One approach is to collect the seeds when they are ripe, wait until early
spring unless you have a green house. When you are ready to plant put them
in a container, cover them with boiling water, and leave them for 12 hours.
At the end of that time see some that have swollen. Take these and plant
them either in pots or directly in the ground, if you are going directly
into the ground then I would wait until after the last frost date. Put the
seeds that did not swell back in the container and once again cover with
boiling water and leave for 12 hours. I think you will find that they will
sprout fairly soon. With the abundance of seeds it is also possible to just
go around and stomp the seeds into the ground where ever you think you may
want tree and let Mother Nature do her thing. Most will eventually grow and
I think do better in the long run because you never mess with the root
system.

If you live in an area where it is rocky and there is not a lot of good deep
soil, a good place to stomp some in is on or very near any place that the
fire ants have a mound. Best to take care of the ants first, I believe
(don't have any proof) that where the ants are there is usually a little
deeper soil or at least some extensive cracks in the under lying hard pan. I
have had success in getting things started in difficult areas using this
practice.

Good Luck,




"Andyd" wrote in message
...
This was obviously a great year for Mountain Laurels. Now my large
Mountain Laurel bushes/trees are covered with green seed pods. I
would like to know when one should collect and plant them. Do you
wait until they get red/brown and hard? Do I wait until they fall?
If they get really hard, do I crack the shell before planting? I
would like to get a lot of Mountain Laurels started on my one-acre
lot, and at $6.88 a pop at Home Depot or Lowe's, it gets pretty
expensive. And the $6.88 only buys a one gallon plant, which means it
will be a looooooong time before they are of any size, and if I am on
that time-line, why not just go from seed for free (if I can).

Thanks.

andyd