How to sow forsythia

Seed Collection

When collecting seeds, you should choose dominant mother plants that are healthy, have dense branches, full flowers and fruits, and are free of diseases and pests.

Pay attention to the time of flowering and fruiting, and grasp the appropriate time for seed collection to avoid the seeds falling off after they mature.

Generally, seeds are collected from mid-to-late September to early October when the ripe fruits are collected. The fruits should be mature, plump, large and heavy, then spread thinly in a ventilated and cool place, dried in the shade and then threshed.

After careful selection and removal of impurities, the seeds that are neat, plump, free of diseases and insect pests are selected and stored for seed preservation.

Storage

The survival rate of seeds stored under different conditions is different. The germination rate of seeds stored in a dryer is relatively high.

If stored in moist sand, the seeds will germinate gradually during the storage period, so the germination rate in the later stage of sowing will not be as high as that in dryer storage.

sowing

Forsythia seeds germinate easily under high temperatures, so sowing is generally arranged in spring or winter, with spring sowing in early to mid-April and winter sowing before freezing.

Because the seed coat of Forsythia suspensa seeds is relatively hard, if they are not pre-treated and sown directly, it will take more than a month to germinate and emerge from the soil. Therefore, the seeds can be germinated before sowing.

Choose mature and plump seeds, soak them in warm water at about 30℃ for about 4 hours, take them out and mix them with 3 times the amount of wet sand, put them in a wooden box or small tank, cover them with plastic film, place them in a sunny place sheltered from the wind, turn them over twice a day, and keep them moist. After more than 10 days, the seeds will germinate and can be sown.

If the soil is relatively dry before sowing, you need to water it first, mix fine sand into the seeds, and sprinkle it evenly in the soil. After covering with soil, press it down slightly. The soil should not be too thick, generally about 1 cm, and then cover with grass to keep it moist.

The germinated seeds will germinate 8 or 9 days after sowing. The seedlings can be transplanted when they are 10 cm tall and 30 cm tall in early April of the following year.