How to Grow Flowering Dogwood Trees from Seed
Michael J. McGroarty
Flowering Dogwood trees can be easily grown from seed, however
99.9999% of the seedlings that sprout will be Cornus Florida,
which is White Flowering Dogwood. It doesn’t matter if you
collect the seeds from a White Dogwood or a Pink Dogwood, the
seedlings are likely to be white.
The only predictable way to grow a Pink Dogwood, Red Dogwood, or
one of the beautiful Dogwoods with variegated leaves, is to bud
or graft the desired variety onto a White Dogwood seedling.
See this page on my website for details on "budding".
http://www.freeplants.com/
budding_fruit_trees_and_ornamental_plants.htm
Dogwood trees begin producing seeds right after the petals drop
from the flowers. It’s a slow process that takes all summer. By
late summer the seeds begin to turn red, which means they are
just about mature. Don’t pick them too early or the embryo will
not be fully developed and they will not be viable. When the
seeds are fully developed they will begin to fall from the tree,
and at that time you can begin to pick them.
Ripe seeds can be removed easily. If they don’t pop right off
when you grab them, they are not quite ready, give them another
week or two. Don’t let them fall to the ground, the chipmunks,
birds and other critters love them, and usually eat them as fast
as they fall.
Once picked, let them sit for a week or so, until the pulp begins
to soften. At that time soak them in a pail of water to further
soften the pulp. While still in the pail of water squeeze the
seeds between your fingers to separate the seeds from the pulp.
Once they are separated slowly add water to the pail until it
overflows, allowing the water to flow over the edge of the pail
slowly.
The viable seeds should sink to the bottom of the pail, while the
pulp should float to the top. Allow the pulp to float out of the
pail until you have nothing but clean seeds lying on the bottom
of the pail. Drain the water and spread the seeds out on a table
to dry. Once dry the seeds can be stored in a cool dry place.
They will keep this way for some time.
Because Dogwood seeds have a very hard outer coating on the seed,
they need to be pretreated or stratified before they will
germinate. This process softens the outer coating so that water
and oxygen can enter, initiating the germination process. There
are several ways to stratify Dogwood seeds, from treating them
with acid to storing them in the refrigerator. I will share a
couple of techniques that I think will work the best for someone
with little experience.
One technique requires that you decide what day next spring you
would like to plant the seeds and then counting backwards on your
calendar for 210 days to start the stratification process. Here
in the north May 15 is a good target date for planting because by
then we should be safe from frost. You don’t want Mother Nature
to do them in before they even have a chance.
210 days from May 15 would put you around Oct. 15 to start the
stratification process. To stratify the seeds using this
technique simply place them in a plastic bag with some moist (not
wet!) peat moss, or a mixture of moist peat and sand. Poke some
holes in the bag, you don’t want it air tight. Store them in this
mixture at room temperature for a period of 105 days.
After 105 days move them to your refrigerator for another 105
days. Don’t put them way in the back where they might freeze. You
want them cool, but not frozen. After 105 days of storage in the
refrigerator they should be ready to plant outside. Just time it
so that you get them outside just after the danger of frost has
past.
While the seeds are being stored check them weekly, if you have
fungus growing in the bag sprinkle a little fungicide in. Near
the end of the storage period you should be checking for
germination, as soon as 10% of the seeds have germinated they
should be planted out. If it’s too early, plant them in a flat
indoors, just make sure they get plenty of sunlight.
To plant them simply sprinkle the entire contents of the bag on
top of the soil and spread it out. Sprinkle some light soil over
top. Do not plant the seeds too deep. 1/4” of soil over top is
all you want. Water them thoroughly after planting, then allow
the soil to dry out before watering again. Make sure you plant
them in an area that drains well, you don’t want them in soggy
soil or they will rot.
That’s one technique. Another technique is to nick each seed in a
couple of different places with a knife right after the seeds are
cleaned, and plant them out immediately in the fall. Cover the
seed bed with a piece of screen so the critters don’t dig them up
and eat them.
Which technique works better?
I don’t know. There are so many variables that can change the
outcome that I have not seen where one works better than the
other. I suggest you do some each way and see what works best for
you. I like getting them planted right away in the fall and
putting Mother Nature in charge, but it’s disappointing if
something happens and you have a poor stand, that’s why it’s
always nice to try some both ways.
You can also grow Chinese Dogwood (Cornus Kousa) from seed.
Chinese Dogwood is very popular because it flowers much later
than most other ornamentals. Late June is usually when they are
in bloom, and the flowers are cream colored against dark green
foliage. It makes the flowers look mint green in color. Just use
the same techniques as above.
Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his
most interesting website,
http://www.freeplants.com and sign up
for his excellent gardening newsletter. Article provided by
http://gardening-articles.com
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