I don't think so much difficult as slow...what's your patience level:)

Most holly are very slow from seed and may take years to germinate. There are no longer holly on my own property and I still pull seedlings, my guess is bird planted, passing through the digestive tract of a bird can go a long ways towards 'washing' seeds...

Clothiers: Ilex opaca , American Holly: wash seed 3x daily 14 days, then sow @ 72úF for slow germination..... up to 18 months in bagged pots.

Thanks for the advice. As a rule I am not the most patient persson in the world, but I can learn! I have thought of the bird connection myself, and how perhaps digestive acids in the bird's stomach may erode the seed coat enough to let moisture and air in. I googled and found Clothiers walk and talk site on the web. I had never heard of him. In the process I found the Forest Service's Woody seed manual and Deno's propagation manual as well. I will try Mr. Clothiers method, perhaps scarifying a few of the seeds to see if that makes a difference. Thanks again

I hope you bookmarked the Clothiers site for future reference, it's a reliable source of many years. The very few times I've found germination to be different than his suggestions, it has been when sowing seed immediately after harvesting with no storage at all.

If propagating is interesting to you - from seed and other methods - you might look for a copy of Making More Plants, Druse. Very well illustrated and there is a detailed germination guide for many plants in the back there too - his first suggestions are often for freshly harvested seed, followed by those for seed dried and stored.

I HAVE bookmarked Clothier's site and I am sure it will be something I go back to again and again. Thanks for the tip.

Bruce

I think I will wait for the volunteers. I just got a female plant to go with my HUGE boy plant. She is little but she has lot of berrys.

I have always found the volunteers to have sharp points all over their leaves where the parent plants do not.

I have successfully grown a 6" am. holly tree from a volunteer. Now I need to know if I pinch it back, etc. Can anyone help?