My sister in law planted the seeds indoors first. She had plenty of seedlings but then she left them untended for few days and all of them but two died off. She planted them outdoors in her garden. I have yet to receive more current pictures but here is how did the look in mid June.
Here is info from the super tree enthusiast. I am relaying his exact words so I don't misinterpret anything or alter the meaning.
03/24/2014.
i was able to grow "super tree's" during the summer of 1999. i was working for a hobby shop in the town of middletown, ohio. the person who owned the hobby shop owned classic automobiles and would wash his cars in front of the store and the run off would always pool in this patch of dirt next to the road. it was in this spot that the super tree's grew. they grew very fast and very tall. everywhere else i grew them they would not grow, turning red and dying out. soil samples were sent to scenic express for evaluation but i never heard back on the results.
i am guessing that the amount of soap used to wash his cars had caused the soil to go very alkaline and that this may have been a key factor in how well they grew. i was unable to duplicate the results because of the store's closing. another factor to mention was how i planted them. i did not throw down seeds but planted an entire branch from the super tree package, digging a hole and placing one of the "tree's" in the hole and covering it with dirt. the plants i did grow were well over 2 foot tall and had huge "blooms" to them.
you could try this to see if it makes a difference. i do not have any seeds at the moment or i would try this myself. i am currently growing sagebrush in my basement to see how well it grows here in ohio. i hope this helps you and remember some seeds need to germinate on the surface rather than being planted in the dirt. this is also a possibility since the super tree's are cousins to sagebrush and it must have it's seeds germinate on the surface too.
03/25/2014
i forgot to mention there was one spot that it grew, in the same area, that i couldn't explain. we had a seminar on building tree's and we did it outdoors. the wind caught some of our stuff and blew some super tree material into the grass and the stuff grew. i'm starting to wonder if the branch structure might hold some key nutrient it needs to germinate properly. but then again, my sagebrush died that was planted in the soil but the seeds i put on top of the soil did just fine.
04/26/2014
just bought a box of supertree's to get the seeds. going to try to grow them in the basement under various conditions to see what works best.
07/29/2014
planted some in a party cup back in march. I have them sitting outside and they have been since since the last of may. not really excited about their growth. they seem to be not growing too well. I planted some in planters last month. all three planters are full on little plants but nothing to really get excited about. the weather here has been very cool and lots of rain. it seems to rain all the time and tonight it's 61. we had no days above 85 in july which is a record for us. I'm in Miamisburg, ohio which is a southern suburb of Dayton. not sure if it's the cool weather or all the rain.
08/01/2014
here's a pic. soil is "happy frog", have not watered at all, full sun.
08/04/2014
they seem to hate salt based fertilizers like miracle grow. i use all organic stuff and the soil i used already has that in it. i'll transplant a couple in other pots to see how it reacts. the other pot i'll thin out. so far, so good. the soil i used is not happy frog but promix bx. i got the two mixed up.
08/07/2014
... i've not done a thing to the plants. i've not watered them or fertilized them or anything. these things are growing like crazy. for a plant i've not touched, they sure do grow great. too bad my garden plants won't grow like this. i'm actually afraid to do anything with them since they are growing so well. really, the dirt is really high quality and has all sorts of good stuff in it so i'm going to leave them alone and see how they do. they are in full sun and they seem to do really well in the sun. last time i grew these, i did fertilize with miracle grow but when they are small, they seem to turn red if you fertilize too early. this is the first time i've had them grow this well.
08/13/2014
here's a head's up on what's going on here. of the 3 plants, or containers of plants, the container that has been watered using miracle grow has begun to spike out and turn yellow at the tips. the other container is green and healthy and has been watered with organic fertilizer. the third smaller batch is doing well and has been fed the organic fertilizer as well. the temps here have been cool and we are going into another cool blast with highs in the lower 70's and lows in the 50's. i have now stopped using the miracle grow to see if i can reverse the effects and save the plants. as a note, i always make sure i remove all chlorine from the water before using it if i do not have rain water on hand. i do this by using an aquarium pump and air stone to oxygenate the water and i also use a chlorine remover intended for fish tanks.
08/21/2014
08/31/2014
As for myself, I dragged my feet for some time. Then my last tropical fish went belly up and I decided to give up my fish tank hobby. I've never been good at it anyway. I wanted to remove all setup from the room it was in but then I realized it had decent lighting system that I had built up and I could use it for super trees. But then I went on a trip, then another one. It wasn't until August I planted some seeds. I started with 3 hours of artificial light in the morning and another 3 in the evening relying on the light coming trough the window for the rest of the time. The plants looked tall and thin so increased time I have light on to 4 and 4. I still may need to add more. Meanwhile temperature outside has dropped below 90 so planted few plants in a pot and moved outside. We should have worm enough and not too hot temperatures for another 6 weeks.
