It is widely stated that Sequoia seeds have poor germination. Or does
that mean that we haven't found the trigger for germination?

Last Wednesday I was shown round The Moorbank Botanic Gardens of the
University of Newcastle by Prof. Richards(Retd).

He showed us a Sequoia wellingtonia about 6ft high and told us its
story. As a final-year project, Emma Morebank, a student had studied
whether "smoked water" promoted the germination of Sequoia and found
that it did. She died died tragically young in 2007, and this tree,
one of the ones she had grown, was planted in her memory.

Searching Google for "smoke", "Sequoia", and "Germination" I find
anecdotal reports suggesting that smoke from the fires which are so
important in California promotes germination of Sequoia and this must
have been what Morebank was investigating.

It makes some kind of sense. For temperature alone to be the trigger,
there could only be few degrees between the temperature that would
trigger and the temperature that would kill. The chemical products of
burning in solution in water would be a much better trigger

If so, this is something we could use. We could char or burn wood
shavings, sawdust or cut and dried grass in an oven (preferably
electric, gas-heated ovens are ventilated) and pop in the seeds when
it has cooled down.

Or.

"Liquid smoke" is available, it seems to be mainly aimed at giving
that "Smokey tang" to cooked meats, but it is suggested that it might
help germination of Sequoia seeds.

Does anybody have any knowledge of these?

Michael Bell


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