When and how to plant black locust seedlings

I've a seed tray with 10 black locust seedlings at different stages of growth. At what point (size?) should I move them outside and let them grow naturally?



Thank you for your input.

Depends on your location. Since they are so small, In my location I would be worried that they would not be hardened enough for winter. If you are much more south than I am, it might be worth bringing them outside now so that they get a chance to harden.

My experience with black locust has always been earlier in the season, so they are much bigger (and woodier) by now.

Adrien,
Thank you very much for the input. I should have stated in my first post that I'm in central AL.

Thank you very much.

No problem

How did you start them? Did you use the boiling waterethod?

Adrien, great question. I've tried scarification, boiling, and the damp-paper-towel-in-a-ziplock-bag method. I've had the most success with the latter: wetting a paper towel, putting about 10 seeds folded inside of it and putting that inside of a ziplock bag for 3 or 4 days. This, for me, consistently yields the fastest and most consistent results.

ok, I have taken more of a mass planting approach where I soaked 500-1000 seeds in boiling water for 24hrs and then scatter-planted the seeds. I am sure I don't get 100% germination rate, but that seems to be the easiest way to mass propagate the trees.

Adrien, wow! That's a lot of seeds. Two questions:

1. Where do your seeds come from? Mine are purchased on Amazon for about 15 cents (US) each. Thus, I may have lower quality/less viable seeds.

2. When you say "scatter-planted", is that like broadcasting, leaving the seeds on the surface of the ground?

My seeds came from the ministry of Natural Resources of Ontario. I think it was about $3-4 for 2000 seeds and I planted about 500 last year and the rest this year. The seeds are viable for a really long time.

Last year I started them in a wooden box and just scattered them over the soil and added some more soil. When they were about the size of yours I transplanted them in the nursery. I did not pay attention to the success rate, but we had a LOT.

This year I planted them directly in a garden bed and planted them like other seeds: dig a little trench, put the seeds down and burry them.

Both methods seem to work. Not sure if they would have grown well if just scattered on the ground. Maybe in the Spring, but when it is really warm they would probably just dry out.

Wow, that's a lot of seeds.

Is it:
A. Possible
B. Legal and
C. Adherent to this forums rules
... for me to Paypal to you $10 for you to send me a pack of 2000?

If you can't import from Canada, try here.

http://www.treehelp.com/black-locust-seeds/

$6 for about 40 seeds. Still = 15 cents each, but i've always received more volume than in the packets than was listed.

a-z list of tree seeds
http://www.treehelp.com/seeds/

Whoa !

Save yourself some money, and buy a 1 ounce pack (+/- 3,000 seeds) from Trees & Shrubs

Oooh! Add to favorites!

I am not sure what the conditions are to ship black locust seeds across the border. It is probably legal, might need a phytosanitary certificate that would make it way to expensive. The other issue is that the minimum order from the MNR is $50 and I am not putting an order this year.

Another US source is Sheffield's seed company: https://sheffields.com/Seeds-for-sale

I've actually already attempted to purchase a pound of seeds from Schumacher. I'm just waiting to hear back from them on how to use their site.

A pound of black locust seeds is a lot of seeds! I think it is about 1,500-2,000 seeds per oz.