Germinating catalpa seeds?

Good morning folks,

I collected quite a few catalpa seeds recently, but I'm not sure what conditions these guys favor for germination--light, dark, cool, warm, etc.....

I'd love to hear from anyone who's had experience getting these trees started. :)

Thanks a bunch!

Heather

I wintersowed some in January and they have started to come up. I don't think they need stratifying but I didn't have the room inside. This is my first time sowing catalpa seeds. Go ahead and sow some since you have plenty.

Digs

Oh wow, that's cool, Digs! I had no idea if there was going to be some trick with these or not.

Thanks!

Your welcome. Hope you're successful.
Digs

I'm lucky to walk my dog in the arboretum of Canada's experimental farm, here in Ottawa, and we have a section devoted to catalpa. I'm interested to know what varieties you folks are growing... and are they trees or multi-branched shrubs? Deciduous in your parts?

Most of the catalpas look about only 10 years old, but last year the oldest one had to be taken out because of massive crown damage from an ice storm. The trunk was over 5 ft in diameter, a huge specimen. Such a loss.

I ask because I want to plant a catalpa in a border of a parking lot (I live in the middle of the city) and I'm wondering about varieties, growth habits, roots/underground cables, etc. Any advice would be appreciated.

Mine are Southern Catalpa and they are decidious. You might want to collect seeds from the arboretum, if allowed, for growing in your area. They are fast growing and somewhere I read that they have been grown to be used as fenceposts. Surface roots may be a problem because of it's fast growth. Most of the ones I've seen are small trees, no more than 30 feet and they have plenty of room to spread out. In the late summer they are covered with worms that folks around here use for fish bait. Wise people do not plant them near there houses because when the worms get ready to pupate, they vacate the trees and crawl over everything and into your living spaces. Gorgous flowers in the spring, however.
Hope this helps.
Digs

This is very useful, Digs. The worms wouldn't likely be a problem here because of our cold winter... but the Southern Catalpa might also not survive. There are about 20 specimens at the arboretum, so I will check their labels next time I'm there to determine varieties. And I hope I can do this for those gorgeous spring blooms! --A

Yeah, the catalpa worms are definitely prized by southern fishermen--funny though, I don't recall seeing any of them on either of my trees.... (the worms--well, not the fishermen either, for that matter--lol!)

Mine are way out in the "back forty", so I don't know how extensive their root systems are, etc. I do know that I am a tad jealous, Andy, for the northern-type that grow in your neck of the woods have bigger, showier flowers than their southern cousins. :)

Mebbe you're crabby, but I like your sense of humour! And yes, the blooms here are spectacular. I'll try to remember to take some photos this spring of one tree that dazzles me every year.

If you're going to plant catalpa, be prepared. Growing up in Mass, we had 2 large catalpas. Great shade trees, but they have sticky sappy flowers in spring that fall like snow (picture large sticky apple blossoms), long pods (I forget when they fall), and large leaves, which tend to fall all at once when they warm up after the first fall frost (was lucky enough for these to all fall down on my wedding day in October--Dad was mortified because he'd spent all week cleaning up the yard. The sap (don't know whether this is the correct term) always got all over the cars, since the tree was at the edge of the driveway....