Pine Parenthood
Posted by Rickie Beck on September 22, 2003
Q: I have a row of Norway spruce trees that have had a bumper crop of cones this year. They nearlyall dropped on the same day, and I have been gathering them before the squirrels eat them all. They are green and tightly closed. I read that I should put them someplace dry and keep them in one layer. I can't find out how long it takes for them to turn brown. Years? Months? Weeks?
Thanks for your help, and for your helpful site.
—RB
A: Your cones are not mature so the seeds inside won't germinate. Spruce cones become brown at maturity and then soon after fall from the tree. Did you have a strong wind that may have shaken the cones from your trees all at once?
Sorry, but the green cones won't mature off the tree so you may as well compost them. Spruce cones mature in one season and by fall, your cones, if they had stayed on the trees, would have become brown and have seeds that would sprout the following spring.
John Wiessinger ( September 22, 2003)