Lawson cypress from seed

[Paul in the woods]

Does anyone know the best time to sow Lawson cypress seed? I've collected some from a tree I felled in my woodland and a test shows its viable. Should I sow now and over winter the seedlings or wait until spring?

[JSN]

The seeds need a period of cold temperature before it’ll germinate - vernalisation.  You could sow now and let nature take care of this, or follow the instructions here:

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana - Forest Research

WWW.FORESTRESEARCH.GOV.UK

 

[devon TWiG]

23 hours ago, Paul in the woods said:

Does anyone know the best time to sow Lawson cypress seed? I've collected some from a tree I felled in my woodland and a test shows its viable. Should I sow now and over winter the seedlings or wait until spring?

Why would you want Lawsons Cypress in your woodland , they are horrible urban things !!!

[Paul in the woods]

19 hours ago, JSN said:

The seeds need a period of cold temperature before it’ll germinate - vernalisation.  You could sow now and let nature take care of this, or follow the instructions here:

Chamaecyparis lawsoniana - Forest Research

WWW.FORESTRESEARCH.GOV.UK

 

Thanks for the link, I don't think I've come across that before. I suppose the seed hasn't gone dormant yet but I've plenty to try a few methods with.

[Paul in the woods]

4 minutes ago, devon TWiG said:

Why would you want Lawsons Cypress in your woodland , they are horrible urban things !!!

I've just planted out some Leylandii....

 

I'm planting a large mix of trees for future uses. The Lawsons I took down had produced far more wood than any other trees planted at the same time and I've managed to get a good number of fence posts out of it. Not everything grows well down here or will grow to a useful size in a reasonable size.

[Squaredy]

1 hour ago, devon TWiG said:

Why would you want Lawsons Cypress in your woodland , they are horrible urban things !!!

Lots of people plant western red cedar.  Correct me if I am wrong but WRC and Lawson Cypress are very close relatives.

[devon TWiG]

41 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Lots of people plant western red cedar.  Correct me if I am wrong but WRC and Lawson Cypress are very close relatives.

They may look similar but botanically not very close , WRC has good rot resistance I do not think lawsons does , I not aware of any demand for LC either as it does not have much use / value , they also always seem to fork and become multi stemmed providing not much useful sawlogs , also they are just horrid things , I have rarely seen them in a plantation and I would never consider them , I have planted a fair few WRC's in my own woodland but that is mostly for their shade tolerance and screening ...

 

[Squaredy]

13 minutes ago, devon TWiG said:

They may look similar but botanically not very close , WRC has good rot resistance I do not think lawsons does , I not aware of any demand for LC either as it does not have much use / value , they also always seem to fork and become multi stemmed providing not much useful sawlogs , also they are just horrid things , I have rarely seen them in a plantation and I would never consider them , I have planted a fair few WRC's in my own woodland but that is mostly for their shade tolerance and screening ...

 

Well I know it is a highly valued timber tree in America.  Maybe not much planted in the uk, but then neither is leylandii which is also an excellent timber.  And when you say botanically not very close - they are both Cypresses.  Hope much closer do you want?!

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, Squaredy said:

Well I know it is a highly valued timber tree in America.  Maybe not much planted in the uk, but then neither is leylandii which is also an excellent timber.  And when you say botanically not very close - they are both Cypresses.  Hope much closer do you want?!

It is  regarded as rot resistant heartwood and forest grown produces clean knot free, lightweight, strong timber. Port Orford cedar to the timber trade.

 

In my youth archery arrow shafts  were imported from north america.

 

 

[timberonabike]

Having had a block of Lawson Cypress, it's not that bad. The piles left behind by a previous forestry operation 30 years before were certainly pretty hard when we encountered them. 

We also milled some for garden fencing, dried it and sent for tanalising. We were quite happy it sucked the tanalising tank dry, the owner wasn't 😄.