Co-Authored By:
Collecting Seeds for Planting
- Look for groups of pines of the species desired.
- Select pine cones that are still closed but brown,picking directly from a well-formed and healthytree.
- Dry the cones on a flat surface, with a cloth or tray tocollect any seeds that may drop, in a warm room or in thesun.
Then, how do you get seeds from a pine cone?
To start growing pine trees from seed,gather large brown (or slightly green) cones in fall. Thecones should be closed; if open, they probably have alreadyreleased their seeds. Toogood says trees that have a lot ofcones are more likely to have viable seeds. Lay thecones in an open box at room temperature.
Just so, how can you tell when the seeds of a pine cone are ripe?
Open pine cones have already dropped theirseeds, so you'll want to look for and collect conesthat are still closed. They are usually dark purplish or brown incolor. When seeds inside the cones are ripe, theywill be full and plump.
Pine nuts are ready to harvest about 10days before the green cone begins to open. The conesare dried in a burlap bag in the sun for 20 days, to speed up theprocess of drying and opening. The cones are then smashed(as a way to quickly release the seeds) and the seeds are separatedby hand from the cone fragments.