Growing Acacia Obtusifolia from seed

[Jonstn]

Hey all got a few questions regarding growing Acacia obtusifolia.

I got some seeds sent out a while back, stumbled across them the other day and though id finally try and grow them.

Last night i got 5 of the 10 seeds and covered them with boiling water. Now they all look like they have swollen a bit, 1 in particular is about three times the size of original.

I have some Peat Pellets i got a Big W, would these be good for germination? Then i will put them in some little pots once they have gotten about 5-10cms

Also, what sort of soil is best for a nice healthy growth? I see native Australian plant mix at hardware stores, would this be good enough? Or is there a certain mix that would be better for growth?

Thanks in advance everyone, pretty pumped to get a nice little acacia collection, they look so awesome!

:EDIT: I'm slowly finding info, search function is so useful

Edited July 24, 2011 by Jonstoned

[Yawning Man]

Hey dude

You have to be careful using any soil or growing medium that has high acidity. Lost a few seedlings because of that. I've also had a few that were cooked on a hot day so they require regular watering at a young age and when it's hot. And i even had some snails eat a few leaves

Other than that they're like any acacia or native, hardy and can look after themselves

Happy growing, show us pics when they germ.

cheers

[Jonstn]

Will for sure buddy

Cheers for the tip about soil, ill have a look at the Australian native mix see what in it and sus it out ;)

I've been reading that its good to have a heat pad for germination, i dont have one however i have 2 options:

1: :EDIT: pics didnt upload properly, will upload after work.

There was a bit of space in my PC case, its a nice temp in there.

2: i have a external HDD sitting on my Wii in front of a window, the HDD gets warm while its running so i could keep it on there for germ, this way it can get sunlight if its preferred for it during this stage.

These are the peat pellets i used: Jiffy 7

:EDIT: pics didnt upload properly, will upload after work.

I'll update when i get some action ;)

Cheers for the help, any other pointers are much appreciated!

Edited July 25, 2011 by Jonstoned

[Yawning Man]

Oh yeah, peat pellets work fine from my experience. I've never used heat mats for germinating acacia so better leave that to someone who knows. I don't think acacia deserve the reputation they have as being hard to germ or whatever as long as you look aftet them while they're seedlings they'll do fine.

cheers

[Jonstn]

Oh sweet cheers for that mate, I'll sit em on the windowsill for now until I get some action

With ones that don't germinate, would it be all good to pull them out the peat pellets and re do boiling water?

Yeah I've read quite a bit about people not having much luck but these people are from overseas so I'm assuming it will do better in it's natural environment

[Jonstn]

Moved the tub to in front of the window, with the positioning of the window and curtain the sun only really shines through in the morning, but it will still not fall directly on the tub.

Is the lid on the tub necessary? Probably going to take it off don't think it'll make a difference.

Edited September 20, 2011 by Jonstn

[gerbil]

You're complicating the process i reckon,

just do the boiling water treatment and take out the ones that swell properly, it's best to wait 12-24 hours after treatment so slower ones can swell and catch up to the ones that are almost instant. Retreat the seeds that didn't, repeat process...

You want a light mixture that holds moisture, drains well and is light enough for seedlings to get their roots out, many prop. nurseries do a coir:perlite mix for initial seedling, then prick out quickly and pot up to a nutritious free draining mix, like a compost:coarse sand. I custom each time by eye and feel so can't really give specifics. I often opt for a seedling mix with compost to give nutrition, as coir/perlite tubes don't offer anything, but as said nurseries usually prick outta perlite pretty quick.

Get tubes or pot with a bit of depth to them, you don't really want large circle pots for germination so tube like pots can be good, depth but not too much width, acacia want their roots down, huge growth will be under with very little veg on top, once the root is disturbed it loses it's complete genetic potential imo. (which generally always is the case with potted speciemens imo), so good to keep them on the run and don't get them pot bound, if destined for the ground get them in asap. Don't get me wrong though, root bound potted specimens planted out still can reach the benchmark of the species, just not what it was fully capable of.

setup tubes with chosen mix, water them in well, dib holes in the top and sow swollen seed about 1-2cm, cover with mix and mist down well, put under close fluoro lights and keep at comfortable room temp, only mist if the surface dries out significantly, usually you wont have to mist pre-emergence, don't overwater them and give them time to come up, 1-2weeks they'll crack surface no worries.

Don't mess around with humidity chambers etc you'll invite rot and stagnant air, if your soil is moist, airated with a nice light source in fresh air, and okay warmth, they'll come up. Generally room temp with the close fluoro gives all the warmth it needs.

[Jonstn]

Thanks for that mate, yeah i took the lid and stuff off its just sitting in front of the window.

My mates got a fluro setup he's not using at the moment, ill take them up there and bang them in the cupboard he said he'd be happy to once they have germinated and the temp has warmed up a bit, should i get them outside under a nice shady area?

I'm planning to keep them in pots for at least a few years because of the un-predictable living situation atm, but once I've eventually settled in somewhere they'll be going in.

I'll investigate what i can get for a potting mix with the $$ i got, will look into some longer pots.

Thanks again buddy, I'll show progress when some has been made

[obtuse]

i for one wouldnt be growing these indoors. i learnt that on my first attempt. grew seedlings indoors, then moved them outdoors. they got shocked massively and died within days.

These plants are hardy as, and ideally, best to just let nature select for the best. no point nurturing plants that are too weak imo. by growing these in a protected environment you will be weakening the plant, and it wont be able to adapt quick enough when you move it out. best to let it adapt to extremes straight away.

given its winter just grow them outdoors in a sheltered warm spot for now (probably should have waited for spring), then when their bigger move them out into the garden somewhere. they will need some protection from direct sun, but once they get their first mature leaves they are good to go.

get them in the ground soon as you can, but i understand if you need to hold off till your happy with where you want to plant them, i have that problem myself. do you have a mate with some land, or your parents. i certainly wouldnt wait a few years.

Cheers, Obtuse.

Edited July 27, 2011 by obtuse

[holymountain]

should be really simple. just do the boiling water on the seeds, 24 hours later sew them into a light soil mix. things like coco-coir and vermiculite are great for this. leave under some shade outside, don't let them get blasted by the sun and check daily to ensure that the soil mixture is nice and damp, not soaking, but still has lots of moisture. that should do the trick. now that it's warming up and we are moving into spring, you should be fine. seriously, the more complicated you make it the harder it will be for them to handle it when you plant them outside in the soil. start them off tough and they'll stay tough.

best of luck, they are beautiful trees to grow!

Edited July 28, 2011 by holymountain

[Jonstn]

Cheers for the tips yeah im planning on getting them outside asap was just gonna wait till the last of winter has gotten its sillies out ;)

atm they are sitting in a seedling box i got off a friend:

Would it be ok the chuck them outside now you think? next week is looking pretty grim weather wise but if it'll benefit the plants then ill do it

I got a mate who is keen to get a whole variety of plants on the go so ill be taking most of them up there probably, ill just have a few in some big pots doing their thing outside until i can put them in the ground.

Thanks again for the tips, ill update when there's something to see

Edited July 29, 2011 by Jonstoned

[Heretic]

Cheers for the tips yeah im planning on getting them outside asap was just gonna wait till the last of winter has gotten its sillies out ;)

atm they are sitting in a seedling box i got off a friend:

Would it be ok the chuck them outside now you think? next week is looking pretty grim weather wise but if it'll benefit the plants then ill do it

I got a mate who is keen to get a whole variety of plants on the go so ill be taking most of them up there probably, ill just have a few in some big pots doing their thing outside until i can put them in the ground.

Thanks again for the tips, ill update when there's something to see

 

good advice gerbil,obtuse and others. growing indoors will result in massive u.v shock when taken outside. they should be fine outdoors- beware of killing them with kindness. regards tom

[Jonstn]

Yeah soon after that they were placed outside, been keeping a close eye on them the weather has been very random. They are doing quite nice though.

There are 2 that are very tall, but seem to be stuck in the seed? one is about 4cm long stem and at the top its the seed, no leaves or anything :S any advice on what i should do for those 2 would be awesome

Edited August 16, 2011 by Jonstoned

[incognito]

leave the seed on, the seed will strengthen the plant. i guess i garden by a "survival of the fittest rule" after yrs of gardening its the most simplistic methods that work the best. the more u fart around with a plant the more likely its gonna die. if i where planting acacias, id soak for 24 hrs in boiling water, then plant direct into a pot of well drained mix, put direct into full sun and keep moist. this can be achieved by putting straight potting mix on the top (say 1.5 cm) this helps retain the moisture so really u should only have to water once a day. maybee twice in extreme heat.

acacias are tough.

[Jonstn]

Cheers everyone, they are doing pretty well ATM

There was one that hadn't germinated with the rest, so I left the peat pellet in the seedling box and just kept watering it, after about 2 1/2 weeks I saw a little sprout pop out I've just kept this one in the seedling box, put it in a small pot and it's caught up and exceeded the ones that are outside!!

Also got some sunflower seeds in there me and a mate have a little comp to see who can get the biggest, last year I got them to 2m, so I thought I'd try and get a head start hahaha

[Jonstn]

So it's been a while now, one casualty so far but the rest are moving along.

Something keeps eating the leaves though havnt been able to see it yet but it's shitting non the less.

Wondering what pesticides people have gotten the best results from for their acacias?

Cheers for the help

[Jonstn]

Thought I'd do a little update.

All but 1 are pretty much done for

The above one is doing sweet as, its overtaken everything even though it sprouted a week later, and hadnt done anything different just a bit of water when needed.

Something keeps digging up this one, I'm thinking a possum

Now that Uni is finally coming to a end for the year and picking up a new job with better hours I'm going to have so much time to get out in the garden it's gonna be sweet.

Just thought I'd share,

Peace

[Heffa]

Awesome work mate, good to see interest in the old Acacias.

Not a popular grow for most due to their old man's grow pace and time taken until mature.

Ive got around 10 obtus seedlings coming along nicely, planted in september this year. Have not pushed out mature phyllodes yet though. I have acuminata's that size though.

Suprisingly, acacia macrodenia (zig-zag) which was planted last of all my spring acacias has just gone off and in only a month has reached the size of the seedling youve posted above Jonstn.

Once again good work with you babies

I'll up load a pic of mine over the weekend for comparison.

[ErraneousHerbalist]

Very nice jonstn, great information in this thread thanks for the threadomancy!

[Jonstn]

Cheers for the kind words guys I'll get some pics of the other ones I sowed at the same time, very big difference it's weird the one in the above pic has absolutely rocketed in comparison.

I'll take some pics of some other acacias I got, picked them up from a nursery as tubestock, got 2 acuminatas, a melaloxolin, longfolia and podyrafiiolia (spelling may be way way off lol) all about 50cm.

I don't mind the old man growth, im lookin forward to enjoying it when it's a full grown tree I'll be heaps proud of myself acacias are beautiful.

Thanks for the compliments, peace.

Edited November 5, 2011 by Jonstn

[CβL]

Wow. I just put some Acacia seedlings outside the other day, and they are absolutely tiny compared to this. :/

I guess it is probably because I was growing them in desert cacti mix, hahaha.

[Jonstn]

Haha nice I guess as long as its well enough draining then anything would do, I'm just using commercial native mix, peat pellets work best (in my short experience) for germ.

That's next to one sowed same time, all the others (before dying) were the size of the one on the left or smaller.

But the bigger one is beasting out, only go check on them every 3 days or more and there's always some small new growth happening

Side on it looks like a bird, or a plane or something haha

Gotten some different sp of acacia from some very generous people off here going to have to get them started quick smart!

[CβL]

What is roughly in your native's mix? I think our native's mix is really strange and nothing like yours. I think I'll have to mix my own.

I also know some big melanoxylons which I can scrape for nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Is there a certain method to do this?

[Heffa]

Photos Taken Today:

My obtusies Planted: Sept '11

Macradenia Planted: Oct '11

Acuminata Planted: July '11

[Jonstn]

What is roughly in your native's mix? I think our native's mix is really strange and nothing like yours. I think I'll have to mix my own.

I also know some big melanoxylons which I can scrape for nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Is there a certain method to do this?

 

Main thing ive heard about with scraping for nitrogen fixing bacteria is just getting your hand and grabbing a handful of soil from around the base and just sprinkle it around the top of the soil with the seeds. I didn't do anything like that with mine though didn't seem to matter.

It's just a debco brand native mix, can't find the bag looked it up didn't really say what exactlys in it but it looks like its got bark, some gravel, some sort of nutrient for natives but it's a pretty chunky mix either way.

Website:

Native Mix is a specifically formulated mix combining Debco's superior composting technology to produce a high-quality potting mix for phosphorus-sensitive plants.  The open, well-drained formula ensures a balance of air and water availability to give the best results for your potted native plants.

Features and benefits of Debco Native Mix include:

- Lightweight formulation.

- Australian Standard "Premium" potting mix.

- Low-phosphorus formula.

- Contains SaturAid soil wetter to improve water penetration to

  the root zone.

- Contains a special Debco fertiliser suitable for natives.

 

Hahaha I like the "premium"

But it has worked well so far, main enemy has been insects

Nice pics Heffa! The red in that obtusi looks sweet as just wondering, how much/strong sunlight do they get? Mine haven't been under direct sun yet theyre living in the shade house ATM weathers been getting around 30 lately