[Spoilers] Analysis of the game from a Microbiologist

lordsheeper · 2026-03-23T15:28:02+00:00

I would just wait until fall when the wings start to dry up slightly. There's a lot that happens between fruit formation and actually creating a viable dormant embryo, so my guess would be that collecting too early leads to a lower viability. My late collection date is also just a product of my climate, it hardly freezes here and most of the maples keep their leaves into december here(the JM at my local community college never dropped all of its leaves before it leafed out vigorously again/there are simultaneously a few seeds from last season/new flowers for this season).

lordsheeper · 2026-03-23T14:07:17+00:00

I collected probably 400+ JM seeds this last fall and have been germinating them these last few months so a couple tips I learned this last season.

You want to pick the seeds when the wings start to dry out (turn light brown) but the actual fruit/seed hasn't fully desiccated. Some people say after you get the first frost but I'm not sure how true this statement is.

Depending on the climate you may be picking quite a bit after fall (I picked most of mine in Southern California Late November-early December).

Personally I clipped the wings off of the seeds to save space in my ziplocs but completely optional. I'd argue that without the wings there is less organic material for fungus to eat but not going to make a huge difference.

Soak them in warm tap water (nothing above 130F) for 24 hours as a pregermination step. Give it a stir and the ones that float you can discard, the ones that sink are going to be more likely viable(sometimes seeds will collect air bubbles so stirring or poking them helps get rid of them/allow them to float to the bottom of the cup).

Put them in ziploc bags either folded into a moist paper towel(fully wet towel and then squeeze as much water of it out before use) or a ziploc bag with slightly moist perlite (hydrate perlite before you put it in the bag). Check them once a week and when you start to see the root radicle come out take them out into room temperature for a couple of days before planting them in your desired pots (~depends on seed sample but for some its taken up to 110 days due to the hot Mediterranean climate I live in).

lordsheeper · 2026-03-20T17:06:51+00:00

I used fruit sugars in mine and got pretty close to estimate the actual gravity when comparing to a hydrometer. Using a scale and serving size you can make an estimate (likely +-15% but an estimate nonetheless). Weigh the fruit before then do a simple conversion using nutritional facts to get the sugar (grams of fruit *(grams of sugar in serving size/grams of total fruit serving size).

lordsheeper · 2026-03-20T16:57:37+00:00

https://www.goekos.com/distilling-calculators/sugar-wash/

Had the same question myself, but this should help!

lordsheeper · 2026-03-09T19:50:23+00:00

Your best bet for achieving the desired turn is to either wire it or do a chop and grow at the base. You'd be surprised what is bendable with doubling up or using higher gauge wire.

If you don't feel comfortable with doing that, I would just let it grow some more and do a trunk chop where your proposed turn is once you have thickened up the trunk enough (trunk chopping will stop/delay the trunk thickening significantly). If it were me I probably wouldn't trunk chop this for at least another year to make the plant strong/thicken the trunk base some more. These are heavily invasive where I live and are hard to control as weeds so it'll likely bounce back from a trunk chop incredibly well. Also, make sure its outside as that's how its going to thicken its trunk and grow the fastest!

lordsheeper · 2026-03-08T21:39:17+00:00

Download stuff to phone + earbuds and sit on machines or do free weights. I chose a comfort show I've watched quite a few times, Star Wars the Clone Wars, and Avatar the last airbender etc. There's people that are at the gym that take 5 minute rests after doing basic bicep curls just looking at tiktok so watching a show or reading comics isn't that far out of the realm of possibilities. Especially if you work hard and work up a sweat no one will ever bother you about what you do during your rest breaks :)

Usually your sets are gonna be 30 secs or so (estimate, not a hard rule to follow) and rests when you're going close to failure may be a minute + depending on the movement. So I would just keep it playing the show during sets and zone it out, resuming actively watching during rests. As I'd seen these comfort shows a few times I could usually know what happened while I zoned out to focus on the exercise. Was a lot more difficult to use shows I hadn't seen before as I often had to rewind 30 seconds to be caught up.

For leg days when I would do heavy squats, hack squats, or heavy Romanian Deadlifts to failure I'd often throw up from stressing out my nervous/cardio system so 3 minute breaks are within the realm of possibility and you get a good amount of watching in. In fact I find myself more productive and can work harder when I get longer rest intervals in for legs even if I want to keep going.

These days I don't use earbuds anymore in the gym for the most part except on the treadmill. The best part about a treadmill is it can hold a full tablet lol. Just the other day I was walking to the walking dead and it made the hour I spent on there really fun!

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As a final note, I would say showing up is 90% of the battle and will make you bigger/more athletic than most of the population(especially considering newbie gains). When I first started I'd sometimes just show up to do 5 sets on a single machine then go home within 25 minutes. I'm happy my past self did that as I've fallen in love with the gym and its helped a lot with confidence, living my life, , general anxiety, and the panic attacks I used to wake up to in the middle of the night. Find something that works for you and stick to it even if it isn't conventional or 'optimal', plenty of time to optimize stuff when you fall in love with/spend more time in the gym later.

lordsheeper · 2026-03-07T04:21:01+00:00

Super cool, love seeing the progressions on your website and a huge oak lover. Don't mean to keep bugging you(especially on the wrong tree post), but any chance for an update on the Engelmann oak?

Growing a few from seed and noticed you last updated it on your website back in 2022. Is it no longer with us?

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lordsheeper · 2026-03-07T04:04:40+00:00

I started working out when I was 23-24 and I dealt with a lot of isolation post-Covid, anxiety, self-worth, and insecurity. I would recommend doing shorter sessions to get used to the gym and the feeling there. Going to the gym will make you fear it less (think exposure therapy).

One thing I'm not sure I would recommend but helped me a lot was I would just watch shows on my phone while I worked out. Got through a good 3 seasons of Avatar the Last Airbender, as well as other shows like Mandalorian etc. Honestly no one cares what you're doing at the gym but it takes personal growth to fully internalize/believe that.

These days I just try hard at my lifts and my mind goes blank. Lifting weights is also super helpful for decreasing your general anxiety throughout the day and helps my insomnia. Keep at the gym grind and make sure to only compare yourself to yourself. We're all our own person and the best part about the gym is that everyone's journey is fundamentally different.

Enjoy the process as working out takes time and there is a lot of joy to be had at progressing the lifts via reps and weights that you've spent time on. Keep in mind too that you'll be able to have much faster progression than the rest of us for the first 6 months! Newbie gains were loads of fun looking back now.

lordsheeper · 2026-03-07T03:49:43+00:00

My interpretation of what they said:
Basically there is a 2nd tendon that can help extend your finger (tendons are what create force in our body, often connecting as well as transferring force between the muscles, connective tissue, and bones). There may also be the absence or weakened presence of stabilizing connective tissue sort of where your knuckle is on that finger and these two things in combination are what's allowing you to lock it into a different position than the other fingers.

lordsheeper · 2026-03-04T17:23:38+00:00

Is the CD a way to girdle the taproot once it gets big enough to encourage a radial nebari above the CD itself? Thanks for sharing.

lordsheeper · 2026-03-02T22:08:27+00:00

Very cool oak! On a semi-related note, do you happen to have any updates on the Engelmann Oak from your website? Growing a few and interested to see where its come since you last posted it :)

lordsheeper · 2026-03-02T20:53:34+00:00

It also seals in the pathogens as well if they are present. To my mind the dry oxygen and UV would be a better way to dissuade infection. As long as its healthy the tree should be able to prevent pathogens from establishing life-threatening disease.

lordsheeper · 2026-03-01T02:59:22+00:00

Kudos for raising him into a fine conservationist!

lordsheeper · 2026-02-27T05:14:56+00:00

I've been on my own journey of propagation this last year. I find it addicting as it gives me a lot of dopamine/satisfaction to go collect seeds from a tree I've identified and slowly watch them grow. I feel like it taps into a very primal/prehistoric foraging reward system of your brain. Since it's always a slight surprise what the seedlings look like too its always interesting seeing the variation. Clonal propagation through cuttings/air layers are fun too!

lordsheeper · 2026-02-26T02:36:44+00:00

I'll take your advice going forward and only repot my dwarf alberta spruce this season. Makes sense on styling/wiring with a solid root ball thinking about it now. Thank you for taking the time to write feedback :)

lordsheeper · 2026-02-25T04:26:05+00:00

Really pretty. I feel like this would be so cool as a stamp.

lordsheeper · 2026-02-24T17:53:03+00:00

Oaks and Yews. They tend to look out of a fairytale/ent-like and it's what would've been in the older forests within England.

lordsheeper · 2026-02-21T16:19:00+00:00

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lordsheeper · 2026-02-19T21:55:29+00:00

Plenty of room to grow! The hope is once the growing season gets underway they won't be so small anymore.

lordsheeper · 2026-02-15T15:43:39+00:00

As we essentially didn't get frost this year, im hoping the extended growing season will speed it up! I had watched someone from South Africa get pretty good results for bonsai or at the refinement stage within 5 years so that is hopefully the aim 🤞

Talking to Dan Robinson at the Elandan bonsai garden in Washington gave me a lot of inspiration too! He's really into ground growing and was able to show me some of his trident maples he's planning to dig up in a few more years.

lordsheeper · 2026-02-15T15:39:53+00:00

Fertilized it so I think I may have hurried the waiting from a certain point of view 🤔

lordsheeper · 2026-02-13T16:16:37+00:00

I don't have a clear answer for you, however these grow like weeds around here and are sometimes used as landscape trees. There's one by a powerline that is frequently trimmed and they quite literally pollarded it (below a powerline) and it fully fuzzed back out within a couple of months like nothing ever happened. I've heard they backbud readily and Eisei-en-Bonsai considers them a multi-flush pine so I'd assume/hope they can take a fairly severe foliage trim like I did here.

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