Mountain Laurel from jojo

[Kathleen]

Someone from here harvested seeds from her mountain laurel and gave me about
3 gallon size baggies full! I planted half of them and gave half to my
brother, and I have a handful of mountain laurel growing!!

Thanks again!
With hope and heart,
Kathleen

Ps. My ligustrum looks wonderful too. I am about to get some cages so I
can plant it in the ground! Whooohooooo!
--
This year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed
to practise ourselves the kind of behaviour we expect from other people.
~ C.S.Lewis

[TLR]

Hey Kathleen - Congrats on your Mtn Laurel sprouts!Wow 3 gallons of seeds -
that's a lot!

Interestingly, I recently sprouted 5 seeds that I scrounged from some
bushes..

I read online a method for sprouting these very hard-shelled seeds - but
added my own twist, which I believe speeded up the process alot.
After shucking the seeds from the outside 'peanut' shell, the online method
suggested soaking the seeds overnight, placing them inside a folded wet
paper towel, then sealing all inside a plastic baggie to await germination.
(I added the water after everything was in the bag.)
If I recall correctly, this method I read about did not have 100%
germination.

Since I know that hard seeds should be scarified or knicked before soaking,
(ie: for morning glory I use nail clippers), I thought I should do something
similar to the Mtn Laurel seeds. As a test (since nail clippers were out of
the question), I used a small round metal file to hand-bore an indentation
into the softer 'eye' of one seed . It took a while, and I was sort of
careful - trying not to bore right through to the inside. But the seed was
so hard, I needn't have been too worried because it took a couple minutes of
boring just to make a shallow hole.

Not surprisingly, this seed was the first to absorb water, expand to double
size, and germinate - taking about 7 days. All of the other seeds were still
small and hard, having not absorbed much water, so I did the same thing to
them. Sure enough, about a week later, all had sprouted and are now merrily
growing in little pots on my patio.

Anyway, just thought I'd share that little tidbit :)

Teri in Cedar Park.


"Kathleen" > wrote in message
...
> Someone from here harvested seeds from her mountain laurel and gave me
> about
> 3 gallon size baggies full! I planted half of them and gave half to my
> brother, and I have a handful of mountain laurel growing!!
>
> Thanks again!
> With hope and heart,
> Kathleen
>
> Ps. My ligustrum looks wonderful too. I am about to get some cages so I
> can plant it in the ground! Whooohooooo!
> --
> This year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed
> to practise ourselves the kind of behaviour we expect from other people.
> ~ C.S.Lewis
>
>
>

[Kathleen]

Thanks Teri! I will have to get more seeds from somewhere! I will have to
scrounge around and see if some seeds are still in the pods and just 'didn't
take' this year.
With hope and heart,
Kathleen

--
This year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed
to practise ourselves the kind of behaviour we expect from other people.
~ C.S.Lewis


"TLR" > wrote in message
. com...
> Hey Kathleen - Congrats on your Mtn Laurel sprouts!Wow 3 gallons of
seeds -
> that's a lot!
>
> Interestingly, I recently sprouted 5 seeds that I scrounged from some
> bushes..
>
> I read online a method for sprouting these very hard-shelled seeds - but
> added my own twist, which I believe speeded up the process alot.
> After shucking the seeds from the outside 'peanut' shell, the online
method
> suggested soaking the seeds overnight, placing them inside a folded wet
> paper towel, then sealing all inside a plastic baggie to await
germination.
> (I added the water after everything was in the bag.)
> If I recall correctly, this method I read about did not have 100%
> germination.
>
> Since I know that hard seeds should be scarified or knicked before
soaking,
> (ie: for morning glory I use nail clippers), I thought I should do
something
> similar to the Mtn Laurel seeds. As a test (since nail clippers were out
of
> the question), I used a small round metal file to hand-bore an indentation
> into the softer 'eye' of one seed . It took a while, and I was sort of
> careful - trying not to bore right through to the inside. But the seed was
> so hard, I needn't have been too worried because it took a couple minutes
of
> boring just to make a shallow hole.
>
> Not surprisingly, this seed was the first to absorb water, expand to
double
> size, and germinate - taking about 7 days. All of the other seeds were
still
> small and hard, having not absorbed much water, so I did the same thing to
> them. Sure enough, about a week later, all had sprouted and are now
merrily
> growing in little pots on my patio.
>
> Anyway, just thought I'd share that little tidbit :)
>
> Teri in Cedar Park.
>
>
> "Kathleen" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Someone from here harvested seeds from her mountain laurel and gave me
> > about
> > 3 gallon size baggies full! I planted half of them and gave half to my
> > brother, and I have a handful of mountain laurel growing!!
> >
> > Thanks again!
> > With hope and heart,
> > Kathleen
> >
> > Ps. My ligustrum looks wonderful too. I am about to get some cages so
I
> > can plant it in the ground! Whooohooooo!
> > --
> > This year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed
> > to practise ourselves the kind of behaviour we expect from other people.
> > ~ C.S.Lewis
> >
> >
> >
>
>

[Treedweller]

On Thu, 18 May 2006 20:02:38 GMT, "TLR" > wrote:

>Hey Kathleen - Congrats on your Mtn Laurel sprouts!Wow 3 gallons of seeds -
>that's a lot!
>[snip]
>
>Since I know that hard seeds should be scarified or knicked before soaking,
>(ie: for morning glory I use nail clippers), I thought I should do something
>similar to the Mtn Laurel seeds. As a test (since nail clippers were out of
>the question), I used a small round metal file to hand-bore an indentation
>into the softer 'eye' of one seed . It took a while, and I was sort of
>careful - trying not to bore right through to the inside. But the seed was
>so hard, I needn't have been too worried because it took a couple minutes of
>boring just to make a shallow hole.
>
>Not surprisingly, this seed was the first to absorb water, expand to double
>size, and germinate - taking about 7 days. All of the other seeds were still
>small and hard, having not absorbed much water, so I did the same thing to
>them. Sure enough, about a week later, all had sprouted and are now merrily
>growing in little pots on my patio.
>
>Anyway, just thought I'd share that little tidbit :)
>
>Teri in Cedar Park.
This is the moscited method of getting good success, but you might
want to try an easier way. I have found I can get nearly 100%
germination by simply timing the harvest correctly. When the seed
pods have formed and are just starting to lose their green color, and
the seeds are just turning pink, they are still big, fat, and soft.
If you peel off the husk at this time and plant the pink seeds, they
will sprout quite readily. It isn't as easy as it sounds to get them
out of the pod, but it's still a lot easier than the alternative. I
haven't been looking this year, but you might find now is the time.

If you want a ready source of pods, check the UT campus. I seem to
remember some pretty prolific plants near the engineering sector
(north central campus). Of course, there are many other places to
find them--my post office by Northcross Mall has quite a few.

k