Hawthorne

Hi. In October of last year I harvested hawthorne berries. They have been in a beer jug for these last 6 months outside in the shade.

Do you think I can still get to grow hawthorne from these seeds?

Seeds fall to the bottom in water. Thanks.

P.S. I think as long as seeds drop in water, they are good.

But, of course they have not been put in any compost or anything since October. Don't know if that spoils things.

I think they might have had to be in soil since this February.

 

Hawthorn berries need a cold spell, but being outside they should have had that.

I think, but am not certain, they also need either a long spell sat in moist soil, or a trip through a bird's digestive tract. This is because they have a tough outer casing that has to be softened before they can germinate.

You could try sowing them fairly densely in seed trays, then just sticking said trays somewhere where you can easily keep them watered but at the same time where they are out of the way, and just see what happens. I have a feeling though that not much will happen before next spring, so you might be in for a long wait.

 

You could try sanding a few drupes down a bit, to get the casing to break up quicker.

 

well this does not help your case Richard, but just thought it fits the topic:
read in a book that the writer went out as a young boy to help planting hedges in the field, which will have included hawthorn as well. they went out without plants and what they did was just putting up posts, attach wires and went home. next year there were sprouting many little hedge plants because the birdies had sat on the wires to sing and drop digested berries in the meantime...

nice story, dunno whether its fully true, the hedge might have been patchy...

 

I hope it is because that's brilliant

 

I'll second that Its true that you'll find Holly, Blackberry & simliar seedlings at the bottom of posts where birdies bottoms have been.

 

Okay, no one has said I've damaged the seeds or made a huge mistake by not placing them in soil when I harvested them. So, tommorrow I'll get myself some plant pots, some compost and plant seed in them. I'm an absolute beginner at gardening BTW.

 

Plant at least 3 or 4 seeds per small pot because I expect a fairly low germination rate. If they surprise you and all germinate, you can then either tease them apart or just kill off all but the strongest plant in each pot.

 

You've done well for a beginner there Like has been said, the drupe(hard seed covering part) will take a while to break down. Best get a flat tray & use a sandy mix of compost, bury the seeds about 10mm down & just make sure it doesn't dry out.

 

I have to ask though, is this just for the fun of it (which is a perfectly good reason by the way)?

I ask this because once bare root season comes back round in autumn, you'll find that young Hawthorn trees (usually a year old) are about the cheapest trees you can buy. For small orders (batches of about 25 trees) it is usually about £7 per batch.

But then if its just for the fun of it, like I said, that's a perfectly good reason to try to grow them from seed.

 

I've lived in my house over 50 years and last October I cut down the old hawthorne tree because of a wall I need to build. It was originally on a field boundary and probably had been there perhaps 100 years, not sure.

I am trying to keep it going, sort of.

 

When you cut it down, did you leave the stump or did you winch it out?

If the stump was left, there is a very good chance it will start to regrow. Hawthorn loves getting its hair cut and it just renews it. That is both good and bad. Its bad because it means it will fight your new wall. Its good (if you haven't yet built the wall) because if you can rip it out with some roots on, you'll be able to just move it and there's a good chance it will survive.

If you left the stump and have already built the wall, you'll need to keep an eye on it, and if it regrows you might have to poison it off so that it doesn't take out your new wall.

 

I've cut it down to about 1 foot below the surface. Because removing a prior wall exposed the tree below the surface from the side where my garden is. The roots actually are in the banking that the wall is holding up. I will definitely have to make sure that this stump does not grow again.

 

The Hawthorne seeds I have from last October (2011) would normally be sown in Winter 2011/12, when they would grow in a plant pot, until ready for planting in February or March 2012. That's my understanding. They need cold and damp to germinate.

But, the seeds have been in a jar outside full of water until now. They still seem good, because they sink in water.

So, because I've not sown, I've no option but to try to plant February or March 2013.

What do I do with the seeds? Do I sow them in compost now and put them in a cool place, then bring them outside say, November, leaving them to the cold and damp? Or leave them as they are, in a cool dark place, and sow them in plant pots in say November, then put them outside?Thanks.

 

Welcome back Richard,

Have a look at this page

http://www.cvni.org/ourtrees/chapter-3/hawthorn