Ash trees...Good News!

[Woodbloke]

According to Ch4 news this evening, there's been a breakthrough. Boffins have been able to germinate and grow hundreds of ash 'die back' resistant seedlings in a week or so; I didn't fully understand what they'd done or how but it seemed pretty impressive...also that the technique could be done at home on the kitchen table - Rob

 

[Cabinetman]

Well that’s good news for my Grandchildren, particularly if they’re going to be woodworkers. One of my favourite woods.

 

[Windows]

From the press release:

The technique involves carefully extracting the embryo from the seed coat using a knife and tweezers and placing it on an agar nutrient jelly to give this slow starter a helping hand.

Dr Elizabeth Orton, a John Innes Centre researcher and first author of the study, said: “Ash seed usually takes two to three years to germinate in the wild, and we have reduced this to about a week in the lab. We have produced hundreds of seedlings rapidly for experimentation, for our seed orchard or for planting in the wild.”

 

[Accipiter]

Channel 4 news... I'd heard from somewhere that some Ash trees appeared to be fighting back (as such) and regenerating from the fungus cause... but

Hope for Britain’s Ash trees thanks to scientific ‘eureka’ moment

Scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norwich have found a way to speed up the germination of seeds, allowing disease-resistant Ash trees to grow, writes Alex Thomson.

www.channel4.com

 

[Lurker]

There’s an ash tree at the bottom of our garden (not on our land) .
It is always the last tree around to leaf and I keep assuming that it has succumbed. But it it’s just coming into leaf at the moment.

 

[Accipiter]

I hope these scientists give the recipe for the concoction they used to help germinate the Ash seeds - and soon. The Japanese White Bark Beech ('Fagus cranata' or 'Buna') is in decline.

Over the last five/six years I've attempted to get the 'seeds' from these to germinate - having obtained the beech nuts from Heron's Bonsai. From around 580~610 nuts I have only had one germinate on 15th May 2024 - one more than Peter Chan, owner of Heron's Bonsai who has tried for many years.

 

[Woodbloke]

I hope these scientists give the recipe for the concoction they used to help germinate the Ash seeds - and soon. The Japanese White Bark Beech ('Fagus cranata' or 'Buna') is in decline.

On the last section on the Ch4 News, the presenter (Alex Thompson) mentioned that the technique could be done at home and implied that we should be encouraged to have a go, so my guess is that the aforementioned recipe for seed germination ought to be readily available somewhere - Rob

 

[Accipiter]

I just revisited the link to the Channel 4news article Rob... reread this bit:
"Indeed the science is so simple, the ingredients so ubiquitous, that the next stage is to put out a simple recipe that you, me and all of us can perform on the kitchen table."

Hopefully they won't be too ling in doing so. Maybe I'll try to contact them and ask for more information because of my interest in the Japanese Beech - and also the Japanese Hawthorn (Crataegus cuneata). The seeds from these take two years to germinate - if they will! - same with English hawthorns. I'm now getting on in years and don't feel I have the time to wait - Bonsai take years to develop from seed.