Beginner Information

TreeBay

Hi there, and welcome to the exciting hobby of bonsai! I will take a crack at your questions.

1. For the first, the steps you need to take to propagate from seed successfully it really depends on your climate and growing practice, as well as the species. It would be best to prepare a few separate seed lots and experiment with some of what you have read and see what works best. If you keep notes it will hep for next time. Here in Silicon Valley, CA, I don't really need to do much for Japanese Maple seed in the way of stratification. In a typical winter, the seeds will come right up in spring. Maybe only 30% the first year, but that is good enough for me. With Trident Maple I remove the seed wings and put them in the fridge over the winter (never bothered with moist sand and such with these) and they seem to germinate fine at 30-50% rate. If you want or need a higher percentage yield, you can try to optimize your technique. I really don't - 30-50 maple seedlings for 100 planted seeds is enough for me.

Don't plant the seeds too deeply, though. Usually a depth of 1-2x the thickness of the seed is about right. Some seeds don't even need to be planted! Do be sure to water with an ultra fine rose, or water from beneath by soaking for a few minutes in a shallow tray of water. This will help avoid disrupting the plantings before germination.

2. Glad your olive is making a recovery. You can do whatever you like with the dead leaves, it won't harm the plant.

Regards,

Matt

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