How to Grow Your Own Tree From Seed
Go seed collecting to gather the seeds of trees in woods and parks. Trees are terrific ecosystems that support huge numbers of birds, mammals and insects and other invertebrates. What could be nicer than having a tree that you have planted from a seed or that has been planted for you by one of your wild visitors? Go out on a seed hunt to find the seeds of beech, horse chestnut (conkers), sweet chestnut, ash, hazel, sycamore, crabapples or oak. Choose seeds that are fresh and haven’t dried out for the best chance of growing a giant. Fill a pot with soil and plant 3 or 4 seeds to each pot, 2cm deep in the soil. Place the pot outside in a spot which gets morning sun. Water the soil until the water drains out of the bottom of the pot then put on your patient hat and wait. Some tree seeds germinate quickly and some take longer and need a special treatment to germinate.
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Acorns (the seeds of oaks) should be soaked in water for a day and then the hard coat should be carefully peeled away to reveal the seed inside then planted 2cm deep in the soil.
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Sweet chestnuts and horse chestnuts (conkers) should have their fleshy, prickly outside coat peeled away before being planted 2cm deep.
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The seeds of ash trees (called keys) need to have a warm-cold cycle to copy what they would experience in the wild. Pop the seeds in some soil in a plastic bag and put the bag somewhere warm (not hot) for a week. Then put the bag in the fridge for a month, then back in the warmth for a week and again in the fridge for a month. After this time you can plant them 2 cm deep in their pots of soil.
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Crabapples and sycamores can be sown without any special treatment.
