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CβL

Acacia melanoxylon - similar plants?

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Hi folks,

 

Acacia melanoxylon grows well at our site. I used to hate it, but the fact the timber is so good, and it fixes nitrogen, and it grows so fast have made the damn tree grow on me. I was wanting to know about any other acacias which will grow in a wet NZ climate approx USDA 9b? The area gets about 2.2m of rain per year (+- 20cm) spread evenly with no real dry season, and temperature mostly stays between 5 and 20 degrees the whole year (with forays down to -1 and 25 degrees respectively). The soil drains okay from what I can tell, but perhaps best to think of it as a bit swampy.
Any ideas for other Australian natives, that fix nitrogen, and ideally have another use (e.g. edible seeds/fruit)?

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Hey It can get really weedy here , but like you said,  the timber is one of the best for your fireplace and I have seen some really big slabs turned into really nice furniture.  It's a long lived acacia too.     

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Yeah I think it can get weedy in NZ too. But luckily it doesn't do well in established forest, so as long as there's natives about it shouldn't establish.

 

Another thing that I've read you can do is to graft acacias. So I could quite probably grow another acacia on a melanoxylon rootstock to get the resistance to the boggy ground. I was hoping there were some other acacias similar to melanoxylon to get a bit of diversity though.

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Hey, never heard of grafting acacia's they grow so fast on there own . I know of some northern oz species that grow in swampy areas but they will not suit your climate.

Also there is two species here that grow near and around water but I can not think of there bloody name.   :(

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Here's the info on Acacia grafting: https://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/fnr/htirc tropical/pdf/Pubs/Nelson_koa_graft.pdf

Grafting is not just about growth speeds, but disease resistance and soil tolerance too :). I'm thinking I'll give it a shot, but I don't really know what I'd bother with grafting on.

 

Also since I first asked, I've settled on Castanospermum australe as another Aussie nitrogen fixer I'll be planting. Can be eaten, although it's apparently a huge faff.

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2 hours ago, CβL said:

Here's the info on Acacia grafting: https://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/fnr/htirc tropical/pdf/Pubs/Nelson_koa_graft.pdf

 

Grafting is not just about growth speeds, but disease resistance and soil tolerance too :). I'm thinking I'll give it a shot, but I don't really know what I'd bother with grafting on.

 

Also since I first asked, I've settled on Castanospermum australe as another Aussie nitrogen fixer I'll be planting. Can be eaten, although it's apparently a huge faff.

 

 

Hey, Yes I know why plants are grafted , Just haven't heard of grafting acacia's. I have done soft wood cuttings on my rare species.  concurrens and soporae was the species I was thinking off.

 

 

Edited by smithy

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