I re-upped my membership in the Ozark Chinquapin Foundation on January 1 this year and on January 27, I got a nice surprise in the mail!
 |
| Chinquapin seeds |
Unfortunately, while the package says five seeds, there were only three in the bag, and I'm not sure two of those are any good. One of the three had already started to sprout, but the other two had not.
But even if there is only one viable seed, I hope I can do a better job of protecting it this year, and if the one little tree from last year survived the winter, I hope I can have two here in my yard by the end of the summer.
So today (Monday, March 4) I've taken the two that hadn't started to sprout, and I've planted them in cardboard paper towel tubes. If they do sprout, my thinking is that I can dig a hole with the post hole digger and just plant them in that hole in their cardboard tube, hopefully protecting the little taproot from being damaged. I'll be sure to update this post with pictures if (when!) that happens.
UPDATE: Thursday, March 28 - On March 21, I was delighted to discover that a tiny sprout had emerged in one of the tubes!
By this afternoon, the little tree was about an inch and a half tall, with two nice little leaves and a third emerging in the center.
I've tried to mainly water from the bottom once the nut sprouted, thinking that would encourage the tap root to grow straight down toward the water. So far, there's no sign of the tap root at the bottom of the cardboard tube (and that's a good thing!), but I don't think it will be much longer until it will break through the cardboard at the bottom.
So tomorrow the little tree will be planted outside and protected with a sturdy cage to protect it from rabbits, deer and (right now, most importantly) the cattle!
The Ozarks Chinquapin Foundation
(Other blog posts about the Ozarks Chinquapin)