I am not sure what kind of tree my neighbor has and neither is she really. It is a white barked tree with serrated leaves like a hormbeam but in the fall it has little cone like seed pots that cover everything within 50 feet of the tree with seed. I have l
ived in this house for 11 years now and in that entire time I have only seen one seedling pop up out of all those seeds. I have laid out beds of soil and let the seeds fall into it for the winter and nothing has come up. I have collected some and cold stra
tified them in the fridge and nothing has come up. I could love to get some of them to sprout to make a forest planting out of these trees but I can't get any to start. Any ideas?

--I crucified my hate and
held the world within my hands--
Neal Ross-Marysville CA


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Sounds like a Birch to me but could possibly be Beech. The seed makes it
easy to tell apart though. Birches have papery conelets that self
destruct and distribute tiny papery seeds. Beech have a nut within a
hard shell that is usually covered in spikes.

Propagation is also different. Birch seed is light sensitive and needs
surface sowing.

The forest planting is likely to be a long term project though, as
seedlings take many years to develop any white bark.

Good luck

Kev Bailey


-----Original Message-----
From: Internet Bonsai Club ] On Behalf
Of Neal Ross
Sent: 13 March 2003 03:40
To:
Subject: [IBC] propogating beech/birch from seed

I am not sure what kind of tree my neighbor has and neither is she
really. It is a white barked tree with serrated leaves like a hormbeam
but in the fall it has little cone like seed pots that cover everything
within 50 feet of the tree with seed. I have lived in this house for 11
years now and in that entire time I have only seen one seedling pop up
out of all those seeds. I have laid out beds of soil and let the seeds
fall into it for the winter and nothing has come up. I have collected
some and cold stratified them in the fridge and nothing has come up. I
could love to get some of them to sprout to make a forest planting out
of these trees but I can't get any to start. Any ideas?

--I crucified my hate and
held the world within my hands--
Neal Ross-Marysville CA


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I am not sure what kind of tree my neighbor has and neither is
she really. It is a white barked tree with serrated leaves like a
hormbeam but in the fall it has little cone like seed pots that
cover everything within 50 feet of the tree with seed. I have
lived in this house for 11 years now and in that entire time I
have only seen one seedling pop up out of all those seeds. I have
laid out beds of soil and let the seeds fall into it for the
winter and nothing has come up. I have collected some and cold
stratified them in the fridge and nothing has come up. I could
love to get some of them to sprout to make a forest planting out
of these trees but I can't get any to start. Any ideas?
=====================

Take a branch with several leaves on it to your county
agricultural extension agent, county forester (if you have one),
local nursery (a good one, hot HD-type) and get an ID from an
expert, or get a good USA tree ID book (Peterson's or Audubon)
and compare the leaves yourself. We can't tell you anything
until you know what you have.

If the bark is white and does not peel off in strips, it is NOT a
birch. It could be one of any number of beech-type trees. If it
IS a beech (at least American beech, F. grandifolia), and
assuming you're in your 20s now, you will be 65 before its of a
decent bonsai-able size, even assuming you planted it in the
ground than did ALL of the right things to it.

However, if you're going to play this sport, you really NEED to
become at least a little knowledgeable about the trees (and
shrubs) that grow in your area.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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I would say birch. Birch have little cone like things. Beeches have
triangular nuts within the spiked "container". Can't you take a cutting or
an air layer of it? That way you could get a small forest in the making
pretty quickly. But I dont know how easily/readily birches go from cuttings,
or even air layer. If you were to do an air layer you would first need your
neighbors permission, then do it in the summer, when the leaves are hardened.
Hope I helped, maybe someone else can fill you in on the details of how
birches, if that what you have, can be propogated that way.

Sam

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