Buy yourself 10 acres and plant them.

Good looking little guys.

Dave

or you finally learn to graft...

looks like great densiflora understock potentail

ken

Alright Frank!

Or, wait and see if any show better variegation than the parent. Keep that one! (:o)

How cool! This is a huge help to me. I saw a few little weedlings that looked like your 3rd photo (where the ends of the needles were still in the seed coat) and I had no idea what they were in my garden! Your photos have absolutely helped me ID them as conifer weedlings. I will go check on them if it ever stops raining here LOL

Do conifers come true from seed or am I likely to end up with a lot of weedy seedlings of no merit if I collect cones from trees I find appealing?

Thnaks in advance!

Alexa

Alexa,

You'll have a lot better chance of variation among saplings already selected for merited qualities. It's a hoot...:)

Dax

hey alexa ....

look at the second name in the latin ...

densiflora.. give densiflora... >>> strobus >>> strobus ...etc

it would be very rare... UNLIKE OUR HOSTA ... to cross species [right term???] .... so that part would be mostly stable ... or true

then move on to a named variety .. perhaps chosen for size or colors .. whether or not that trait would carry thru is very small ... but the problem with trees.. is the decades it would take to find out ..

i think the simplest answer to your question is... if it were easy.. there would be no need to graft named varieties ...

as to what you have... ID the big ones that are dropping the cones... some peeps here can ID simply on cones ... if you are curious ...

in the tree world.. again.. unlike hosta.. there are no unstable momma plants to provide the unstable genetics to get a streaked or multi-color babes ... so the odds.. IMHO.. are infinitesimally small ...

but you can have a lot of fun, like frank ...

BTW... all those babes ... ever consider bonsai??? its basically a form of root pruning.. thereby never letting the thing get established .... so its growth rate is retarded significantly ... and then applying a foo foo haircut to it .. lol ...

ken

PS: there is a big problem with Abies koreana 'Horstmann's Silberlocke' [link below] .... with its curled up white backed needles .... some joker found out that that that trait did come thru seed ... and sold them under the cultivar name .. only to find out later .. that the form varied .... kinda like the old days in hosta.. where they thought elegans came true from seed ....

Here is a link that might be useful: this is a cool one if zone appropriate

Ken,
that really isn't how bonsai is approached at all.

Generally, the specimen is grown quite large, free-range.

Then, once it has gained appropriate trunk girth, it is chopped (more like a beheading than a hair-cut).

The benefit of root-pruning is that it constantly rejuvenates the roots....
not retarding the roots, but in fact keeping them as close to maximum vitality as possible.

The larger, woody (lignified) roots are removed in favor of finer, feeder root-hairs,
so that the container-space is occupied by fresh roots every season or two.

Josh

Well THANKS for all the info! I certainly have a lot to learn, but Ken will attest - I can be really tenacious when I grab onto a new addiction LOL! Unfortunately, I am positive my weedlings came from my neighbors boring white pines, but the good thing is they will provide a source of cones for me to learn on if I decide to harvest seeds down the road.

Ken - as far as whether they came true - I was thinking in terms of a varigated hosta (Queen Josephine for example) which will likely throw a few golds, a couple of blues and a ton of all green. The seedlings may have a higher possibility of having a shiny leaf, but the odds of getting something that is varigated like QJ are infinitesimal.

Apologies to the conifer people, I am not trying to hi-jack the thread or the forum, but Ken knows I speak hosta almost fluently and am really a noob at conifers.

thanks for everyone patience!

Alexa

Think of it as 50:50 in a very broad sense, Alexa. I'll tell you what I do know.

Witches' brooms: when seeds are collected you have about 50% chance of getting dwarf's/mini's and the rest will become trees . Usually this is a sign that the broom has been pollinated from larger growing trees or if the witch is living in the host tree, it is being pollinated by the larger host tree.

I've grown a substantial amount of seedlings from an Arborvitae called 'Wintergreen'. The bonus for me is I got the seeds from an arboretum full of other selected-cultivars... therethru increasing my chances significantly of variation. I can attest that none of my seedlings look like typical "Arborvitae" seedlings. Not a single one of them.....

This regard will hold true if you were to visit any vast collection of cultivated forms of trees and shrubs. My last example is that I grew a little over 100 Japanese maples where the seed came from a garden containing an immense # of cultivars. The seedlings (again, none-_ appeared to be "normal" Japanese maple.

I can't speak for the Hosta world but it would seem to me that just getting seeds of the best cultivars - hand crossed with other best-cultivars could bring about astounding results...

Dax

Sweet!

Ken,that really isn't how bonsai is approached at all.

====>>> yes i know.. just pointing out.. they have value if you like to mess with free stuff in your yard ....

hosta (Queen Josephine for example) which will likely throw a few golds, a couple of blues and a ton of all green.

====>>>> Picea pungens.. inappropriately called a BLUE spruce ... are akin to what you are thinking ... maybe 50/50 blue and green ... saw a pic once.. of a growers plot.. it was awesome ...

but the odds of a yellow are really small ... mostly .. lol .. because they look so chlorotic.. they are culled out.. lol ...

plus what dax said about dwarf seeds

ken

I also planted some seeds from Pinus densiflora ÂCesariniÂs VariegatedÂ. These seeds were much smaller than the OD seeds. I only plant the dark seeds.

{{gwi:681515}}

{{gwi:681517}}

Hey, Starter!
How many seeds did you sow overall?

Josh

I planted twelve flats with 38 cells. Not all of the seeds germinated but a few had two in a cell germinate.

Frank

It looks like you can see the stomata on the cotyledons in the last pic. And with water droplets enjoying their perch, fantastic!

Incredible photography, Frank! What kind of camera do you use?
Hopefully, some of those seedlings will show some variegation.
Thanks,
Mike

I have several cameras Mike but the one I use most and used to take these photos is a Pentax Optical WP. I fits in a shirt pocket and is waterproof. I also use I photo to crop the pictures.

Here are a couple of last years OD seedlings.

Frank

{{gwi:681520}}

{{gwi:681528}}

Those are cool Frank.