Rhus

[porshiepoo]

I love the Rhus (Sumach Staghorn) tree and was wondering whether anyone has had any success in growing one up here?
I'm thinking of buying some seed and was also wondering if anyone knows if there's a special way to treat the Rhus seed to improve germination?

[roadbowler]

you can get seed for this at agroforestry.co.uk says ws2 + cs13. So, stick the seeds in a baggy with damp sand and warm stratisfy for 2 weeks. Sitting in a warm house will do. Then after the two weeks put them in tne fridge for 13 weeks then plant out in some compost in a seed tray. Catalogue says you can make a lemonade type drink by soaking the fruit clusters in water. Yum.

[porshiepoo]

Thanks for that Roadbowler. My seeds have been ordered and i can't wait to see what happens. Haven't really had much luck with seeds other than Broom & Tree Lupin, so I'm looking forward to getting them.

[roadbowler]

yea well, for the right woody plants, shrubs and trees, stratification is hit or miss and people usually fling them out if they havna done anything after a year. I once stratified and left a tray of schisandra seeds in my coldframe and they eventually sprouted two years later!

[porshiepoo]

I'm attempting to germinate some Phormium seeds right now but I must say I'm not the most patient of people. lol.
I also sowed some Ash seeds and only managed to get 3 living plants out of hundreds of seeds.

Hope these Rhus seeds do the business though.

[porshiepoo]

I finally bought some Rhus seeds from EBay after having waited an age for a delivery from agroforestry.
I'm well chuffed. I got about 100 seeds and I soaked half of them in warm water for 24 hours and put the other half in the fridge as I'm not sure on germination.
I was told germination would take about a month but just one week after sowing the pre soaked seed I have almost a 100% germination rate. They're now about 2" high and romping away.
Guess I'm going to end up having to sell some of them this year especially if the ones in the fridge germinate at the same rate. :)