I managed to grab a bunch of the berries from a Pheasant Berry bush in a
local wood, hoping to grow one. What ought I to do with them now? Can
the seeds, removed from the fruit, now be grown indoors? Or are they
the sort of thing that needs to spend a winter in the soil?

On 04/11/16 10:43, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
I managed to grab a bunch of the berries from a Pheasant Berry bush in a
local wood, hoping to grow one. What ought I to do with them now? Can
the seeds, removed from the fruit, now be grown indoors? Or are they
the sort of thing that needs to spend a winter in the soil?

It spreads like a weed, so it won't make any difference. If you have
enough berries, you can try both. But as it is hardy, I'd just put the
seeds in a pot, put it outside, and forget about it until spring when
you should see the seedlings start to grow.

By the way, in my experience it's not a long-lived shrub - maybe a dozen
or so years before it starts going into decline.

--

Jeff

Jeff Layman wrote:
On 04/11/16 10:43, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
I managed to grab a bunch of the berries from a Pheasant Berry bush in a
local wood, hoping to grow one. What ought I to do with them now? Can
the seeds, removed from the fruit, now be grown indoors? Or are they
the sort of thing that needs to spend a winter in the soil?

It spreads like a weed, so it won't make any difference. If you have
enough berries, you can try both. But as it is hardy, I'd just put the
seeds in a pot, put it outside, and forget about it until spring when
you should see the seedlings start to grow.

By the way, in my experience it's not a long-lived shrub - maybe a dozen
or so years before it starts going into decline.


I'd heard that it is short-lived. There is one in a garden near ours
that always seems to have looked tired, and really suffers in Winter.
The one I see in the wood seems to be extremely healthy, and I've been
walking past it for at least ten years. The flowers fascinate me for
some reason. The berries are quite nice, too.

On 04/11/16 13:49, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
Jeff Layman wrote:
On 04/11/16 10:43, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
I managed to grab a bunch of the berries from a Pheasant Berry bush in a
local wood, hoping to grow one. What ought I to do with them now? Can
the seeds, removed from the fruit, now be grown indoors? Or are they
the sort of thing that needs to spend a winter in the soil?

It spreads like a weed, so it won't make any difference. If you have
enough berries, you can try both. But as it is hardy, I'd just put the
seeds in a pot, put it outside, and forget about it until spring when
you should see the seedlings start to grow.

By the way, in my experience it's not a long-lived shrub - maybe a dozen
or so years before it starts going into decline.


I'd heard that it is short-lived. There is one in a garden near ours
that always seems to have looked tired, and really suffers in Winter.
The one I see in the wood seems to be extremely healthy, and I've been
walking past it for at least ten years. The flowers fascinate me for
some reason. The berries are quite nice, too.

You might want to have a look at its relative, C. crocothyrsos. I've
been growing it for a few years, and it seems a lot hardier than is
usually stated. It flowers when quite young, and has bunches of berries
on it. So far these are still green, and if they don't turn that deep
red colour and stain everything they come into contact with, well, that
will be a bonus as far as I am concerned!

--

Jeff

Jeff Layman wrote:
On 04/11/16 13:49, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
Jeff Layman wrote:
On 04/11/16 10:43, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
I managed to grab a bunch of the berries from a Pheasant Berry bush
in a
local wood, hoping to grow one. What ought I to do with them now? Can
the seeds, removed from the fruit, now be grown indoors? Or are they
the sort of thing that needs to spend a winter in the soil?

It spreads like a weed, so it won't make any difference. If you have
enough berries, you can try both. But as it is hardy, I'd just put the
seeds in a pot, put it outside, and forget about it until spring when
you should see the seedlings start to grow.

By the way, in my experience it's not a long-lived shrub - maybe a dozen
or so years before it starts going into decline.


I'd heard that it is short-lived. There is one in a garden near ours
that always seems to have looked tired, and really suffers in Winter.
The one I see in the wood seems to be extremely healthy, and I've been
walking past it for at least ten years. The flowers fascinate me for
some reason. The berries are quite nice, too.

You might want to have a look at its relative, C. crocothyrsos. I've
been growing it for a few years, and it seems a lot hardier than is
usually stated. It flowers when quite young, and has bunches of berries
on it. So far these are still green, and if they don't turn that deep
red colour and stain everything they come into contact with, well, that
will be a bonus as far as I am concerned!


Should that be an L. (which is all I can find)? It looks nice. So many
plants, so little space...

On 04/11/16 14:28, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
Jeff Layman wrote:

You might want to have a look at its relative, C. crocothyrsos. I've
been growing it for a few years, and it seems a lot hardier than is
usually stated. It flowers when quite young, and has bunches of berries
on it. So far these are still green, and if they don't turn that deep
red colour and stain everything they come into contact with, well, that
will be a bonus as far as I am concerned!


Should that be an L. (which is all I can find)? It looks nice. So many
plants, so little space...

Yes, it should have been an "L". :-(

--

Jeff

On 04/11/2016 13:33, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 04/11/16 10:43, Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
I managed to grab a bunch of the berries from a Pheasant Berry bush in a
local wood, hoping to grow one. What ought I to do with them now? Can
the seeds, removed from the fruit, now be grown indoors? Or are they
the sort of thing that needs to spend a winter in the soil?

It spreads like a weed, so it won't make any difference. If you have
enough berries, you can try both. But as it is hardy, I'd just put the
seeds in a pot, put it outside, and forget about it until spring when
you should see the seedlings start to grow.

By the way, in my experience it's not a long-lived shrub - maybe a dozen
or so years before it starts going into decline.

On what sort of soil? It thrives on my heavy clay soil in good sun and
seedlings come up quite often. It does OK at my parents on thin sandy
soil too but is less vigorous. But the huge surprise is that at my
brother-in-law's also on heavy clay but not in full sun it has gone into
turbo boost growth mode and is now huge and about 4m tall.

I presume those conditions must really suit it, but it remains a big
surprise to me that its size can vary so much with location.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
I managed to grab a bunch of the berries from a Pheasant Berry bush in a
local wood, hoping to grow one. What ought I to do with them now? Can
the seeds, removed from the fruit, now be grown indoors? Or are they
the sort of thing that needs to spend a winter in the soil?

Well, I mashed the berries up a bit, and sort of prodded the mush into
some compost, and left it indoors. There seem to be lots of them
sprouting now, with the tiny seed cases still on the end of the stems.
The stems are very thin, so I'll have to hope that fungus doesn't kill
them all.

I've also done something similar outside, as a sort of backup :-)

Chris Hogg wrote:
On Thu, 17 Nov 2016 11:58:09 +0000, "Dan S. MacAbre"
wrote:

Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
I managed to grab a bunch of the berries from a Pheasant Berry bush in a
local wood, hoping to grow one. What ought I to do with them now? Can
the seeds, removed from the fruit, now be grown indoors? Or are they
the sort of thing that needs to spend a winter in the soil?

Well, I mashed the berries up a bit, and sort of prodded the mush into
some compost, and left it indoors. There seem to be lots of them
sprouting now, with the tiny seed cases still on the end of the stems.
The stems are very thin, so I'll have to hope that fungus doesn't kill
them all.

I've also done something similar outside, as a sort of backup :-)

Unless they're in good light, like in a south-facing window (and not
over a radiator), they will get very drawn up and thin. The seed-cases
_should_ drop off, eventually, as the seed-leaves expand. The ones
outside will be slower but probably sturdier, and will be better for
having the frost kept off them on cold nights.


Okay, ta. We only have East-West windows, but they're in a room which
is lit nearly all evening. I wasn't expecting the outside ones to do
anything until next spring, but I'll keep an eye on them.

If I can keep just one alive, I'll be happy.

Chris Hogg wrote:
On Thu, 17 Nov 2016 12:46:32 +0000, "Dan S. MacAbre"
wrote:

Chris Hogg wrote:
On Thu, 17 Nov 2016 11:58:09 +0000, "Dan S. MacAbre"
wrote:

Dan S. MacAbre wrote:
I managed to grab a bunch of the berries from a Pheasant Berry bush in a
local wood, hoping to grow one. What ought I to do with them now? Can
the seeds, removed from the fruit, now be grown indoors? Or are they
the sort of thing that needs to spend a winter in the soil?

Well, I mashed the berries up a bit, and sort of prodded the mush into
some compost, and left it indoors. There seem to be lots of them
sprouting now, with the tiny seed cases still on the end of the stems.
The stems are very thin, so I'll have to hope that fungus doesn't kill
them all.

I've also done something similar outside, as a sort of backup :-)

Unless they're in good light, like in a south-facing window (and not
over a radiator), they will get very drawn up and thin. The seed-cases
_should_ drop off, eventually, as the seed-leaves expand. The ones
outside will be slower but probably sturdier, and will be better for
having the frost kept off them on cold nights.


Okay, ta. We only have East-West windows, but they're in a room which
is lit nearly all evening.

Normal indoor lighting is way too dim for seedlings compared with good

Well I'm sort of leaving them in the window in the day, and then moving
them (they're only in a pot) into the lamplight at night. I'll see if I
can arrange for them to get more light.

natural light; you only have to see the intensity of lights used by
druggies growing cannabis in basements or wherever to realise how
strong it needs to be. The light-bulbs themselves are usually of
several hundred watts power, with several of them placed only a couple
of feet above the plants, often with air cooling.
http://tinyurl.com/havroew The ones outside will probably turn out to
be the best in the long run.

I expect so, but I just wanted to see if they would grow at all, so I
offered them a variety of conditions in the garden, the garage, and
indoors. I do sometimes get a bit obsessed like that :-)

I wasn't expecting the outside ones to do
anything until next spring, but I'll keep an eye on them.

If I can keep just one alive, I'll be happy.