Tag Archives: Sassafras

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Sassafras Seeds

I found some sassafras fruit on one of our trees. I had wondered if the late spring frosts had trashed the blossoms but it appears that at least a few survived.

I checked out the US Forest Service’s Silvics Manual and this is what it had to say about the fruit.

Flowering and Fruiting- Sassafras is dioecious. Greenish-yellow flowers appear in March and April as the leaves unfold. They develop in loose, drooping few-flowered axillary racemes.

The fruit, 8 to 13 mm (0.3 to 0.5 in) long, is a single-seeded dark-blue drupe. It matures in August and September of the first year. The fruit is borne on a thickened red pedicel, and the pulpy flesh covers the seed.

Seed Production and Dissemination- Seed production begins when trees approach 10 years of age and is greatest when trees are 25 to 50 years old.Good seed crops are produced every 1 or 2 years (2). There are 8,800 to 13,200 seeds/kg (4,000 to 6,000/lb) and soundness is 35 percent. Birds are principal agents of seed dissemination, with water a secondary agent. Some seeds probably are distributed by small mammals.

Seedling Development- Sassafras seed usually remains dormant until spring, although some early maturing seed may germinate in fall. The limit for storage of sassafras in the forest floor is about 6 years (15). Stratification for 120 days in moist sand at 5° C (41° F) breaks natural dormancy (2). The best seedbed is a moist, rich, loamy soil with a protective cover of leaves and litter. Germination is hypogeal.

I had always heard that you had to plant the seed as soon as it ripened but according to this that isn’t the case. If there are any that escape the birds I believe I’ll try my hand at getting some to germinate.

I have 3 seedlings that I dug late last winter in 1 gallon pots that are doing great. They were all under 1′ and still dormant when I dug them. I noticed a half a dozen or so coming up with the broccoli in the garden. I’ll wait till they go dormant this fall and dig those too. Might make some good trading material this winter/next spring.

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Japanese Beetles – arrrrgggg

The Japanese Beetles are here in full force. They are on many of my ornamentals but seem to prefer the sassafras and blackberries. Fortunately, we have 3 very large sassafras trees in the yard. They seem to be congregating there more than anywhere else. That is probably what is saving a lot of my other plantings. This is really gross but there are so many of them on the sassafras trees that when you stand next to them you can hear the frass (bug poop) dropping from the leaves. It sounds like rain.

As can be seen by the picture they skeletonize the leaves. It looks like fall under the sassafras trees right now. Some people use traps to try to trap them out but that can actually increase your problems. Word goes out that something tasty is in your yard (the lure in the trap) and beetles from all over the neighborhood come to your yard. Not all are trapped and the ones that aren’t are looking for a free meal aka your garden. There is a lawn treatment of Milky Spore but that doesn’t do much unless the entire neighborhood does it to. I could spray but they will only be around for several more weeks mating then the females will lay their eggs in the lawn. These will hatch into c shaped grubs that will feed on the grass roots and emerge next summer as adults. So, for now I pick off what I can, stay out from under the sassafras and hope they leave quickly.