Eastern Red Cedar from seed?

OkieKubota

OkieKubota

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I have found some ERC on our deer lease that have dropped all of their "Berries". I know a scarification process needs to be done with warm and cold stratification and just like the fruit of persimmon the seeds are generally naturally scarified by being eaten by something and then deposited as droppings and in the case of ERC that would be birds.

Has anyone here successfully taken ERC seeds and scarified with lye water as suggested by gardenguides and been able to grow ERC from that?

I am wanting to start them for thermal cover on our 80. My other option is to dig seedlings up and transplant them...
 
I tried some after being washed off our roof from bird droppings,Catscratch is trying this also.i did buy some seed to try but would dig and replant the seedlings unless i just wanted hundreds.I have moved alot of cedars to places I wanted them and I like to dig them in winter if ground isn't frozen and hopefully before a rain.
 
I dig and transplant small ones every year as I try to grow a road screen. I have had pretty decent success in transplanting - the smaller the better as you have less root damage. I have never planted or even tried to plant the seed.
 
OkieKubota said:
I have found some ERC on our deer lease that have dropped all of their "Berries". I know a scarification process needs to be done with warm and cold stratification and just like the fruit of persimmon the seeds are generally naturally scarified by being eaten by something and then deposited as droppings and in the case of ERC that would be birds.

Has anyone here successfully taken ERC seeds and scarified with lye water as suggested by gardenguides and been able to grow ERC from that?

I am wanting to start them for thermal cover on our 80. My other option is to dig seedlings up and transplant them...
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Planting seed and growing your own would be fun, but in no way as easy as transplanting your native cedars. I lose very few when transplanting. And they are always a few years old it seems, which gives me a bigger tree to start with.
I buy them every spring and put the weaker ones into a garden bed for a year or two. Unlike an oak, transplanting cedars does not seem to set them back much, if at all.
 
OkieKubota said:
I have found some ERC on our deer lease that have dropped all of their "Berries". I know a scarification process needs to be done with warm and cold stratification and just like the fruit of persimmon the seeds are generally naturally scarified by being eaten by something and then deposited as droppings and in the case of ERC that would be birds.

Has anyone here successfully taken ERC seeds and scarified with lye water as suggested by gardenguides and been able to grow ERC from that?

I am wanting to start them for thermal cover on our 80. My other option is to dig seedlings up and transplant them...
Click to expand...

MDC sells them pretty cheap.
 
I found a guy with a tree spade that will move them for me pretty cheap so I have moved quite a few to places that provide screening or thermal cover.
 
Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like doing it from seed is going to be low return on work involved. Since I really want Cedars pretty much everywhere on our place I am thinking putting the "berries" in a bird feeder and letting the birds scarify and plant for me wherever they happen to land. Good plan?
 
OkieKubota said:
Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like doing it from seed is going to be low return on work involved. Since I really want Cedars pretty much everywhere on our place I am thinking putting the "berries" in a bird feeder and letting the birds scarify and plant for me wherever they happen to land. Good plan?
Click to expand...

I think it's a great plan. I would be tempted put up wire up everywhere you want a row of trees, for the birds to land on. I've been tempted to run the wire and pile some corn out just to congregate birds to the area. The more they are there the more they will poop there. Dgallow suggested setting hedge posts where you want cedars too (once again for birds to land on) and also clear the ground around them. I'm also considering a winter burn as a way to clear ground to help promote bird plantings...

Just imagine what your place will look like; scorched and black, hedge posts sticking up in random places, 5ft tall wires going here and there, and random piles of corn. :)
 
catscratch said:
I think it's a great plan. I would be tempted put up wire up everywhere you want a row of trees, for the birds to land on. I've been tempted to run the wire and pile some corn out just to congregate birds to the area. The more they are there the more they will poop there. Dgallow suggested setting hedge posts where you want cedars too (once again for birds to land on) and also clear the ground around them. I'm also considering a winter burn as a way to clear ground to help promote bird plantings...

Just imagine what your place will look like; scorched and black, hedge posts sticking up in random places, 5ft tall wires going here and there, and random piles of corn. :)
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Well its going to be burnt and black in places for sure this year. Been wanting to do a burn on it since we bought it but the stars never aligned... I am going to start with burning about 8 or so acres around our south plot.

I have lots of brush piles around that the birds like to mess around in so I figured if they start the cedars around them then the excess can be dug up and transplanted if too many get started!
 
If you burn you will kill the small cedars,If you dig or even pull them when wet you will save yourself a couple years growth.It's work but I have dug them up to around 4-5ft tall.Find someone with some they want to get rid of and go after them
 
Shouldn't have small cedars when I burn in the next couple of months... I have dug and transplanted a many of them...

Interesting deal I found out today. Our State Nursery grows ERC plugs but will not sell to folks in Oklahoma. They will sell to other states but not here in the state!
 
Johnny...Rake around any cedars you don't won't damaged before you burn. Cedars pop up like sweet gums down here. I like em too. But, when we burn our pines we wipe out just about any cedars that are growing in them. Even the larger ones don't take fire very well.
 
Kansas sells them also,I have planted and being bareroot they aren't very hardy that first year in my sandy soil.Also I figure I save about 2 years by transplanting a 24 inch tree
 
I try to kill every red cedar on my place. Had around 400 cut down 2 years ago. Your welcome to come dig any left on my place. They make awesome fish habitat in the pond though.
 
dogdoc said:
I try to kill every red cedar on my place. Had around 400 cut down 2 years ago. Your welcome to come dig any left on my place. They make awesome fish habitat in the pond though.
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Do you have a different evergreen that you like instead of red cedar, or do you want to go without evergreens of any sort?
The reason I ask is because Kansas has no native pine trees. When I asked K-State for a recommendation they said you can plant different types of pine, but they will eventually fail to; disease, insects, or drought. None are adapted to our climate to live long term. With that said, I know plenty of pines that look like they've been there for many decades.
 
dogdoc said:
I try to kill every red cedar on my place. Had around 400 cut down 2 years ago. Your welcome to come dig any left on my place. They make awesome fish habitat in the pond though.
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I have plenty over here to dig and transplant. I really like it on our 10 acres as a screen and windbreak - we have very little on our 80 and I would like more.

On our deer lease the largest and best bedding area I know is a red cedar jungle...
 
The power of birds. Notice the young ones under just about every perch...
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We are trying to rid our place of most cedars as well ,, very little value in our part of the world and can become invasive ,,only good I see in them are road screens and some thermal cover .
 
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