12465 Growing Stone Pines

Am having a go at growing stone pines from seed as although Rome and its surroundings are filled with these stunning trees, I haven't been able to find a single plant to buy!
Does anyone have any experience germinating stone pine seeds indoors?
Have been stratifying them in the fridge for 60 days and planting them 1/2 inch deep in moist compost in pots which are then placed in ziplock bags.
At this point the germination rate seems pretty low and think the seeds may be rotting before they have chance to shoot. Either that or I'm not patient enough - it's been a month...
If you have tried this what worked best for you? Dark vs light? Sand vs compost? Bagged or not bagged? temperature?
Would appreciate any experience anyone can share.

Category
Gardening & Agriculture

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 05/14/2009 - 03:06

I have succeeded in growing these from pine nuts, though using far less scientific methods than you Antinello; I just poked them in some compost, about 1 or 2 cm deep, and watered and waited. As you say, only a few ever germinate. They put up a long shoot fairly quickly, but then remain as small seedlings for a long time (2-3 years) before they establish a good root system and can be planted out.

Sunlight, heat and a sandy compost will probably help as would a bit of wood ash. In nature, they frequently remain dormant and germinate in response to a forest fire.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 05/14/2009 - 03:22

Try:-

[url=http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Pinus+pinea]Pinus pinea[/url]

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 05/14/2009 - 03:23

I have germinated seeds between layers of wet paper towels (don't add too much water as they could rot). This is easier in order to check the progress. Discard the ones that do not germinate as they may be rotten or dormant, as Marc says. Keep them in a warm place. Once they have germinated, carefully plant them individually in small containers filled with a good seed starter that you can find in nurseries. Be patient.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 05/14/2009 - 04:39

All

Thanks for your quick responses to this!
Yes, I have followed the guidelines on the Plants for A Future Database and also use wet paper towels when stratifying. I didn't realise they stayed as small seedlings so long... Will apply all these ideas on the next batch! We can't get good seed starter type compost here in he Gulf so will have to persist with the bog standard compost from Carrefour...

Many thanks