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How To Grow Magnolia Trees From Seeds

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Magnolia blossom

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.

Magnolia seeds

We were able to grow about half a dozen magnolia trees from seeds, but planting these out had less success, as we suffered a few losses. One magnolia seedling was planted out too early, one was lost in the flood of a hurricane, and one took too many hits from dog paws and rolling balls.

growing magnolia trees from seed

We have been left with three magnolia trees, all growing in pots. The smallest one had originally been transferred to the ground, but after seeing it suffer, were returned it to a larger pot instead.



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)

magnolia seeds
  1. 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.
  2. Soak the seeds in water for at least 10 minutes
  3. Peel the red, leathery outer layer of the seed
  4. 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.
  5. Keep it in the fridge for 3 months. 
  6. You might find that the seeds sprout while in the fridge, if they do just handle them gently when potting.
  7. Plant the growing seeds into small pots, but leave inside if possible or transfer to a protected area with good sun light.
  8. 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. 
  9. Make sure your magnolia seedlings gets lots of sun and good compost. 


Magnolia Seedlings
Step 6 - Magnolia seeds sprouting in the fridge


3 month old magnolia seedlings
3 month old magnolia seedlings



Magnolia tree grown from seed
Magnolia tree grown from seed (our smallest one)



We've begun transferring our magnolia trees to The Land, because they are getting too big for their pots.

Comments

  1. Laura BushDecember 22, 2021 at 3:58 AM

    Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. I hope you post again soon. Big thanks for the useful info. growing herbs in singapore

    ReplyDelete

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