Netting? Hmmmm, I didn't realize animals would go after the seeds. This might explain why none of the other seeds I sowed directly into the earth never grew (because I never covered them).

Wow. That's a lot to take in. LOL. Geez, the more I learn the less I know.

OK so....I have a type of screening / net material (the kind they use on screen doors). I hope that would do the trick, since it has little holes everywhere. Water can get through. Same with oxygen & natural light. Should be fine, no?

I think what I'll do this time around is I'll plant the seeds in my Jiffy Peat Pellets (JPP) and sow the JPP directly into the ground. I won't soak those two seeds though. So basically I'll be mimicking nature. It would be as if the seeds fell to the earth and have the proper bedding (the JPP) and when it rains, it has its water. It will have natural light as well. The only way I intervened is by providing the proper bedding/soil (the JPP). Water, sunlight & oxygen would all be naturally provided to the seeds.

Then with the remainder of my seeds, I'll soak them for the 48 hour period & then put them in the JPP and stratify them for up to 120 days. Hopefully they'll sprout & if they do, I'll get them into little pots or styrofoam cups & sit them by the windows (for sunlight) during the winter months.

I'm so excited. :)

Skip the pots for in-ground planting.

tj

I wasn't going to use pots for the two seeds I plan on planting outdoors into the earth. But I plan on putting them in Jiffy Peat Pellets (1 seed per pellet) and planting those pellets into the earth directly.

Skip the pellets.

tj

" I plan on putting them in Jiffy Peat Pellets (1 seed per pellet) and planting those pellets into the earth directly. "

Why? There is no advantage to using peat pellets and I can anticipate more than a couple of potential disadvantages from using them. Just do as Embo suggested and plant the seeds directly in loose soil.

Excellent!

See? That's why I posted this online. To get the answers I so desperately need. :) I hope these seeds take. This is my second attempt. But I'll keep trying. I can't possibly be that bad at this. Can I? LOL

Now where I plan on planting these seeds, there currently is some grass in that spot. Would you advise me to dig a little hole (essentially ripping out some of that grass for the seedling) and drop the seed in or do you think I can simply push the seed down into the earth (with the grass still there) with my finger? I'm a clutz at this (obviously), or I'm overthinking it. Or both. Now I'm thinking if I dig a hole for the seed....how deep is too deep? LOL.

The seeds I ordered are being shipped from a local source. They should be here by Tuesday latest. As soon as I get them, I'm planting two of them outdoors directly into the soil & covering it up with netting (so wildlife can't get to it).

“an outdoor bed of loose soil” Is just that. No grass, just clear friable soil. You need to remove the grass.

Excellent. Hoping this works.

With dried maple seeds wait a few years after planting before you decide they aren't going to grow.

I used a screen to protect apples seeds that were direct seeded. Success was much better than the year before. However I found that I should have built a frame out of 2X4's to match the framed screening as the critters enjoyed the seedlings. Not sure a 2x4 frame is enough; maybe a 2x12? This was in a nursery bed in my veggie garden that's fenced to keep out everything except birds, chipmunks and raccoons.

I love reading these posts!

A few years ago, I also got interested in starting trees from seed. :-)

I agree, make a planting bed like you would a garden. No grass, no roots, just good worked up soil. I like the idea of raising the screen above the ground so the seedings can start to grow in a protected area. Rodents coming out of winter hibernation are really hungry and skinny. I'd probably use 1/4" hardware cloth as smaller mice can sometimes squeeze through the 1/2" kind (not real likely but....).

Sugar maple seeds ripen in late September out east and if planted then, will sprout in the spring.

Ontario? Man, you are dead center inside the native range of Acer Saccharum. A couple of years ago, we went up through Detroit into Canada, past Niagara Falls, continuing through the New England states and saw more sugar maples than you could imagine. :-)

Acer S. native range map.

One year, I went out about now (on my bicycle), found some sugar maple boulevard trees, and with one swipe of my hand, collected about 30 seeds that just fell and were laying in the gutter.

I took them home and put them in soil (about 1/2" deep), covered with framed hardware cloth (mine was about 2" above the soil) and when the weather warmed up in the spring, had all the trees I could want for personal planting.

;-)

Bill