Agrotechnics for Growing Coniferous Plants from Seeds

Stratification at 2-5⁰C for 1-3 months will stimulate germination.
When germinating at home, the best germination is achieved when the seeds are germinated in a mini greenhouse. Cover the seeds in a container with stretch wrap or a transparent cellophane bag and place them on a window sill with half sun and half shade. Once a day, remove the foil for half an hour to air it out and prevent mould. After removing the greenhouse, the needles should be sprinkled with water every day.
The soil should be light. This can either be light mineral soil (sand, loamy sand) or high-moor peat compost. Heavy soils can cause the seedlings to die.
Light should be provided as much as possible from the first days after germination. Pine is a very light-demanding species and the slightest shading will cause growth to be impaired. The more light the better.
The sowing depth should not be more than 0.5-1 cm in boxes. Ideally, the seeds should be covered with earth so that they do not dry out and so that the germinating root does not protrude from the soil.
Soaking before planting is beneficial and speeds up germination.
Soaking in ice-cold melt water is thought to increase germination and germination energy (although this is debatable). Soaking the seeds before sowing in room temperature water, or better still, in damp gauze or filter paper, for a day or less gives good results.
It is also possible to keep the seeds in damp gauze until they are nucleated (as is done with cucumber seeds) and then plant the seeds in pots if the seedlings are to be grown at home.
Scratching, piercing etc. in the case of pine seeds does not help at all - the seed's shell is soft enough as it is, so it can't swell up and germinate.
As pine is a coniferous plant, it, like others, is prone to fungal diseases, which means that in the first year seedlings should be treated with Fytosporin or another analogue. During the stratification of the seeds, make sure that they do not become mouldy. Inspecting and ventilating the seeds will help to avoid this.
Transplanted from boxes to a nursery or permanent location in the first year in autumn, if sown in the ground, it can be transplanted to a permanent location in the second year in spring or autumn; pine trees take root very well.

Stratification:
1. take a wide but shallow box and fill it with substrate. Be sure to treat the substrate with a dark pink manganese solution.
2. The seeds are planted in the prepared soil to a depth of 1-2 cm. Water abundantly with room temperature water. The whole soil should become moist.
3. Place a layer of snow 5-7 cm thick. Cover the box with cling film and place it in the refrigerator, but not in the freezer.
4. As the soil dries, moisten it, preferably with melted water.
The stratification should last at least 3 months. During this time, the seeds should be kept on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator or in the cellar.
It is also possible to stratify the seeds in a container with damp perlite (you also need to keep it moist, as in the case of the soil, periodically stirring the entire composition in the container).

Soil:
You can use commercially available soil for conifers or mix your own soil.
The following mixtures are suitable: equal amounts of white river sand, gravel, peat;
coniferous forest peat mixed in equal proportions with garden soil;
sawdust, garden soil, peat and sand in equal proportions. Drainage must be used, e.g. shell rock, expanded clay, fine crushed stone or broken pottery. It is also disinfected.

Planting:
After 3 months of stratification, the seeds are sown. They can be planted directly in the open air or grown at home.
One of the easiest options for sprouting pine nuts involves using the substrate in which the planting material underwent stratification. In this case, the box with seeds is taken out of the refrigerator or cellar, abundantly watered with warm water and placed in a warm and bright place. Cover the container with cling film and leave it in this position until the seeds germinate. Open the film periodically to allow the seeds to air out. Moisten the soil as it dries.

The disadvantage of this method is that untested seeds after stratification can become infested with fungus. In this case, most of the planting material will not germinate.
Most gardeners prefer to transplant walnuts into new soil:

The seeds are removed from the soil in which they have been stratified and are then sorted. Remove any that are covered with mould, have spots, signs of rot or soft spots.
The nuts are washed in a light pink manganese solution and dried.
Fill the bottom of the planting container with 1-2 cm of drainage. Fill the remaining volume with soil so that 2-3 cm of soil is left free up to the edge.
Plant the seeds into the soil to a depth of 0.5-1 cm. The distance between them should be at least 3 cm. Do not place the seeds deeper than this, otherwise they will germinate slowly.
Moisten the soil with room temperature water. Cover the container with cling film or clear glass and place it in a warm, bright place.
As the soil dries, moisten it, preferably with melted water. The soil should soak up the moisture, but the liquid should not stand over the surface of the soil.
It will take an average of 1.5-3 weeks for the seeds to germinate after stratification.

For stratification, place the fir seeds in a moist mixture of peat and river sand and leave them at 1-5°C for 3 months (you can put them in the refrigerator). Start sowing fir seeds in mid-spring and remember to soak them beforehand. Put loose substrate consisting of compost, sawdust and sand in shallow containers. Spread the seeds over the surface or into shallow grooves and lightly cover with a layer of soil. Mound conifers on top (optional) and cover the container with cling film. Once a day you should remove the foil for half an hour to air it out and prevent mould. When the seeds have germinated, remove the foil and provide good light. After removing the greenhouse, sprinkle the needles with water every day. In the summer the seedlings can be taken outside (balcony) and placed under trees. The seedlings can be planted outdoors after a couple of weeks.

Larch seeds must undergo stratification. They are placed in damp sand and placed in a refrigerator at a temperature of 1-5 degrees for 3 months. The seeds are planted at the end of April or beginning of May. Voluminous boxes with drainage holes at the bottom are used for planting the seeds. Before use, the containers are treated with a manganese solution to disinfect them. A drainage layer of 2 cm is placed at the bottom. Use expanded clay or small pebbles as drainage. The boxes are filled with soil, prepared in the following proportions:
peat-10 kg;
sand-3kg;
chalk-40 grams. Or you can buy ready-made soil for conifers.
Before planting, moisten the soil abundantly, make furrows in it 1.5 cm deep, embed the seeds in them and embed the peat and sawdust. The distance between the seeds is at least 5 cm. The distance between the rows is 10-12 cm. To create a greenhouse effect, cover the boxes with polyethylene and place them in a warm room. In a fortnight, the first shoots will appear. Remove the plastic and place the seed boxes in a well-lit area.
It is best to water via a tray as the soil dries out. As conifers are susceptible to fungal diseases, it is advisable to periodically treat the soil and seedlings with fungicides. Once the seedlings have their first pair of needles, begin hardening them so that they gradually become accustomed to their environment. During the warmer months, place them outdoors. If there are small, poorly developed plants, do not despair. By transplanting them into separate containers, they will grow quickly.

To grow juniper from seed, it is absolutely necessary to stratify the seeds, i.e. to subject them to a cold treatment. The simplest variant is to take a handful of sand, put seeds there, wrap them in gauze, dip them slightly in water and put them in a polyethylene bag with holes for air on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator for 2-3 months. There is another option - sow the seeds in boxes with soil, take them to the garden and store them under snow for four to five months. You can also just sow under the winter - but then the germination will be minimal and uneven (sprouts will appear within 2-3 years).
In May, stratified seeds are sown in seedbeds. Even after stratification, they will germinate for 2 years, a smaller proportion in the first season.
The seeds of some juniper species have a very dense seed coat, so before planting, they are scarified - speeding up germination by exposure to acid (usually using electrolyte and soaking for 3 hours) or by damaging the seed coat mechanically. The simplest method is to rub the seeds between two boards upholstered on the inside with sandpaper.
After scarifying, the seeds can be sown into seedbeds (boxes) to a depth of about 1-2 cm. Almost any kind of soil is suitable for junipers, but it's better to add some sand and mulch with sawdust on top so it doesn't dry out and become encrusted after watering. The distance between the seeds can be small.
The ideal time for planting, depending on the region, is April-May. It is best to choose a sunny, bright place for planting, on which the density and beauty of the branches depends.
The first year, water with Phytosporin or its analogues, against various fungal diseases.
Transplant to a permanent location at the age of 2-3 years.

Spruce seeds need stratification. This is usually done at a certain temperature and in a moist substrate. In the case of spruce, the seeds should first be placed in cold water for 3 days. It is best to use melted snow or ice from the street. Sometimes during the cold water stratification process, the spruce seeds may stick together so that they can be separated, you will need to dry them out on dry paper or a towel at a normal room temperature after taking them out of the water. If the seeds are suspicious, e.g. if they have strange spots or darkening, they can be disinfected by dipping them in a weak solution of manganese solution for 1/4 hour just to be on the safe side. For healthy seeds, this will also be a good idea. After removing the seeds from the manganese solution, it is also advisable to dry them on dry paper or a towel at room temperature for half an hour. The ready seeds can be stored in an ordinary glass jar until sowing, and should be sealed as tightly as possible and placed in the refrigerator, where the temperature is 1-5 degrees. Stratification in the refrigerator for 2-3 months.
Prepare the soil. There should be several layers: drainage at the bottom (2 cm), peat (2 cm), soil for seeds. Choose the right type of soil. Spruce trees need acidic soil. You can buy it in shops or you can make it yourself by mixing soil from the forest where the spruces grow with universal soil in the ratio of 1:1. Preferably, bake the soil in an oven to disinfect it. Place the seeds in the soil to a depth of 1 cm. The seeds should be at least 4 cm apart otherwise they will be crowded together. Cover the pot with plastic wrap and put it in a warm place. Periodically spray the soil with a sprayer. In a couple of weeks the seedlings will sprout. Sprout them if necessary. When they're older, place them in separate containers. Caution: Up to a year, the seedlings need to be protected from direct sunlight - this is destructive to the immature needles. The tree will simply burn, turn yellow and dry out. Make sure that you water correctly. In spring, summer and September, water the seedlings as soon as the soil dries out. From October to February, water fir trees once every 3 weeks if the temperature is between 6 and 10 degrees, or once a month if the temperature is lower. Do not forget to water occasionally with a sprinkler so that the needles do not dry out. There is no need to feed the seedlings. If a seedling gets too small in its pot, it can be transplanted to a bigger pot. But try to do this as infrequently as possible - spruces do not handle transplanting well. Important: For successful transplanting, do not expose the seedling's roots, keep the root ball moist, transplant the tree as quickly as possible and water it generously afterwards. At the age of 3 to 5 years, transplant the spruce into the open ground. This is best done in the second half of April or early May. For the tree to take root, follow the rules stated above. When transplanting, do not expose the roots and keep the root ball as close to the soil as possible.

To germinate, the seeds need to be stratified in moist sand for 1 to 3 months. To do this, take a glass of wet sand and 500-1000 seeds (as an example), mix them, put them in gauze and wrap the whole thing in a plastic bag with holes for air. Put it in the fridge and once a fortnight see if the seeds have started to split. Even if they haven't - after three months, sow them in a box or directly into a bed by filling the box with a mixture of turf or garden soil, peat and sand (1:2:0.5 part). Smooth the soil well over the entire surface and compact it so that the crate rim is 4-5 cm above it. The seeds can simply be pounded into the ground to a depth of about 2 cm and spaced 2-3 cm apart, but it is easier, again, to spread them on the surface and mulch them with dry earth (1-1.5 cm). When germinating at home, the best germination is achieved when the seeds are germinated in a mini greenhouse. Cover them with some stretch wrap or at least a transparent bag and place them on a window sill with half sun and half shade. Once a day, remove the foil for half an hour to air it out and prevent mould. After removing the greenhouse, the needles should be sprinkled with water every day. The seeds should germinate in a warm place at a temperature of at least 20 °C. Once the seedlings have sprouted, the pot can be moved to a cooler, well-lit location. The small, pubescent roots of the seedlings should be gently covered with sand and moistened with a sprayer. The seedlings should be aired and carefully inspected every day, removing diseased plants if any are present.
The first year your thuja will grow to around 6-8cm and it is too early to transplant from the box, but it should preferably overwinter in the ground, so drill a few holes in the box from below to drain the water and place it in the bed at ground level. Transplanting to re-growing can only be done at the end of the second season and to a permanent place at the age of 4 years - then the seedlings will be already half a meter high, with a good root system and will take root well.
You can sow seeds directly into the ground under the winter, germination is certainly lower due to various factors (very often they squeeze out of the ground in spring), but if you have enough seeds, seed in a bed, so then do not run two years with seedling boxes.
Remember - cultivar thuas may not inherit their parental traits when grown from seed. Although it is time-consuming and labour-intensive, growing thuja from seed has the distinct advantage of producing a large number of seedlings at once.

Planting cypress seeds requires a number of recommendations:
- Pre-standing the seeds in the cold (stratification). An ordinary refrigerator can be used for this. The seeds are sent to 'overwinter' for 3-4 months to give good germination.
- Soaking. The seeds should be placed in warm water for 10-12 hours to swell. It is better to use special growth stimulants for this purpose.

The second half of spring is the optimal time to grow cypress from seeds at home. The procedure is as follows:
-Prepare a low box.
-Prepare a soil mixture of leaf soil, sand, peat and sod in a 2:1:1:1 ratio.
- Moisten the soil and compact it.
- Spread the previously prepared seeds on the surface.
- Backfill the seeds with no more than 7-10 mm of topsoil.
- Moisten the soil with a spray gun.
- Cover with film or glass.
- Place the box in a warm place until the seedlings appear.
It will take at least 2 weeks from the time of sowing until the first shoots appear. The seedlings should be covered with a mixture of soil and sand. The film (or glass) should be removed periodically for ventilation and then removed when the seedlings have grown up. It is important to maintain optimum soil moisture. Excess and lack of water is detrimental to the seedlings.
The second stage of seed cypress cultivation is seedling care. Plants that have reached a height of 5 cm should be transplanted into individual containers. For example, plastic cups with a volume of at least 0.5 l. Make a hole at the bottom and put drainage material. The soil composition for seedlings is the same as for seeds. The only difference is the amount of sand. Add 2 parts of sand. Every month, the cypress seedlings need to be given a special multi-nutrient fertiliser. After a year, the plants can be planted in the open ground if weather conditions allow. The ornamental conifers can continue to be grown at home. It all depends on the biology of the selected variety. Outdoors, young plants require careful attention and care. They need timely watering, loosening of the soil, protection from sun and frost, and regular feeding. The cypress tree is sure to give you a luxurious appearance if you follow the correct cultivation methods.

Cryptomeria seeds need to be stratified for 2-3 months in damp sand and moss at +1+5°C. The seeds are sown in boxes in March in a mixture of peat and sand (2:1). It is better to add a part of the forest floor with shrivelled wood instead of one part of the peat. Sow superficially and cover the seeds lightly with soil. Sprouting will take from 2 weeks to 3 months at +20+25°C.

To grow Sequoias from seed, they must be stratified. You will need a ziploc bag for this. Write the date on it, put some sand or perlite in it and add some cold boiled water. The seeds can also be wrapped in a damp cotton cloth and placed in the ziploc bag. Put the bag with the seeds in the refrigerator for 1-3 months and then you can move on to planting. Check the seeds once a week for mould. If mould appears, rinse the seeds, take a clean ziploc bag and repeat the procedure.
Once the stratification period is over, move on to planting. Prepare a pot, drainage and soil. Loose, fertile soil is best for the seeds to germinate. The pot should have holes for drainage. Spread expanded clay on the bottom of the pot with some soil on top and lightly compact it. Leave some soil to cover the seeds with a small layer of topsoil. Spread the seeds on the surface of the soil and cover with a small layer of soil. Position the pot so that it will be exposed to direct sunlight for a few hours a day. Cover the pot with water and polythene and allow it to air out for 10-15 minutes once a day to prevent mould. Sprouts will appear in 6-12 weeks, depending on temperature and humidity. The optimal temperature for germination is 20-25 degrees. Sequoia germination is low, at best 15-25% of the seeds will germinate. The first shoots may appear after 2 days or after 2 months.

Cold stratification of metasequoia seeds at +3 to +5 °C for 1-2 months gives good results. For germination, take the metasequoia seeds and soak them for 2 days in tepid water at room temperature. Change the water at least 1-2 times a day. After two days, take the seeds out of the water, shake them out onto a paper towel and dry them a little, so that they do not stick together when sowing. Next, take a box, fill it with soil (mix it yourself or buy for conifers 1:1 with universal soil). Water the soil. The seeds spread evenly over the surface. Water again (using a sprayer). If you're going to seed the plants almost immediately, you can sow in a dense layer. If you're going to plant later, sow more sparingly. Sprinkle a little soil on top, but only a thin layer - metasequoias don't like to be planted deep in the ground (you don't have to). The layer is just a couple of millimetres, so that with watering the seeds will reappear on the surface. Afterwards, spray with a sprayer. The box is covered with polyethylene. Watering from a sprayer 1-3 times a day, the same amount - airing.Polyethylene is removed with the appearance of the first sprouts. Be sure to keep the soil moist! After the first shoots emerge, water in such a way that the top layer of soil has time to dry out a little - metasequoias do not need to swamp! In the case of over-watering, blackleg, all die. Maintaining this optimum balance is a guarantee for metasequoia seedlings. Sprouts appear after 10 days.

Cunnungamia grows only in acidic soils (pH 5-6.5); on alkaline soils it suffers from chlorosis, so on the Black Sea coast very deep pits are dug for it, putting a lot of peat and organic matter in them.
The best soil for cunninghamia will be a mixture of peat, compost, sand and loam in a 2:1:1 ratio.
Manure or humus can be added in place of compost but fresh manure strongly alkalises the soil and should not be added until a year has passed. Cunninghamia is shade-tolerant but forms a thicker, denser crown in full sun. In permanently moist soils, full light is preferable. Only in late winter, when there is still snow and the sun is already beating down, sunburn is common on cunninghamia. It is therefore better to plant this beauty in the penumbra of conifers such as cedars, pines and fir trees. Cunningsamia seeds should be stratified for 2-3 months at +1+5°C in damp, loose sand with moss to harden them. Sowing should be done in March, when the daylight hours are already long. Sow superficially in the same soil as for planting the seedling. The soil should be constantly moist and the temperature should be about +25 °C, so a greenhouse can be made. Plant container seedlings in April or July so that the plant has time to acclimatise to the new location and prepare for winter. Seedlings of conifers with an open root system take root very poorly. In a warm, damp, quiet place with a slight penumbra, the cunninghamia will do just fine.

Growing yew seedlings from seed is a slow process. This is because yew seeds must not only be stratified for 2 months at a positive low temperature (+1+5°C), but also pre-sprouted. Scarification is the process of accelerating seed germination. It can be mechanical (damage to the seed coat), thermal (soaking in hot water) and chemical (treatment with stomach acids). It is the latter that occurs naturally in the stomachs of birds, which are so fond of yew "berries". Without acid treatment and subsequent stratification, yew seeds germinate for 2-5 years, losing their germination due to drying out during the hot summer. Therefore, when sowing the seeds, you should treat them with a concentrated solution of citric acid (you can hardly find any other) for a few hours. Afterwards, place the seeds in a jar with damp sand and moss in the refrigerator for the winter. In March, you can sow seeds in a slightly acidic soil mixture (about pH 6) in seed boxes: 1 part peat, 2 parts sand, 1 part decomposed coniferous fall or deadwood (for mycorrhiza formation). The seeds are sown to a depth of 1 cm. The temperature regime should be +20+25°C, without direct sunlight. The soil should be constantly damp, so water every other day. Sprouts will begin to appear after 1 month.
Planting yew seedlings is simple: prepare a 0.5-metre deep planting hole with the same potting mix as for sowing the seeds. Yew is usually planted in areas where other plants cannot grow because of the strong shade. Yew is extremely shade-tolerant and therefore well suited to this niche. Container plants can be planted from April to November, but must be shaded from direct sun in the first year. In cold regions, yews should be covered with a single layer of agro-fibre for the winter in the first 3-4 years or until they reach a metre in height, in order to prevent the needles from barking in thaws. As yews form a mycorhiza with fungi which require organic nutrition, it is important to leave coniferous debris under the yew's crown or, even better, to mulch the root circle with oak, pine or other bark and nutshells, especially in winter.

Soak the seeds in alcohol for 10-20 minutes before stratification.
Stratification at 2-5° for 1 to 3 months will stimulate germination.
Until sowing in late February-early May, when the daylight hours will be long enough, and in order to harden the seeds and future seedlings, it is best to stratify them in damp sand with moss for 1-3 months (January-February) in a refrigerator at +1+5°C. Sow into a mixture of equal parts peat, sand and forest litter. Pour the seeds on the surface, moisten well, and lightly cover with soil. Then cover the container to create a greenhouse effect and place it in a warm place. The germinated seeds can then be planted in their own pots. If you do not plan to plant them soon after germination, the planting box should be more than 15 cm deep, so that the tap root will not bend, resulting in the death of the seedlings. Seedlings grow quickly and in a couple of years are ready for transplanting to a permanent location.

Stratification at 0-5°C for 1-2 months is recommended.
The seeds are placed in a mini-hothouse until the seedlings have emerged. To make the seedlings germinate more quickly, they should be soaked in a solution of pink potassium manganese for 24 hours before sowing. This will significantly improve germination and the seedlings will appear faster. The soil is the same as for all conifers. If the seeds are sown in late autumn or during the first weeks of winter, the first seedlings should appear in April. The stratified seeds are sown in boxes to a depth of 1-1.5 cm and exposed to light at +18 +23 for germination. Keep the seedlings in the light, but not in direct sunlight and water in moderation. As the seedlings mature, place them in separate containers. After warmth, take them out to the garden and plant them in the open ground after conditioning (gradual habituation to sunlight and fresh air). It will not be possible to plant out until the following year. But if possible, it is better to plant at the age of 4-5 years.

Before sowing, the seeds are soaked in warm water for a day. Put it under the film.

The germination temperature is about 30 ° C. It is necessary to monitor soil moisture and regularly ventilate crops.

Soil composition: riding peat, river sand, vermiculite. After germination, the seedlings are transplanted into separate containers in the soil for coniferous plants.

There are several ways to germinate seeds:

Method 1 - Seeds are sown superficially in a container with a mixture of peat and river sand, without deepening them, sprinkled with peat, moistened with a spray bottle, covered with film and placed in the refrigerator.

Method 2 - The seeds are mixed with damp sphagnum moss and placed in a zip-lock bag with holes previously made for ventilation. The bag of seeds is aged (stratified) for 2 months in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf. Then the seeds are freed from moss (if they hatch during stratification, the moss is left) and planted at a depth equal to the size of the seed in a mixture of high-moor peat, river sand and vermiculite (1:1:1) or in a mixture of turf and leaf soil with peat and sand (1:2:2:2).

Next, the container is moved to a warm place with a temperature of 20-25°C, where there is bright, but not direct sunlight. Further care involves the same manipulations as for adult plants.