Potting Ginkgo Seedlings

October 3, 2024

At my Bedford, New York farm, I have thousands and thousands of trees, and sometimes they have "babies" of their own.

Ginkgo biloba, commonly known as ginkgo or gingko, and also known as the maidenhair tree, is the only living species in the division Ginkgophyta. It is found in fossils dating back 270-million years. Native to China, the ginkgo tree is widely cultivated, and was cultivated early in human history. I have many ginkgo trees at my farm, especially in and around my Summer House Garden. Recently, I noticed many seedlings growing in the ground nearby, so I had a selection of them dug up and repotted so they could be nurtured in one of my greenhouses until they are transplanted in more permanent locations.

Enjoy these photos.

: This is the great ginkgo tree in the back of my Summer House sunken garden in spring. This parterre garden is very formal and focused on the giant tree. The other green trees are younger ginkgoes. The ginkgo grows to about 50 to 80-feet tall with a spread of 25 to 35-feet at maturity.

: The younger ginkgo trees are planted on both sides of the footpath in this garden. The ginkgo is considered both a shade tree and an ornamental tree and features a spreading canopy.

: The leaves of the ginkgo are unusually fan-shaped, up to three-inches long, with a petiole that is also up to three-inches long. This shape and the elongated petiole cause the foliage to flutter in the slightest breeze. They are bold green in summer.

: Starting in late September, one can see a slight change to the color of the leaves – they’re starting to turn. A couple of weeks later, many of the changing leaves are two-toned, with separate bands of gold and green.

: Finally, Ginkgo bilobas turn an amazing golden-yellow and then all at once, after the hard frost, they drop their leaves – it’s a complex phenomenon of nature.

: Female ginkgo trees produce tan-orange oval fruits that fall to the ground in October and November.

: Here is a closer look at the fruit, which is small and fleshy – about the size of small jujube, or Chinese date.

: Inside is a single hard-shelled seed enclosing an edible kernel. The kernels are often roasted and used in Asian cuisines.

: This ginkgo tree is outside my sunken garden. Like the giant tree, this one is a female, and drops many of its fruits on the ground every year.

: Many of them were pollinated by male trees to make these “babies.” I saw a large area filled with ginkgo seedlings just growing under the trees. Before blowing the leaves and weed whacking any unwanted growth in the area, I made sure some of these seedlings were dug up.

: Adan from my outdoor grounds crew uses a shovel to gently dig around the base of the seedling, loosening the soil and exposing the root ball.

: These “babies” are not difficult to dig up – it took only minutes to collect about 50 seedlings.

: Each mature leaf often has a single vertical slit in the top center. This forms the fan with a cavity in the middle separating it into two lobes. Bi-loba means “with two lobes”.

: Adan digs up as much of the root ball as possible when he extracts he plant.

: Here he carefully places each seedling into a trug bucket for transporting to the greenhouse.

: Ginkgo seedlings do well with a well-draining soil mix that includes a blend of peat, perlite, and vermiculite.

: Seedlings can safely be potted into individual pots when they are large enough to handle.

: After placing the seeding in its container, Josh backfills and tamps down lightly to remove any air pockets.

: All these seedlings look very healthy – they should do well in these pots. Each one will grow into its own ginkgo tree.

: Finally, the pots are loaded onto our trusted Polaris and brought down to the hoop house where they can be nurtured for at least a year before getting planted in their more permanent locations.