One hundred 2017 - winter batch completed

Русский

One hundred new sequoias inhabit their winter quarters for the next 2017 growing season.

The stickers with a * are from 2016 seed batch and without a * are from 2013 batch. Both batches were purchased from J.L. Hudson in California.

Another look at the left and the right sides of the tray. It already happened many times that when I try to find the earliest pictures of some of the successful sequoias after three years it's hard to find them. Hopefully with these wide angle shots I will have at least something on the very early days of the giants. The tray consists of two 7x7 square bins connected together for a total of 98:

Germinated Giant sequoia. December 24, 2014 left side of the tray.

Germinated Giant sequoia. December 24, 2014 right side of the tray.

#303 germinated quickly and developed better than other early samples. It shows significant growth of its secondary needles:

#303 December 24. 3 weeks old.

Norway spruce grows well as well.

Norway spruce December 24, 2016

Doug-fir December 24, 2016

2016-17 Winter crop is growing

Русский

This winter started warmer then usual but then swung into below average with full force. Unfortunately not a lot of snow covered the ground before -15F (-26C) air moved in.

Dec 17, 2016 Temperatures in degrees Celsius

Germination of both sequoias and Doug-fir seeds has accelerated. However, there is a significant difference between seeds purchased in 2013 and in 2016. 2013 ones are germinating at a 10x rate of 2016's: approximately 50 vs 5.

Germinated 2013 sequoia seeds on Dec 17, 2016

Four previously germinated seedlings from 2013 batch died. The only germinated previously 2016 seedling also died.

4 previously germinated seedlings from 2013 died. One (top right) 2016 seedling also died. Dec 17, 2016

New seeds that germinated during last 10 days were moved into the containers. I re-used the markers instead of discarding them, which will explain the reason for a mix of higher and lower numbers in the pictures that follow. I do not see much value in knowing exactly which seedlings died at this age.

53 germinated seedlings, Dec 17 2016

The picture above shows a mix of both 2013 (300-347) and 2016 (348-352) batches.

While some seedlings already perished, some have sprouted second generation needles. Here is a close-up picture of one such seedling:

303 three weeks old showing secondary needles. Dec 17, 2016 

Doug-fir is germinating much faster than last year for some reason.

26 Doug-fir seeds germinated in two weeks

Norway spruce continues to grow vigorously in one large container:

Norway spruce two weeks after germination. Dec 17 2016

I continue to water sequoias, Doug-fir and Norway spruce with Chlorothoalnil mixture for now.

The winter is here

Русский

First snow of the winter fell on sequoias in Iowa.

3 inches of heavy wet snow buried the seedlings bending the branches of the taller ones and completely covering smaller ones.

Unfortunately, it is supposed to warm up to 40F (+5C)  tomorrow and the snow will melt. After that a much colder air mass moves in lowering the temperatures to 10F (-12C). The good news is all the trees are going to get a substantial amount of water before the ground starts to freeze.

The nursery with small trees is completely covered as well:

Back in the house the new seeds started to sprout. 5 2013 seeds of giant sequoia germinated after a week on the wet coffee filter. Several dozens of Norway spruce also germinated and no Doug-fir seeds attached to the pieces of cones did. I threw away two out of three containers with the latter and used these two containers for more sequoia seeds from 2013 and 2016 shipment that I got from J.L. Hudson:

Dec 2016 newly germinated sequoias from 2013 batch

None of the 2016 sequoias germinated yet.

Since there were so many germinated Norway seeds I put all of them in one large container rather than dealing with one seed at a time for smaller containers. The ones that survive a few months will be re-planted into individual containers.

Norway spruce germinated abundantly after a week on the coffee filter. Dec 2016