How to start some specific seed?

[ironminded]

I want to try to start a couple of seeds I have or will collect from around my campus. I currently live in a dorm so will be keeping these trees indoors for the next year or so. I am wondering about planting dates for the seeds, any tips, and weither or not I should store some of them in a cold place, the fridge, for a couple of weeks? The seeds Im thinking of are bur oak acorns, english oak acorns and braeburn apple seeds. The two oaks I have not collected yet as the acorns have not droped, the braeburn seeds I have and am keeping moist. Thnx for the help.

 

[TREETX]

Try to get the acorns before they drop. Mature but still on the tree. This will help you to avoid pest problems.

Check out the terms "stratification" and "scarafication". I have grown oaks w/out doing either.

Soak the acorns and toss anything that floats - they are not viable.

Do not plant the acorns deep but do plant them in deep containers. They will send out long roots during the winter before they emerge. (texas) If too cold, they will not germinate and too hot they will not. I've had good results w/60-F.

Start a many at a time it is a numbers game.

Good luck

 

[Jay Banks]

Collect your acorns and place them in several layers of damp newspaper, checking every day for the ones that sprout then transfer them to your potting soil.

Keep them outside in the winter for their cold period. Place the pot in the ground to the rim and mulch. Good Luck.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Put a critter fence around all seedlings too, the deer will graze them, mice will feed on them too.

I talked to the propigatin teacher at MATC and his reply boiled down to just stick the viable seeds in the ground point first, then put a critter cager around it.

There are a lot of info on this on the web;

this from the Silvics Manual;
Seed Production and Dissemination- The acorns ripen within the year and drop from the tree as early as August or as late as November. Germination usually occurs soon after seedfall, but acorns of some northern trees may remain dormant through winter and germinate the following spring (5).

For more http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/silvics_manual/volume_2/quercus/macrocarpa.htm

I think Appleton would fit the Norther Tree description.