# Growing linden trees from seeds for the first time. Any tips would be appreciated.



## virginiawolf (Feb 18, 2011)

I got some seeds to grow American Linden trees.

I read online that they should be started in the fall during cold temperatures.

Should I just put them outside in pots and water them starting now?

I have some starter pots and soil.

I hadn't looked into what it would take to grow the seeds when I ordered them. I figured I could grow them in the spring. I now have read that planting in the fall cold is more appropriate but is it too cold now?

Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks, 
Jeff


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Start twenty years ago. I doubt you will get any basswood honey before you croak. Sorry.


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

Mark is correct it takes a long time for basswood to bloom, but that shouldn't stop you.

The cold period treatment is called _stratification_ and you can do it by putting the seeds in a Ziplock bag with a moistened paper towel and stowing them in your vegetable drawer for a few months. (You can also plant outdoors for the cold period but you risk that mice will find your seeds -- your fridge is safer!)

However, IRRC correctly there may be some additional ways to improve germination percentage of Linden seeds. I have the reference books in my farm office. I'll go look it up for you.

Enj.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

My wife plants 100 pine trees each year, for the future owners of the land we live on. Linden would be nice to grow too.


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## virginiawolf (Feb 18, 2011)

Thank You for helping even if I won't see the fruits of my labors in my lifetime Ha Ha ha. I have the seeds so I will try putting them in a wet paper towel in the crisper vegetable drawer and see if the roots come out and go from there. 

I hope that twenty years would be long enough for them to bloom. I hope I'm still round then.

There is plenty of trees and things where I have my bees now in the woods. I planted clover and buckwheat and wildflowers and a couple of apple trees this year. Each year I will plant a few things. 

The 100 pine trees a year that your wife plants sounds like it would make a nice pine forest.

I trimmed the Leyland cypress trees in our yard today with a chain saw. They got massive quick. They must be 30 feet tall and were only planted like 12 or so years ago. They are getting too big.

Best Wishes,
Jeff


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

Jeff - You might want to think about getting yourself some Sourwood trees as well. They bloom within a few years and make an excellent honey. I've got 500 seeds myself to plant in about a month here and get started. I've many on the hills surrounding me, but want more for the honey aspect of things.


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## virginiawolf (Feb 18, 2011)

I will order some Sourwood tree seeds and give them a try as well. Thank you for the recommendation Thomas. There is room for trees among the trees so I am excited to grow some. I planted some bee bee trees but I think the deer ate them all. Maybe one or two will make it. I have a net around the apple trees and that has protected them so far.


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

Jeff you're welcome! I searched for a while looking for the best price, and they still are today. DA Tree Store http://www.datreestore.com/sooxar.html

I got my seeds in just a couple days after ordering them. The seeds are very small, but they have already been stratified too.


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## virginiawolf (Feb 18, 2011)

Excellent! I ordered a hundred. 3 bucks total. Are you going to start yours in little pots or just put them in the ground?


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

I plan on starting mine in the house. I figure that I can get them an extra couple months growth time that way. I'll use a couple seeds in each little cup and keep the light on for them till they have come up. Then adjust to about 12 hours a day till spring has come and can be set out. 

How about you?


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## virginiawolf (Feb 18, 2011)

I will try some in the house like you are planning and put some in the ground also. It will be an adventure. I want to do some sunflowers around too. They seem easy to grow. If I plant enough I figure I'll get something. Going from seed is appealing to me because you can get a bunch of seeds for a low price If I go way off trail into the woods to plant stuff I will need to be careful I don't get bit by deer ticks. I stayed on trail this year and that helped prevent tick bites. When I planted a couple of pussy willow cuttings I was by a stream and I saw a deer tick crawling up my arm. I flicked it off.


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## drlonzo (Apr 15, 2014)

Jeff if you plan to do sunflowers i'll let you in on something now. Plan ahead for deer. They LOVE sunflowers also. They will leave it alone largely till about the time it starts to form the flower head, then they come along and eat till their hearts are content.

This year I did plant about 100 of them myself. And now i'm passing on my experience to you. lol.. I laugh now, but I was looking for a gun when it happened.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Just a little tips here that you can buy the small plants instead of waiting for the small
seeds to grow too. Have to do a net search for the source tough.

As for the sunflowers, you have to put an electric fence around them to deter the deers also.
Not sure if this is possible consider you will use that plot year after year with the improvement
in the soil.


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## virginiawolf (Feb 18, 2011)

I will prepare for some netting around the sunflower patch. Thank you for warning me. I have a solar fencer so I could chain onto that but it may be easier to just put stakes in and use netting. I will look into some small plants as opposed to seed and see how much of a budgetary difference there is. I already put the linden trees in wet paper towels in the fridge. I saved some to put in pots that I have in my garage as another approach. I will try some there too. It gets cold in the garage but a little less than outside and they will still get light. The deer are bountiful on the mountain. There are various sources of food so I figure that some will make it although I may be wrong.

Here are some seasonal animals from my trail cam. The deer come here also but these are some of our fine feathered friends.

http://youtu.be/sq6iGNNCsUw

Here's the latest bear sighting. I wonder if the bear made it through bear season. My neighbors up there were hunting this week.

http://youtu.be/ITj-3ioMVPE

Here is an example of where I could plant stuff.








I love bee source too


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Start twenty years ago. I doubt you will get any basswood honey before you croak. Sorry.

Not everyone is our age, Mark...


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

That's good.


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## bugmeister (Feb 26, 2013)

Sorry folks- picking up on this one a little late. 

It is always helpful to have a long term view on planting trees and rewarding. A huge linden came crashing down in the woods after Sandy and we cut it up- great wood for making stuff as well as great nectar source. So I ordered a few from FEDCO and they delivered as always top quality on time. I put them in 5 gallon pots to hold over for awhile. all good. moved them 70 feet from original spot for better sun. Meanwhile the porcupines swarmed. Overnight one shimmied up the 'whip' and the darn thing chewed the whip just under the leaves and it looked like a beaver had been at it. Cut it in half and left the top with leaves laying right next top the now one half whip!!! It left the leaves! 

I think they were sending me a massage. anyway- now all I do is find a basswood/linden in the woods and surrounding it in mid summer will be a hundred shoots- until the woodchucks get them. Free seedlings that might shave off a year or two from the 20! B


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>I think they were sending me a massage

I wish I could get trees to send me a massage. My back is killing me...


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## virginiawolf (Feb 18, 2011)

Massage... that is funny. I need to check on my basswood seeds come to think of it. I have some in paper towels in the fridge. I got the Sour Wood seeds to plant in the spring. Now I saw that Mushrooms are beneficial to bees as well. I may have to get some spores to work with mycelium


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

What kind of mushrooms myc. are you growing for the bees?
Yes, I have read that the bees stuffed their guts with the beneficial bacteria so that
the harmful ones cannot flourish in there. And eating the myc. will help with that process.
Though I'm not aware of which mushroom types they are using. If you know then do keep us
updated here, o.k. We have the standard shiitake, oyster, king oyster, wood ears, etc.


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## virginiawolf (Feb 18, 2011)

Hi, I was sort of kidding but not. I watched this very cool video about the correlation found between Mushrooms and bees and it got me thinking that providing some mushrooms throughout the woods could be helpful. The bees apparently seek out the mycelium.

http://youtu.be/DAw_Zzge49c

Morel mushrooms are big here and I read that if you find some and chill them in water and then pour the water on the ground mushroom can pop up there from the spores. I don't know if that would help bees. 

This is mentioned in the video.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laricifomes_officinalis

I need to research it more but it is something that interests me.


Polypore mushrooms in birch forests are mentioned
Amadou
Chaga
Red Reishi

He mentioned Garden Giant Mushrooms that were in his garden and has pictures of the bees on the soil by them.


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## bugmeister (Feb 26, 2013)

Porcupine massage-sounds soothing! I remember my poor dog got a porcupine facial once-he loved it and claimed it was 'exfoliating" beyond anything offered at the vet! 

Crazy dog went right after the porkie to teach him a thing or two! 

B


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Nope, chilling the spores in water will kill them. It is better to put the mature shroom on a
clean piece of wax paper and cover it with a bowl over night. Then when the spores got released 
on the wax paper you take the dry spore to inoculate the agar dish with them. There is more
than 1 way to grow them. But I would not chill them to release the spores. 
Somehow in the woodlands there are already existing mushroom myc. for the bees to forage on. But I
would think a patch in your own yard will benefit the bees more if you can grow them locally. Even inside the
hive there are the beneficial fungus that the bees will fill their guts on to avoid the bad ones. Interesting to see
when a bunch of bees munchin on the well rotted wooden shim at the bottom of the hive.


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## virginiawolf (Feb 18, 2011)

It is an interesting topic. It would be fun to grow some edible ones and see if they spread around and what not. I heard that the conditions for morels at least are very specific so they are not easy to grow. It is apparent that one must be very careful if they plan to ingest them so at this phase of thinking about growing some is in its infancy. Maybe by the spring time I will have a better understanding of what would be involved in growing some. Thanks for sharing on the spores.


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## Cub Creek Bees (Feb 16, 2015)

Ordered 100 _Tilia Cordata_ and 50 _T. Americana_ seedlings... I've got some open spots on my place, plus my mom's and my brother's (w permission, of course!). 

I'll turn 50 this April... - wonder I I'll live long enough to see a crop? 

The old homeplace has one that was there when my Dad moved there in '36. When it's in full flow it positively roars with bees.

-Vawolf - the guy at the tree nursery that I spoke with said the seeds are really persnickety. Said a few will come up the first year, with more following in the second and third years. He said once they are up they really roll, though.

Good luck to you!


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## virginiawolf (Feb 18, 2011)

This sounds great Cub Creek!!! Congratulations!! I have some seeds that I soaked in a wet paper towel a couple months ago. I will plant those soon in peat pots and I will plant some other stuff when it warms up. I'm going to take some different approaches so that hopefully some will work out. I got some sunflower seeds and butterfly mix as well. I shoveled snow today but I know that spring will be here soon.


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