How to Plant Buds From a Magnolia Tree
Magnolia trees produce cones that are full of red buds, or fruit. These red fruit buds are actually seeds. Peel the fleshy, red coating away and the seeds are revealed. With the right planting methods and patience, hearty magnolia seedlings are just a few months away. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Harvest the magnolia fruit cone after it fully ripens. The fruit cone is fully ripe when the white magnolia flower petals have turned brown, dried up and fallen off leaving only the fruit cone, and the individual buds tiered on the outside of the cone swell and turn red.
-
2
Remove the fleshy, red fruit covering the seeds by soaking the fruit in water for one or two days until the fruit is soft. Once softened the red covering peels away easily, revealing black, oily seeds.
-
-
3
Wash the black seeds in soapy water to remove the oily coating. The natural magnolia oil on the seeds prevents the seed from absorbing the moisture it needs to germinate and grow, so the seeds must be cleaned before planting.
-
4
Prepare a planting bed with equal parts sand and loam and double the amount of peat. Mound the planting material to ensure drainage and plant each seed one half inch down in the soil. Plant the seeds before they dry out. Soil temperature in the mid sixties is optimal for successful magnolia seed germination.
-
5
Water as needed to ensure the roots do not dry out but not so much that the soil stays saturated and seedlings should appear in four to five weeks.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Store washed magnolia seeds in hot climates by putting them in a bag with equal parts sand and peat, or vermiculite, and refrigerate until the outside temperature is cool enough for successful germination.
Plant magnolia seeds outside in cold climates only after the last snow when soil temperature has warmed to optimal germination temperature.
