For:
Saturday, Nov. 24, 2001
By: Daniel E. Mullins
Extension Horticulture
Agent
Santa Rosa County
Can I grow this plant from seed? This is a common question from gardeners. The plant in question might be a holly, oak, hickory, magnolia, wildflower or one of dozens of other plants that are native to the Gulf Coast region.
Seed propagation can be a rewarding pastime for gardeners, and many commercial nurseries also continue to use this method of reproducing certain species of plants. Many plants, both exotic and native, are started from seed but the native species are especially good candidates.
Duplicate
Natural Conditions
The thing that makes local native plants relatively easy to germinate from seed is that the environmental requirements already occur naturally within their home range. There is less need to provide artificial treatments like stratification or chemical treatment that is sometimes required for the germination of exotic species. All that we need to do is collect seeds at the right time and plant them properly, while exposing them to natural conditions.
Though this appears simple, some homework is suggested before attempting to grow native plants from seed. Some basic facts must be known before starting. These include: the proper time to harvest the seed; recommended temporary storage conditions prior to planting; best soil or potting medium for germination; suggested planting depth and maintenance conditions required during germination and subsequent growth stages.
There are some excellent references on this subject. Several of the better plant propagation books that are available commercially provide this specific information. Web users can find plenty of information too. Just choose a good search engine and type in “seed propagation” and you can find as much as you wish to read on the subject. Some sites contain detailed seed propagation information related to each species. Your local Extension office can also help by providing information.
Seed
Propagation vs. Cloning
“Dolly” the sheep, caused much excitement when the public learned that an animal could be cloned. The cloning of plants has been a standard propagation practice for several hundred years. Every time that a gardener reproduces a plant by rooting a cutting, grafting or air layering, that plant has been cloned. The genetic material that is passed on to the new plant, barring mutation, is identical to the mother plant. This is known as asexual propagation.
Seed propagation on the other hand, is known as sexual propagation. Each plant that is produced from seed is not identical to the mother plant and the characters that it will exhibit are unpredictable. Cross-pollination sometimes occurs prior to seed formation, combining characteristics of both parents. Genetic changes for other reasons also occur each time that seeds are collected and planted.
The variability of plants obtained from seed propagation is not necessarily a disadvantage. Many of the horticultural plants in use today were actually chance seedlings that exhibited some outstanding characteristic. They were then cloned – reproduced by cuttings, tissue cultured or grafted in order to keep the genetics from changing from one generation to the next.
The “Elliott” pecan comes to mind as a good example of a chance seedling. This variety or clone is now a standard in the pecan industry. The original seedling tree was found at the corner of the old courthouse in Milton. That building burned long ago, but its progeny lives on because branches were collected and used for grafting while the tree was alive. Many outstanding camellia varieties currently being planted originated as chance seedlings that were selected and asexually propagated by grafting or from rooted cuttings.
Note: The seeds of native plants are commonly
food sources for local wildlife.
Propagation areas should be protected from marauding squirrels and other
foraging critters. They can wreck havoc
in a short period of time.