Sown seeds of the wych elm are growing

June 10, 2020

teaser-bildSeedbed with sown seeds of the wych elm (Photo: Raimund Knauf)

On May 18 we picked seeds from the lower branches of the old wych elm in Rohren. Two small but full bags of seeds were selected in the evening for well developed seed fruits...

These fruits are about the size and thickness of a lentil. The selection is a lengthy manual work, in which the seeds are checked by light pressure between thumb and index finger.

The sorted material was stored cool and placed on a seed bed on May 20. We had the expert support of Raimund Knauf from the Institute of Biology I (Botany/Molecular Genetics) at the RWTH Aachen University, who volunteered to do the cultivation. Since the mountain elm is described having seeds germinating in light only, the seed was pressed on humusy soil and kept moist It is also important that sowing begins shortly after seed ripeness, as the seed should only be germinable for a few days. In fact, the germination success could already be observed on June 2. One week later, the first leaves of the small elms, following the cotyledons, developed. They still lack the typical shape of older leaves with an asymmetrical leaf base and a triple-pointed lamina.

If the development continues to be so successful, the trees will be planted out in the further vicinity of Rohren on selected sites in the future.

Fruits of the wych elm
Unusual in shape (Foto: R. Knauf)

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