• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Bonsai Tonight

An educational website about bonsai development

  • Blog
    • How-to Guides
  • Podcast
  • Shop
    • Bonsai
    • Books
    • Soil
    • Soil (wholesale)
    • Supplies
    • Tools
    • Video Consulting
    • Northern California Bonsai Resources
  • About
    • Workshops

Pine seed prep

April 6, 2010 by Jonas Dupuich

Seeds, we know, are best planted in Spring. But when is Spring? In northern climes, it’s the season in which snow is replaced by rain. In the San Francisco Bay Area, it means highs of 64 degrees farenheit versus winter highs of 58 F. As is often the case in bonsai, specific dates for seasonal work depend heavily on the local climate.

The temperate Bay Area climate offers significant flexibility. After a couple of warm weeks in February, I decided it was a good time to plant the Japanese black pine seeds I’d collected last fall (See Pine cone technique and More pine cone technique).

About 75 Japanese black pine seeds

Before prepping the pot and planting the seeds, I began by soaking them in a glass of water.

Soaking seeds

I had the idea in my head that I should soak the seeds for 24 hours before planting. The idea is to “wake the seeds up” and cull any remaining duds from the bunch (floaters, in most cases, are sterile). I’d done the same on several occasions before, but never more than half of the seeds sank after a day in the water. This year, I let the seeds float around for a full three days before planting them. Each day a few more sank until nearly all had made it to the bottom.

Sunken seeds

I began soaking the seeds on a relatively “warm” day (63 F) but then rain came (55 F!) and it’s been relatively cool ever since. Normally the seeds sprout after a two weeks of lukewarm weather, but after several cool weeks, I have yet to see a peep out of them. Unless they’re all duds, I’m optimistic they’ll pop after the next warm week.

✕

Subscribe to Bonsai Tonight

New Posts Delivered Every Tuesday and Friday

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit

Filed Under: Bonsai Care Tagged With: Black Pine

Previous Post: « Yaupon holly bonsai
Next Post: Bonsai fertilizer »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Scott Straley says

    April 6, 2010 at 1:53 pm

    Jonas,
    I am going to stick my neck out and say they’ll sprout in the next week-this week is still a little cold at night (37F at my house last night), but as I’m sure you’ve seen, the leafing out process this year is a little guarded at best. Let me know if they’re up on Friday, that’s where I put my marker.

    Scott

    • xwires says

      April 18, 2010 at 8:44 pm

      Scott – I finally saw signs of life from my pine seeds. The soil swelled for the last few days and I unmistakably saw a green stem today. We’ll see if they keep on coming – I’ll write an update if and when they do.

Footer

Follow Bonsai Tonight

Subscribe

Instagram ● Facebook ● Twitter
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Shop
  • About

P.O. Box 6560, Alameda, CA 94501 · 510-915-2025 · jonas (at) bonsaitonight (dot) com

© Copyright 2009-2023 Bonsai Tonight · All rights reserved · Privacy · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. You can opt-out if you wish. Accept Decline Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT