Lots more seeds are emerging now, and seems its only a matter of time until they all will need to be transplanted from the dirt cells to small pots. The rockwool seeds are coming up too, but not as happy as the dirt based seeds. Maybe this is due to the rockwool drying out without me noticing affecting the seeds. I may need to add water to the base of the tray so the rockwool can soak in it.. Not really sure, but its not doing the best.
Luckily I have more of the Mondell pine seeds so restarting is an option and skipping the rockwool for them. I just need to go through the stratification process with them, using sphagnum peat moss worked well so I will probably try that again for safe keeping of the seeds.
Starting to see roots coming out of the bottom of the seed trays, the myco side has the first signs of rooting. So it would seem we are seeing an increase in growth from the fungi and bacteria I added to the soil.
The rockwool media seems to be not working the best, maybe if I could keep them from drying out they would stand a better chance. I need to check on them every day to make sure they do not dry out it would seem.
I have a third species of pine now waiting for the seeds to emerge. I planted them in the dirt cells above. It is known as a Chilgoza Pine. Hopefully I will see signs of life soon.
The Stone pines are very happy through, and as mentioned will be time to find some good pots. My goal is to transplant them once this winter, then go out to the green house in the spring and summer. And then transplant again into even bigger pots in the fall. Grow them indoors for a second winter. And then that following spring 2026 they should be going in the ground if all goes well.
I need to measure my max light height and then buy pots that fit under there, plus 6 inches or so for the young seeds to grow. May need to rework some of my lights as they get taller. But for a few months I think they will do fine under these bulbs.
We can see the seeds that have dropped off, just laying in the trays now. Such big seeds.
Even the Stone pines in the rockwool are emerging, well one of the is. Not as happy as the others it would seem.
For for now I will keep the Mondell pine seeds in rockwool. And probably start the seed stratification process again on new seeds, and put them in dirt instead of rockwool when its time.
It has been really cool seeing the myco working on the roots of the Pine seeds. Showing first signs of emergence and now the first signs of roots. When it comes time to transplant the pine trees it will be even more obvious if the powder helped.
Hopefully I will see the Chilgoza pine seeds come up soon. And more seeds will go into dirt when they are done with their time in the fridge. So this is just the beginning, should be lots more coming up soon.
Previous posts on this project:
@solominer/planting-the-pine-seeds-in-starter-plugs
@solominer/planning-on-growing-nut-producing-pine-trees
@solominer/starting-the-germination-process-on-my-pine-seeds