't treat it like it's a well established, weathered adult tree that is hardened to the sun, you have to treat it like the baby that it is. Just a baby with tender, sensitive skin that burns easily.
Give it dappled shade/light and make sure when you water it that it's just enough to make the soil evenly moist, not wet. When soil is saturated at intervals it makes the soil drain too rapidly and then it dries up too quickly. That plant needs to be in part sun/part shade or in 24 hours daily dappled shade until it's around 5 feet tall then you can move it to a sunnier location where it gets a few more hours of direct sun every day.
.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
