Direct Seeded Seabuckthorn in Maine

Last September I direct seeded some Seabuckthorn (Seaberry) seeds into the soil in Central Maine.  

Let me tell you a little bit about the location.  Seboeis is a Plantation. The title of Plantation is a designation Maine uses for villages with tiny populations.  In the population is currently hovering around 28 persons.  The Plantation covers about 41 square miles or about 26 thousand acres (10521 hectres). The average summer temperature is near 70 degrees F and the winter average temperature is near 15 degrees F 

My piece of the plantation is 45 acres.  It is mostly wooded and I am working on a field of @ 5-8 acres.  This is a process which will likely take a few years but it will serve multiple purposes including Seaberry production and propagation.

Back to the September 2011 Seabuckthorn seedlings in Seboeis Maine.....  

click on photo to enlarge and see the sprouted seedlings Age @ 1 month

Growth was slow and the seedlings were covered in snow by  December

Another December photo of snow covered Seabuckthorn Seedlings (seed origin China)

May 2012 Update:

All the seedlings did not survive the winter.  Some have however and it is amazing their hardiness.  The winter was cold and had a limited amount of snow.  Some years the ground is blanketed with 40 inches of snow which would protect the plants from large fluctuations in temperature.  Last winter the snow cover averaged less than 12 inches and the average low temperature hovered around 0 degrees Fahrenheit  (-18 Celsius )

Direct seeded Fall 2011 current photo as of May 2012

The survivors are stout and hopefully have a strong future.  I also hope they are genetically more adapted to fall seeding.

another view of a direct seeded Maine Seabuckthorn seed.

Seabuckthorn seeds direct seeded May 2012 in Seboeis Maine

Seven day seedling progress.  Planted in Seboeis Maine.  The photo (click to enlarge) shows some variation in development and this "scattering and scratching in" of seeds has some at the surface.  Seeds were kept moist at all times.  Next weeks visit will be interesting to see the last 4 weeks of progress.  Mother nature has been good while I was away from the Maine location.  It has rained over 8 inches so drying out shouldn't have been as much of a problem as it could have been.