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Five years ago, we embarked on a project to grow as many trees, fruit trees, plants, flowers and palm trees from seeds and cuttings as possible. It's been a lot of trial and error, but one of our favorite successes has been growing magnolia trees from seed.
How To Grow Magnolia Trees From Seeds:
In the fall, keep your eyes on the magnolia seed pods (the further south you live, the earlier this is. Here in North East Florida, August, September is when we keep an eye out)
- As soon as the magnolia seed pods open up, showing off the magnificent red seeds get 10 - 20 for the best success rate. If you cannot find an open seed pod with seeds, you can take one home that is reddish in color. Put it in a paper bag, and it should open up by itself.
- Soak the seeds in water for at least 10 minutes
- Peel the red, leathery outer layer of the seed
- Fill a small zippered plastic bag with some peat moss, soil or a wet paper towel, and add the seeds, spritz with water and zip it.
- Keep it in the fridge for 3 months.
- You might find that the seeds sprout while in the fridge, if they do just handle them gently when potting.
- Plant the growing seeds into small pots, but leave inside if possible or transfer to a protected area with good sun light.
- Wait as long as possible to transfer your magnolia seedlings to the ground, it's better to plant them in big pots with good compost.
- Make sure your magnolia seedlings gets lots of sun and good compost.
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| Step 6 - Magnolia seeds sprouting in the fridge |
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3 month old magnolia seedlings
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We've begun transferring our magnolia trees to The Land, because they are getting too big for their pots.
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