Hey there, I just recently brought some sequoiadendron giganteum seeds from a botanical garden in Frankfurt and brought them back home to Cape Town, Ive been reading a bit on germinating process and noticed there are lots of different views on how to do it. It also seems that they have a really high failure rate, and I only have about 60 seeds and want to make the most of it. Has anyone grown them from seed before or heard of someone doing so, and if so are there and special tips that you can recommend? Tnx

Well it seems no one knew how to help out, so i went ahead and put them in the fridge for 3 weeks to induce dormancy. Now i have taken them out and sowed them. Its heading towards the end of winter here and gets really cold at night. I dont know if i should leave them in the sunroom, or if i should leave them in a room with no sunlight, but has underfloor heating, so there will be a constant temperature at night. Oh i put the seed tray inside a big zip lock bag for humidity. This is my first time ever trying to germinate seeds, so any help would be great.

without specifics its hard to help.some seeds need to freeze before sprouting some even need to be burnt so i cant help much...best of luck tho

Ok tnx, ive done a bit of research on them and it seems like they just need a dormancy period in the fridge. I decided to put them in the sunroom. fingers crossed

I managed to get a few seeds to germinate, of the whole pack of seeds on 4 have germinated so for, I heard they have a really low success rate to germinate, and the ones that do sprout have a 25% chance of wilting within the first few months. I've been watering them every week or so with fungicide to prevent damping off. They really cute little seedlings, and I really hope they don't die in my hands, I can wait to see them develop.

awsome. i dont know if you would want to try this,but this is the time to cut the roots off dip in rooting hormone and replant. this stops the tap root from forming and starts the radial root developement wanted for bonsai.this is a technique ive seen done on conifer seedlings. maybe on 1 seeing you only have 4 ,but thats up to you

Ive also read up about that, I don't think im so keen on trying that tho. From what Ive read these seedlings are very fragile. And I dont think I will need any exposed roots for this tree as you don't see any in the wild, or do you? I've seen some amazing sequoia bonsai's with really thick bases and amzing bark, it looks just like the real think. Will be some time that I have to wait haha.

Clipping the taproot of is still to early. Make sure the plant had grown out good growth through the roots first. You will notice that the weak and tender 'stem' below the foliage will harden off with time. Once that becomes solid (And has started to form some wood) you could consider clipping the taproot. The seedlings you show here are imho still too fragile. Have a look here too: www.bonsaiempire.com/forum/basic-techniq...wing-oak-bonsai#6199

I may not even need to cut a tap root. From what i read sequoia giganteum don't grow deep roots, their roots are at the surface and care needs to be taken when repotting them because the roots are very fragile . I will see how it goes when i move them to bigger containers.

Of the other seeds that I tried (maple and pine) only one pine seed germinated. I think the seeds weren't very fresh. Anyway, the pine seed was so close to springing into life and the roots rotted away, i noticed the seedling leaning on its side, and realized it was all soggy from halfway down the stem. I cut the stem and replanted it hoping the firm section would still be able to grow roots... I don't even know if that's possible but it didn't seem to work. Good bye young chap.