Growing Acacia Obtusifolia - Tips & Things to Avoid

[AKP]

Hi,

 

I am pretty new to growing plants and have some Acacia Obtusifolia seeds. I live near Sydney and want to grow them in my backyard. I plan on putting them in boiling water and leaving them overnight and I know that the soil needs to be moist and they need morning sunlight at the beginning (preferably in a window) but I don't really know what to do after that. So a few questions:

 

1. What time of year should I be trying to grow them?

2. How long should I leave them indoors before moving them outside?

3. At what stage should I be moving them from the pots and into the ground?

4. Anything to do or avoid when planting them in the ground?

4. Once planted in the ground, how often do they need to be watered?

5. Any other tips or things to avoid?

 

Thanks,

 

AKP

[Sallubrious]

 

 

1. What time of year should I be trying to grow them?

2. How long should I leave them indoors before moving them outside?

3. At what stage should I be moving them from the pots and into the ground?

4. Anything to do or avoid when planting them in the ground?

4. Once planted in the ground, how often do they need to be watered?

5. Any other tips or things to avoid?

 

My suggestions

1. Grow them right now

2. Until most of the seeds germinate or about 1 month - whatever comes first. The seedlings will do fine in full sun but will appreciate some light shade from 10am-3pm from late about November to early to about late Feb.

3. Plant them out in autumn if you can. Let them get slightly rootbound before planting out but don't keep them like that longterm. If you can't plant them in the ground & they are rootbound they will need a larger pot within a few months or they will start to suffer.

4. If you have a heavy soil dig a square hole, that way the roots hit the corner of the hole and burrow in rather than spiraling around the hole you have dug.

& as you listed 4 twice

Learn how to stake a a sapling. I prefer not to stake a young tree, but if you do it needs to be able to move around to a certain extent. Fixing it firmly to a solid post will most likely cause it to grow a weak root system.

5. Drench them with water at planting time and then give them as little water as possible. Feed them with a low phosphorus fert every month or so.

 

Grow them now, they are a very forgiving tree that is easy to grow..

[Strontium Dawg]

Everything sallubrious said.

The only other tip I'd add is to give the edge of your seeds a light sanding with 200 grit paper until you get a spot showing the embryo (just). Then soak etc.

[AKP]

Thanks for the advice guys. I was pretty tired last night when I typed this and accidentally did 4 twice lol. 

 

Two more quick related questions: 

 

1.Is there any benefit starting with small deep rectangle shaped tube pots before moving to larger pots? or should i just start with the larger pots? 

2. What pot shape/dimensions should I be using?

 

As far as potting mix, I am using Debco Plugger Custom - Custom Formulation to suit the specific needs of professional growers. Contains: Composted Pine Bark - Specific grades, Minded sand and/or crushed stone, Coir pith. This was recommended by a nursery that grows native species including Longifolia. 

 

I was advised by the nursery to buy a low phosphorous fertilizer but they didn't have any in stock so I went with Osmocote Native Gardens Plus Trace Elements.  Any comments on this?

[Sallubrious]

Don't start them in big pots, they don't have the right water cycle for a seedling. A big pot will stay very wet for a long time and then seemingly dry out almost overnight with a seedling in it (they don't really dry out overnight but you tend to neglect a pot with soil that stays wet for a long time). Being too wet can cause rot issues and being too dry will kill seedlings short time, so you want something sized so that it goes through a wet & dry cycle every few days or maybe weekly at the most.

 

Seedling tubes (the deep ones) are almost ideal for trees because they favour root growth that runs straight down the side of the pot and don't let it spiral around the pot. Coiled up roots are not ideal. The seedling tubes also air prune the roots that come out of the bottom, so they are easy to manage.

 

I've never used that mix but it seems OK. I always do well on sand & peat moss with some fine crusher dust mixed in myself. Any native fert should be OK. Some people pre-mix it into the soil mix or you can just use a soluble one & water it on. The searles soluble mix seems to go OK on Acacias.

 

 

Edited September 24, 2016 by Sallubrious

[AKP]

Thanks Sallubrious. I have some 4cm by 4cm by 8cm pots. Would these be ideal to start or should I go a bit bigger?

[Sallubrious]

The tubes I use are 5 * 5 * 12, but the ones you have should be OK to get them started.

They can be grown in round pots too, you just have to make sure they don't stay in them too long and get their roots coiled around the pots. Some sources suggest that a tree that has grown in a round pot and had its roots coiled up can strangle itself when it gets bigger and the roots fill out. I've never witnessed that myself but I have seen some trees grown in round pots with roots that have coiled around the pot for too long have a wobbly root ball where the tree rocks around in the wind for years after planting in the ground. I've never seen that with tubestock grown in square/forestry tubes .

[AKP]

Ok thanks. I have ordered some 5cm by 5cm be 12pm tubes. 

 

As far as water goes, I have a high quality bench Water Ionizer/Filter that has the ability to adjust pH levels. Does anyone know what pH range acacia's like?

[Sallubrious]

I've never been too concerned about the PH of the water I was giving them. I normally give them plain old tap water. Where I live that's PH 7.2.

They do seem to like a feed of diluted leachate from my worm farm and it's about PH 6.5. So as long as the PH isn't extremely high or low they should be fine.

[AKP]

Ok Thanks Again Sallubrious!

[obtuse]

These guys are an australian native aka hard as nails.

 

but dont grow them indoors.   that was my first ever mistake growing ethno plants.  that need to be adapted straight away.

 

best advice is to cut of the seed coat after slight nicking and swelling  let them grow in vermiculite for a bit with lots of water with rhizobacterum from soils sourced from around the base of other acacias.   ie soak the soil in some water and pour that over them.  then pot them up.  nodules are essential, so treat them multiple times with a soil slurry

 

dont worry about ph, just rain water should be fine.  they dont need much nutes, they get all their nitrogen from their nodules. maybe some slow release aussie ozmocote.

 

plant them out when you can, the sooner in the ground the better, but they can do a couple of years in a pot.  get em in the ground so they can go gangbusters.

 

good luck