How do you select sweetgum seeds? What seedling-raising methods are there?

The sweetgum tree grows in warm-climate regions, and many rural areas in the south have plenty of wild sweetgum trees. Both its leaves and fruit have good medicinal value, and its wood can be used to make furniture, so its uses are fairly wide-ranging. So how do you select sweetgum seeds? What seedling-raising methods are there? Let me tell you below!

1. How do you select sweetgum seeds?

When selecting sweetgum seeds, you should choose high-quality seeds from trees that have grown for more than 10 years, are free of pests and diseases, have vigorous growth, and have straight trunks for sowing. Fertile seeds have wings and are black; infertile seeds have no wings and are yellow, rather pale. The selected sweetgum seeds should be put in burlap sacks and stored in a ventilated, dry place.

2. Seedling-raising methods for sweetgum seeds

1. Seed storage

When the seeds are ripe, collect them, dry them in the air, put them in bags, and store them under natural conditions in a dry room.

2. Seed germination

In late March, take the seeds out, disinfect them with 1% potassium permanganate for 1 h, then rinse them clean with water, soak the rinsed seeds in warm water at 40°C-50°C for 1 day, then scoop the seeds out and put them in an incubator at 23°C-25°C to germinate. Rinse them once a day with warm water, then cover the seeds with a damp cloth and put them back in the incubator to sprout. By the 4th day after the seeds begin germination, the seeds start to sprout; by the 5th day, 1/3 of the seeds have sprouted; by the 7th day, 95% of the seeds have sprouted.

3. Soil treatment

First deep-plow and finely level the nursery land, add an appropriate amount of organic fertilizer, make beds 1 m wide, and spray 05% ferrous sulfate to disinfect them, to prevent seedlings from developing damping-off and other diseases.

4. Sowing

Before sowing, soak the soil thoroughly with water, then evenly scatter the sand-mixed sweetgum seeds into the beds, then cover them with sifted fine soil, with the soil thickness just enough that the seeds are not exposed.

5. Seedling-stage management

About 8 days after the sweetgum seeds are sown, the cotyledons begin to emerge one after another. The cotyledons are green, and the petioles and leaf stalks are reddish-brown. During seedling-stage management, prevent the soil from being too sticky and heavy. After the cotyledons emerge, to prevent diseases such as damping-off and seedling blight in the young seedlings, disinfect every 10 days with 01%-02% ferrous sulfate or potassium permanganate in the early stage of seedling growth.

From the above, we can see that sweetgum is quite useful, so many people grow some of these trees themselves, but right from the start you need to choose high-quality seeds; you can go to specialized flower markets to buy them. In addition, if you want to grow sweetgum trees well, you also need to master certain seedling-raising techniques. If you find this article useful, you can save it!

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