Germinating Pinyon Pine Seeds

Pinyon pines are extremely slow-growing members of the pine famly. The seeds are difficult to germinate, and the seedlings themselves are tender and not very resilient. However, once established, a pinyon can grow for centuries.

It may take a pinyon tree 35 years to actually produce viable seeds, and over a century to produce a good crop of them.

Pinyon seeds are extraordinarily hard to cultivate. If you really want to try your hand at growing them from seed, there are methods you can use to make your job easier.

Once established, pinyon are beautiful trees, providing color, cover, nesting areas and food for wildlife, clean fresh scents in the air and wonderful tasting nuts. The wood is also extremely aromatic and fresh when burned in a fireplace.

Whether you live in colder areas or higher elevations or in warmer climates and lower elevations, you can, slowly and with some difficulty, germinate pinyon.

The seeds cannot germinate without stratification, so make sure you understand the process.

Germinating pinyon in colder areas

If you live in higher elevations or areas with cold winters, you can plant the seeds right into tubes after you harvest them. Bury three or four seeds about one-eighth of an inch deep. Not take the tubes outside and expose them to the weather. Good hard freezes are helpful to germination.

In the spring, after the soil thaws, water the plants deeply. Keep them watered and in the tubes for about a year.

There are animals which love to munch on the tender young needles and the soft bark of pinyon, so protect the seedlings from them (you can put a cage made of chicken wire or some other sort of fencing material over the seedlings).

Transplant the seedlings the next spring, after spring thaw. You’re going to need to keep them watered (and protected) for at least another two years.

Germinating Pinyon in Warmer Climates

If you live in warmer climates, you can take the seeds (with seed coatings removed), mix them in moistened perlite, seal the entire mixture in a plastic bag. Then squeeze the air out of the bag, seal it and put in the back of the refrigerator.

Mold may occur, so check the seeds at least once a week. If there is mold, open the bag and throw the moldy parts away. Also, check the perlite. If it is dry, remoisten it, and reseal the bag. Keep the bag in the refrigerator until the seeds germinate (one to three months).

And don’t be disappointed at the small amount of seeds that germinate.

Plant two or three germinated seeds in deep tree tubes filled with well-drained soil (preferably native soil). Make sure the roots point straight down., and the tops of the seeds are covered by about an eighth inch of soil. You should then put the tubes, sitting straight up, on the east or north side of some sort of your home, another type of windbreak or some structure. You could even put them under another tree. Just make sure that there is filtered, not direct, sunlight. And protect them from marauding animals.

The soil must be kept moist so water at least once a week. Check it more often though, because if the soil dries out, you might have to water more frequently.

Keep them in the tubes for about 12 months. After that, plant the year-old seedlings in the fall, preferably in native soil. After a good fall rain is the best time. If the weather is hot, protect the replanted seedlings from the sun.

Build a berm or a swale around the plant, making sure that it is high enough to hold water, especially if the seedlings is planted on a slope.

You’re not done yet!

You’ll need to water these seedlings deeply, but not regularly for the next year.

Related articles:

1. Pinyon: The Desert Pine
2. Pinyon Pine for the Holidays
3. Low-Water Use Shrubs and Trees
4. How to cold stratify seeds
5. Stratifying Desert Plant Seeds