mistletoe

[Catwheazle]

I kept the seeds of my mistletoes in the fridge until the right time. (damp, so they do not run out)

[ashley]

When sowing seeds last March unfortunately I didn't notice that an oak branch used was already dying
Therefore I've tried to transplant the seedlings before they attach to the host cambium, this time onto healthy mountain ash & horse chestnut.
Time will tell whether they 'take'.

[Gabriela]

When sowing seeds last March unfortunately I didn't notice that an oak branch used was already dying
Therefore I've tried to transplant the seedlings before they attach to the host cambium, this time onto healthy mountain ash & horse chestnut.
Time will tell whether they 'take'.

Very cool pictures of the little mistletoes seedlings!
I hope they manage to attach to the new hosts.

[AnJo11]

aliens seeds !  they look terrible...
thanks for these pict.
Thanks to all these tips, I feel ready to try the experience next year.
Mistletoe is present in the region, but very locally, and not very common finally. Here, apart from a few old fruit-trees, like apple tree in gardens, we find it scarcely on poplars, of plantations, the wild ones being generally unscathed.

[Bart]

So cool! I bought some mistletoe at Christmas from the local florist and hung it in a cold summerhouse. Last week I removed the dried up and shrivelled remains and remembered this thread and pushed a few seeds in slits in the bark of an apple tree. Today I noticed a change:



It is weird to see these protuberances emerging! And so fast- I got used to staring at pots of seeds from the exchange  for 2 years before anything happens, if at all 
The children were appalled as to why I would do this to a tree....
Would be nice to see yours, Bernd, one year on.

[Catwheazle]

failed 

[Bart]

Update: For the first time a seedling has not dried off over summer. I wonder if it will survive winter, and if a leaf will appear? Has anyone else had a succession after the seedling stage?

[partisangardener]

Usually in every attempt but never near 50 %, about 10 to 20% for the first leaf. Still losing plants from this early stage.
The embryo  assimilates all the time, so dark storage or even attachment to a tree with some Duck-tape failed always with me.
After the third year I had twice surviving plants after loosing everything above the bark.
They grew out of the "root" under the bark, several shoots at once.

Best success on younger twigs. If the bark is too thick peeling will help. There seems to be a variation in host trees here in Germany.
Near Berlin I found them among the usual ones on birch trees there.
Not here in the southern part of Germany. But seeds from this birch growing ones, grow now here in the Botanical Garden Bayreuth on several Birch species. 
Apart from the host tree I could not find differences. Birch bark is because of its papery peeling a bit difficult.

[Vinny 123]

All parts of the plant are mildly toxic, strange that birds eat the berries, unless, like yew, the pulp is actually non-toxic.

I used to be a very regular traveller along the UK M5 and there are (or were) huge numbers of willows with mistletoe within 50m or so of the hard shoulder over a stretch of a few miles (I can't remember where exactly, but more on the western side than the eastern and well south of B'ham), most of it high or very high up. It is/was extremely obvious once the leaves had fallen, but if you knew where it was it was reasonably easy to pick out amongst the willow leaves at any time.

[Ali Baba]

Update: For the first time a seedling has not dried off over summer. I wonder if it will survive winter, and if a leaf will appear? Has anyone else had a succession after the seedling stage?

(Attachment Link)

Quite easy on cultivated apple if you sow the seed on branches that aren't more than a couple of inches (5cm) in diameter, and protect the young seeds from predation by snails and birds (a grease band for the former and a wire netting tube for the latter). I had over 50% success rate of mature plants on an old apple on my former allotment like this.
Also I have managed to establish it on a large tree of Malus hybrid (one of the ornamental purple leaved forms) in my current garden. This was much more difficult and only succeeded in getting 3 out of 25 seeds to grow to maturity. Don't bother trying to sow on oak, it is practically unknown as a host in the UK.

A couple of points to note:

You don't need to make slits in the bark, just place the seeds on the bark.

Nor do you need to attach them with anything, once dry the glue around the seeds is unmovable by any normal weather.

The berries are properly ripe around the end of March, so one reason 'Christmas mistletoe' fails is that the seed just isn't mature enough. Once ripe the seeds will begin to germinate in the fruit and you will have the best results if you sow at this stage.
By mid March the seeds are usually gone overnight (Blackcaps love them) so if you are planning on collecting your own from a suitable wild bunch you will need to net the fruit until it's ripe.

[François Lambert]

Discovered these young plants of mistletoe in a young poplar.  I guess they must be in their third year on the tree.  Quite interesting is how the poplar has an inflated branch where the mistletoe germinated, like the tree is making some huge knot round the intruders.

[ian mcdonald]

I found three large bunches of Mistletoe on a young poplar near doncaster. When the council found out they had the tree cut down.

[partisangardener]

Discovered these young plants of mistletoe in a young poplar.  I guess they must be in their third year on the tree.  Quite interesting is how the poplar has an inflated branch where the mistletoe germinated, like the tree is making some huge knot round the intruders.

The huge knot is part of the intruder under the bark. Mistletoe age is most times relative easy. Count the divisions and ad one or two years.
I think this one is at least 5 years old (I believe more)

[François Lambert]

Hello Partisangardener, this mistletoe can't be very old.  I planted the poplar in 2008 and given the branch on which it's growing I guess this branch only was 'made' by the tree at best 6 or 7 year ago.  counting the divisions, it seems there are max two divisions yet on each one of the mistletoes, but I looks like there are several mistletoes growing together on the same spot.  Higher up in the tree there are a two more mistletoes growing, but these are harder to take a picture of.

[partisangardener]

This should be one plant. Some make new shoots from under the bark. Sometimes they loose the main-shoot and then it is much more likely to grow multiple new ones.

First division is just above the bark. The second a few centimeters above, then the distance gets more spacey.

So this would be at least 4 years, but to grow such thick system under the bark I would suppose more than two years extra.
Mistletoe grows only a division on its end, with each a pair of leafs. Some get lost but this is a guideline. First leaf-pair after a year.