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Joe Facendola is conducting a new kind of experiment within Torreya Guardians. Potted seedlings were planted into his backyard in 2023 and 2024. But instead of planting them singly, he established 3 clumps of 3 seedlings each.

SITE CONDITIONS: November 2024 Joe writes,

The time and amount of shade varies seasonally. With the sun at a low angle during the winter, that area only has direct sun for a couple of hours during the middle of the day. Once the trees all drop their leaves, that area receives a decent amount of filtered sun through the bare branches during the cool months. During the summer with the sun high in the sky, that area has direct sun from mid morning until early afternoon. The center group of Torreya has been in place for a bit over a year, and the new growth they put out is relatively compact compared to the potted seedlings which were in part shade.

PLANTING PATTERN & INTENT:

My first planting in 2023 consisted of 3 seedlings planted in a tight clump (at least 15' away from any other planting/fence). I thought I only had room for just one fully grown tree, so I did that primarily to increase my chances of having at least one stem that produces seed and one that produces pollen. I was also hoping that the 3 clumped seedlings will adapt into growth forms producing something that looks like a single dense tree. Given my experience with Clinton and Mt. Olive trees, I'm starting to think there is a good chance some seedlings will be monoecious.

ABOVE: The first clump of three seedlings (planted in 2023), as they appear in November 2024.
The individual seedlings are spaced 6 to 7 inches apart in a triangle.

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Two more clumps of 3 added in 2024

In 2024 I added 2 more clumps, each with 3 seedlings. I ended up spacing my clump plantings 10 feet on center (like Fred Bess's trees in Ohio).

Some of the seedlings already are starting to put up basal sprouts, so this should be interesting to see progress.

My goal is to optimize seed production with this group of 9 trees. The middle clump has already been in the ground for 1 year, and has grown more "full" compared to the seedlings which have been kept in pots.

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Seed Source

These seedlings were all collected as 1 or 2 year old seedlings that were growing under the parent trees in 2020 or 2021 in Clinton and Mt. Olive, NC. I collected them with the homeonwer's permission, while I was doing my annual seed collection at both properties (see below). They are all likely about 5 years post germination.

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Volunteer Seed Collector

EDITOR'S NOTE: Since 2019, Joe Facendola has been collecting Florida Torreya seeds in early November from the annual seed production at private homes in Clinton and Mt. Olive, NC. He distributes seeds in accordance with a state-by-state list of volunteers who have contacted Torreya Guardians for beginning (or expanding) planting experiments of their own.

 

ABOVE: JOE collected 1,480 seeds at the pair of Mt Olive NC torreyas on 7 November 2021. Joe reports that Mrs. Bullard authorized his collection of 3 small seedlings this year, as well.

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ABOVE: 2023 harvest from two Mt. Olive trees and one Clinton tree.

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2024: Approx. 600 seeds from Mt. Olive and 650 from Clinton. LEFT: Approx. 600 cleaned seeds collected from the pair of torreya trees in Mt. Olive. They are sitting in a half-inch mesh screen tray. Remnants of the sarcotesta that were squished off, then rinsed with the hose, are below the screen frame. METHOD: I first soak the collected whole seeds for 2 or 3 days, changing the water daily. Next I dump them out onto a .5" wire screen. I use a gloved hand to squish them around to remove the softened sarcotesta, and blast them with a jet of water from the hose while shaking the screen. They get dumped back into the bucket and rinsed with a jet of water from the hose again before getting one final rinse on the screen.

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