Growing Subalpine Fir From Seed

Subalpine fir, otherwise known as Rocky Mountain fir or balsam fir is an alpine and subalpine conifer tree of western North America. It likes growing at altitude, often to the tree line in a variety of soils from rich to rocky or clay soils. It's an important symbol of the Canadian Rockies; uses for paper and pulp, and important for habitat and as a seed food source for small mammals.

This article is about how to grow subalpine fir, but the same idea could apply to growing any fir tree from seed. This is the most effective way to start fir trees as they don't root easily from cuttings and they don't send up suckers from the ground for dividing.

Collecting the Seeds

Start by collecting seeds from ripe cones. Fir trees have them standing straight up on-top of branches, high at the top of the tree where you can't see them. You can identify Subalpine fir by flexible needles with rounded ends that point upwards, with two bands of light stripes underneath.

The bark has a somewhat horizontal pattern of resin sacks (smooth raised bumps). Collecting the cones can be a challenge, but I find the easiest way is via squirrels. Try to find an area where subalpine spruce is plentiful. Squirrels like to feed on the seeds when they're ripe and can drop cones on the ground while doing so. I like to take forest walks in late summer to early fall while looking conifer cones squirrels have dropped. Ripe subalpine fir cones are dark purple to gray like the ones below, found in late August (Northern BC).

Unlike this of pine and spruce, fir cones normally fall apart into pieces, releasing it's seeds before hitting the ground, so cones need to be collected while they're just ripebut still intact. If you can't wait to find squirrel rashions, you can use a pole pruner, climbor cut down the tree if you have use for the wood and are able to do so. Just make sure to use some binoculars first to see if there's cones at the top and they're ripe enough.

Seed Treatment

Once collected, lay them out to dry by a sunny window or similar. The cone scales are held together by resin, once softened, the cone breaks apart. You may also be able to break it up by hand. This will release winged seeds within.

the seeds are "asleep" at this point and will need to be exposed to the cold (stratified) to break dormancy. This will remove the growth inhibitors within the seeds and allow them to "wake up". To do this, place the seeds in a bag of sterile medium at a ratio of about two times the amount of medium too seed. I like to use perlite because it's porous, allowing for air pockets, and you can see the seeds easily. Add just enough water to make it moist but but without puddled water at the bottom. Label, and store in the fridge. Keep them in the fridge for about a month. If seeds are collected from harsher climates, allow for two months.

Planting

The stratified seeds can then be planted in the ground in the spring but they'll have a better chance of success if grown in seed starting trays, soil blocks, or containers first. The seeds don't need any nutrition to sprout so you can optionally start them in sand then transplant them to potting mix as soon as the first leaves appear.

Subalpine fir is quite tolerant of different soils, but prefers it slightly acidic, ranging from about 5.5 to 6.5. A purchased potting mix should be fine as long as it falls within that range.

If making your own potting medium, a mix of mostly peat moss or screened pine bark would be ideal. Pearlite, vermiculite, or sand can be added for drainage, and something like compost for nutrition. It would be good to test the ph of your mix since peat and pine bark may not always be as acidic as expected depending on the source. If too alkaline, elemental sulphur may need to be added and ericaceous compost can be used instead for nutrition.

Transplanlanting

Seedlings can be transplanted to their final destination when about a foot high, or when vigorous enough to compete other plants and the elements. This is best done in either early spring or the fall, when the soil is cool and moist. Times of heat stress or canopy growth in late spring or summer are best avoided. In the wild, subalpine fir is a "pioneer species", as a fist or secondary tree to establishish barren ground ground, or hash areas where others can't yet grow. They should survive even when transplanted to relatively poor sites, just clear surrounding competing plants, loosen (aerate) the soil first, and add a bit of compost or other amendment.

In the spring I decided to try uprooting different conifer seedlings from the forest on my property and transplanting them to my field. The site was tough and mostly clay. I spent a little time clearing, loosening the area then planting Lodge pine, white spruce, and subalpine fir wild seedlings. Most of the roots were damaged from uprooting, and I didn't add any amendments, and just let them go un-maintained from the season. By fall, grass took over, all the lodgepole pine seedlings were dead, but the spruce and subalpine fir had the best success rate. Below is a surviving subalpine spruce...

These trees have proven themselves in the wild, surviving almost anywhere and likewise aren't difficult or fussy to grow. The biggest challenge is probably collecting the seeds. We sometimes have them available for purchase here. Either way, it takes a bit of time, but is well worth it. It's such a pleasure growing native trees from seed and I hope this article helps you in your endeavors, as always, try it yourself!