Bonsai Project: Update 1

Back on December 31st, my kids and I planted the seeds from four different varieties of bonsai trees. The bonsai tree kit that we used was several years old. At the time I estimated that the seeds might be between three to five years old. I'm now leaning on perhaps five years or more. This was of concern when we planted the seeds given that the older the seeds are, the less likely it is that they will germinate. 

This seems to be the case with respect to three of the four varieties of trees that we planted. Only one variety - Jacaranda Mimosifolia - has sprouted. That being the case, the kit instructions did indicate that it could take between four to eight weeks for any of the seeds to germinate. We're barely at the four week mark today so there is still some hope for the others over the next several weeks. We'll keep watering them and hoping that all of the seeds we planted may sprout.

There are currently two Jacaranda Mimosifolia seedlings in one of the containers. I noticed that one seed had sprouted about a week ago. I then noticed that another one had come up several days ago. The Jacaranda is one of the prettier bonsai trees in the kit that we planted. Hopefully these two seedlings will remain strong. If they prove to be the only two seeds that sprout from this kit, then at least we'll have two potentially very beautiful bonsai trees to train and grow.

Two Jacaranda Mimosifolia seedlings

We're definitely not going to give up on the other other seeds yet. I have my doubts that the others will sprout but there is still time, at least according to the instructions that came with the bonsai kit. Time will tell...