Growing trees - Teloxys aristata (Seafoam) part 8

This post is about 2 months late, but never mind!  My Seafoam was all harvested in early September.  The plants pulled out of the ground very easily and just needed a quick snip with a pair of secateurs to remove the roots.  I allowed the plants to dry on a large sheet of cardboard in the garage for a few days.

Drying Seafoam.

The plants are full of tiny seeds.  After drying, gently shaking and patting the plants caused most of the seeds to fall off, providing me with more than twice the quantity I originally received in the seed packet. Drying them on the cardboard meant it was easy to fold it in half to pour the seeds into a pot.  Plenty for next year!

Seeds!

The structure looks excellent, ideal for tiny trees.  It can be fragile because the texture is so fine.

Wonderful miniature tree structure.

Preserving the plants helps reduce their fragile nature.  I'm using 1 part glycerin to 2 parts water.  The glycerin should replace the water remaining in the plants, leaving them slightly more flexible and less likely to crumble away. A litre bottle cost under £10 and should do me for 5 or 6 years of Seafoam harvesting.

Glycerin (aka Glycerol)

 I save the bottles from my car de-icer, they're perfect for spraying a thin PVA/varnish mixture for sealing scenery, or in this case, a glycerin mixture for preserving plants.

Spray bottle with glycerin mixture.

In mid-September, the plants were sprayed heavily and clothes-pegged to a length of string stretched across the garage rafters to dry.

Tightly packed branches.

After drying, the addition of the glycerin means that the plants retain some spring and bounce, so hopefully they will work well for scenery.

Separated plants.

 The hardest part was teasing apart all the intertwined plants.  I will try and grow them further apart next year to avoid this problem.

Ready for use.

 Looking on the internet, this quantity of Seafoam I've produced would probably cost me upwards of £60.  It's cost me under £15 so far for the seeds and the glycerin.  Compost and pots have all been free, and repeating the process will cost me nothing else for the next few years. I'll probably end up paying less than 5% what I'd pay for "scenery-ready" Seafoam.  The only problem I foresee is where to store all the forests I'll be making...

Growing trees - Teloxys aristata (Seafoam) part 7

My Seafoam has been quietly growing over the last month and a bit.  Sadly, the ones I planted directly in the garden aren't very impressive.  Most are like this spindly little specimen.

Fortunately, the ones I moved out into the larger planter are getting very impressive now!

I also transferred some of the ones remaining in the seed trays into small pots to see if the extra room to stretch their roots will give them a bit of a boost before it's time to harvest them.

They were only transplanted a couple of days ago, but I'm hoping that I'll see a bit more growth in another week or two.

The branching structure is really coming on well, so these will be great to preserve in the Autumn and use over the winter for a few terrain projects.

 

Growing trees - Teloxys aristata (Seafoam) part 6

I swear you can hear it growing...

The ones I planted in the garden aren't looking as impressive.  I'm not sure whether they'll catch up or maybe just wither away and die...

 

Growing trees - Teloxys aristata (Seafoam) part 5

 By 22nd June (53 days after planting), the Seafoam's really coming on.  I count at least 17 seedlings sprouting the branching structure.

The ones I planted out have also recovered from the transplant trauma and are looking good.

Growing trees - Teloxys aristata (Seafoam) part 4

By 16th June, some of the Seafoam is starting to sprout the branching structure that will form my model trees.

A few plants have withered away due to my clumsy re-potting damaging the roots, or possibly because I either a) over-watered them or b) left them in the sun too long...

The reserve plants in the original seed trays are still going strong, too.

Growth is accelerating by 20th June.  The tree structure is really coming on.

More side shoots are starting to appear on some of the other plants.

The reserve plant trays were starting to get a bit too overcrowded and some plants were beginning to wither, so I've planted them out in a few empty spots in the flowerbed.  We'll see how they fare in the wild.

They're a bit bedraggled because I've just planted them.  Hopefully they'll perk up in a day or two!

Growing trees - Teloxys aristata (Seafoam) part 3

 By 31st May, my little seedlings were ready to thin out and transplant.  Actually, they were ready several days earlier, but building work at home and keeping the kids amused for half-term prevented me from dealing with them sooner.  They were almost lifting the lid off the propagator tray.

Almost peeping out of the top of the propagator.

 You can see which side was facing out of the greenhouse towards the sun!  There are plenty of sturdy stems in there ready to transplant. The tray planted by Number 2 Son had caught up and possibly surpassed the tray I planted.

More than ready to transplant!

 Playgroup were planting Lobelia and Marigolds last week and I asked if I could have their old plant trays for the next stage of Teloxys planting, further cementing my miserly credentials.

One or two plants per section.

 The Teloxys looks rather droopy at the moment but should recover after a day or two.

Hopefully they'll perk up in a few days.

 After extracting the strongest looking plants, I kept the rest in their propagators.  I'll see how they do, they might be OK as spares just in case I manage to kill the ones I transplanted.

I'll leave the rest to see how it grows.

  Because I had so many plants left, I dug out an extra planter for a few more.

Room for another 14 plants in this one.

I'll leave these to grow on for a couple of weeks and then see if they look ready for putting in the flower border.

Growing trees - Teloxys aristata (Seafoam) part 2

 By 10th May, my seedlings were starting to sprout.  The tray that Number 2 Son "helped" me plant weren't very evenly spread, but he is only 4, so he did fairly well, all things considered.

Here they come!

The tray I planted were more even and seem to be growing better.

Looking good so far...

 Should be ready to thin out and transplant into bigger pots soon.

Growing trees - Teloxys aristata (Seafoam) part 1

 I've seen Seafoam used for model trees and have always fancied using some to add extra quality to my scenery.  In keeping with my skinflint tendencies, I'd rather grow my own instead of buying the finished product.  I bought a pack of Teloxys aristata seeds last year from Chiltern's Seeds for £2.25 (along with some cherry tomatoes and some "Black Nebula" carrots), and I'm happy to invest the time in rearing these over the next few months.  A box of the fully grown sea foam would be between £15 and £15, and this should give me 10 times the amount.  I'm not likely to get a chance to use it for several months anyway, so the growing time won't be an issue.

As well as the seeds, I need a few other bits to start: seed trays and fine compost.

Compost (with scoop) and seed trays.

The seeds are tiny.  Don't sneeze whilst handling these - though with approximately 640 per packet, you can afford to lose a few.

Tiny seeds.  Gosh my hands look wrinkly.

I crumbled an inch or so of the fine compost into the trays and sprinkled the seeds thinly over the surface.  These propagators will provide a warm and cosy environment to encourage the seeds to germinate, especially as they'll be tucked away in the greenhouse too.

Propagators ready.

The last thing to do was ensure they are regularly watered, though not too much.  The water here is brown - that's not any special plant food, it's just from the bottom of our water butt, so rather cloudy.

A little drink for the plants.

The seeds were planted on 1st May and should be ready to harvest by late September.