You may have seen my latest post on starting Ohio buckeye and oaks from seed. This is another one of the experiments I have tried over the past few years while waiting to get out on our land. It's not the first time I have started trees from seeds I have collected locally.
My first experiment started a couple of years ago when I was cleaning out some clogged gutters on a townhouse complex in the late spring. The gutters were filled with leaves and elm tree seeds and some of the seeds had spouted! It's funny how nature can sometimes accidently create the right conditions for seeds to sprout even though they landed in an environment artificially created by man.
Well, I couldn't just leave all the sprouts to die so I put some in a ziplock bag and brought them home. I had a few empty pots kicking around but no potting soil on hand so I just used garden soil. I planted several of the sprouts in each pot thinking that most wouldn't make it but they pretty much all did!
I had several tiny trees per pot. Unfortunately, I didn't think I would be able to separate the roots without causing too much damage so I just opted to snip off the weaker trees.
As it turns out, I had a video from last year (see above) where I transplant the elm tree seedlings into larger pots. For the repotting, I had a bit of time to think about it so I mixed up some of my own potting mix from peat moss, reused potting mix, and more garden soil. I think their new pots will be sufficient for a couple more years at least. I also overwinter them by burying the pots into the ground for the winter.
I don't like to baby my home-grown trees too much. My feelings are that if they die in the winter due to cold temperatures then they probably aren't hardy enough anyway. I would rather have them die early than baby them for several years only to have them not make it one winter after planting them in a permanent location.
Another interesting thing I learned from this experiment was that several weeks after the video was made the trees I had snipped off had started to re-grow. I didn't take elms for the type of tree that can be coppiced or pollarded but considering how vigorously these tiny trees came back I think that they would sprout new growth just fine even when they are larger.
