Nature and Gardening

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Lindera benzoin germinating (beehaw.org)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by LallyLuckFarm to c/greenspace

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[Image description: the very first growth from a Lindera benzoin seed has just emerged]

Here's a shot of one of the hundreds of seeds I transplanted yesterday. Lindera benzoin is also known as spicebush and is a critical plant for the spicebush swallowtail butterfly

We had them cold stratifying (a process that involves storing at low temperatures to overcome seed dormancy) in a five gallon bucket in a roughly 3 foot/ 1 meter pile of wood chips from the drop we had last year. They were stored in a substrate of aged wood chips, compost, rabbit droppings, and biochar we had soaked in our duck pond by using a recycled onion sack.

They were removed from the bucket and transferred to an air prune box, where we'll grow them for a year before planting a good portion of them on the property and (fingers crossed) sell the rest to pay for my plant addiction.

Edit to show how cool the spicebush swallowtail is

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[–] The_Sasswagon 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That sounds great, I hope they take well! It sounds like you have a pretty cool setup, ducks, rabbits, biochar all doing their thing.

I don't do much seed propagation (yet) but my partner has charged me with taking care of the recently sprouted broccoli, leeks, and checkermallow. Soon I think they are starting potatoes to sprout, and judging by the variety of seeds we've got cold stratifying, probably a lot more.

[–] LallyLuckFarm 3 points 8 months ago

Thank you for the well wishes! I've got one 5 year old pawpaw that's started suckering its colony but want more genetic variety for sure. And yeah, lots going on around here that I try to stay on top of.

Best of luck with all those sprouts, and I encourage you to post about things as they're developing; I'm always happy to help and there are some other folks on here I consider much better educated about plants than me.

[–] MxRemy@lemmy.one 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That swallowtail has excellent taste... spicebush is delicious 😌👌

[–] LallyLuckFarm 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Would you be willing to share how you like to use them? I'm planning to give some to family and would like to have a few things they can do with them

[–] MxRemy@lemmy.one 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Sure! I mostly grind dried parts of them into spice mixes, i.e. seeds, bark, leaves. It's got kind of a peppery, citrussy, piney flavor. I like it in pancakes, yogurt, curry, tea... lotsa stuff.

[–] LallyLuckFarm 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Rad, thank you! Most of what I've seen elsewhere has focused on using the berries so knowing that the other parts can be used as well is awesome

[–] MxRemy@lemmy.one 2 points 8 months ago

Oh yeah! And what's even more fun, each part has a slightly different flavor. Even the berries taste different green vs red, with vs without seed, etc. It's really versatile.