Need serious sciencey help growing shrub/tree

[Cassandra]

As part of a project, I got the USDA to send me some seeds for two plants that grow wild where I live. I would rather have gotten transplants or bareroot bushes or something, but all they could send me was seeds.

The thing is, in the past 10 or 15 years, the population of these plants has gotten down to almost nothing. I look for them all over the place and contact the local extension and all of that and I can never find them. I told the USDA people (a horticulturist was who I exchanged emails with) that I was interesting in growing some and how I would love to help ... I don't know... recreate the population of these. This USDA program is only for real scientists, i think, but I was clear with them that I'm just a novice gardener and they sent me some seeds anyway. I mean, what did they have to lose, right? LOL

One of the bushes is a wild huckleberry bush. I can't remember what the other one is off hand. I ordered 4 different things and they only sent me two today. I'll have to go look up the scientific name to remind myself which one it was.

But, anyway, I know it is not a simple matter to get a fruiting shrub to grow from seeds. I have no idea where to begin. I don't know what to feed it or what kind of container to plant it in.

I would like to give the poor thing an honest chance to make it if I could.

Can anyone help?

Cassandra

 

[Rosalind]

Huckleberries mostly grow in acidic forest-y soil, usually where the forest stops and a meadow begins. They do grow wild around here, and seem to do fabulously well when fertilized with leaf mold and deer poop. So I am guessing that you would sprout them as usual in a loamy mix of starter, then pot them in a mix of soil that includes a generous amount of leaf mold, fertilizing occasionally with compost tea. When you plant it out in part-sun, mulch the base with leaves and pine needles. Otherwise, grow similar to blueberries.

 

[patandchickens]

You may well be able to find germination info online - try google, don't stop at just the first few pages of returns.

In general though, for seeds of unknown germination requirements but it's a plant that grows wild in an area with a climate comparable to yours, a reasonable all-purpose strategy is to pot them up in GOOD medium (you really want to give them a good start, so not too soggy, not too compacted, no excess fertilizers, no lurking weed seeds, etc etc) and put the pots or flat in a shaded protected area where you will see it frequently so's to remember to check whether it needs water (mostly it won't, but in droughts, maybe) and whether anything's started coming up. You want it on the ground, not up on a table or whatever. Some would say to lightly mulch part of the flat or some of the pots. Protect it from marauding mice, dogs, etc. But basically just leave it sittin' out there til something happens.

This is a good time of year to be starting something like that (Fall is even better) b/c some things require a period of cold or at least coolth before they will germinate.

Of course if you find something via google, that would supersede this 'generic' approach.

Actually, heck, you just could ask the USDA person you got 'em from

Have fun,

Pat

 

[Cassandra]

The seeds came with some additional information, but I don't know what some of it means.

One of them is Vaccinium darrowii (southern highbush blueberry)

The instructions say
Surface sterilize the seeds (how?)
Sow om paper moistened with ultrafiltered water (where do I get that?)
Prechill at 1 degree C for 8 weeks (8 weeks? That's going to put me well into spring time planting)
Germinate with a program of alternating temps at 20C for 14 hours and 30C for ten hours) with light during warm periods.
allow 4 to 8 weeks for germination.

The Gaylussacia dumosa (dwarf huckleberry) does not come with specific instructions. However, it does say they were collected from the wild in Alabama in 1997 (The original specimin, I assume.) It says they were found on a "Very interesting Forest Service road" which utterly lacked Frugaria (strawberries) but was abundant with dew berries, blue berries, black cherries and other fruits.

Also, the USDA website lists them as threatened or endangered in 6 of the 21 U.S. states in which they are native.

Pat, you may be interested to know (or you may not! LOL) that they are also native along the eastern part of Canada. I don't know all the abbreviations, but they are listed as native in NB, NF, NS, PE, and QC.

I am still researching, but I thought this information was interesting enough to share.

Cassandra

 

[Rosalind]

Put 'em in the fridge until March-ish. They require pre-chilling to germinate. Even if you end up planting them later in the season, that's OK. Just so long as it isn't, you know, October or anything. When you are ready to start germinating:

Surface sterilize the seeds == rinse them in a little bit of rubbing alcohol, then rinse with distilled water, blot dry w/ paper towel.

Ultrafiltered water == distilled water is OK, although if you have reverse osmosis filtered water that is also fine. Germinate on wet paper towels.

Set up a nice bright lightbulb, or maybe a brooder lamp type of thing. Put it on a timer so that it comes on 10 hours/day. Water faithfully March - May and be really really really patient. So yeah, don't expect to have anything big enough to plant outdoors until, like, August - Sept.

It doesn't grow in these parts, otherwise with this type of germination requirement, I'd put it in a planter in my turtle's habitat and forget about it for a while.