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Raising A.Phlebophylla

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i hope so, plenty of rocky mountain sides here, and an abundance of native plants and wildlife.. but yes unfortunately i understand how rare these little babies are :(

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Dont suppose their would be any chance of getting them to grow somewhere like Hay in sw NSW.

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Got some seed from PD thru Breadfilter earlier in the year and did a small trial with 2 seeds 25/9/12.

-Dropped in 10% bleach solution for 5 minutes.

-Nicked with very sharp blade and soaked in tap water for 10 hours. Both seeds noticibly swollen.

-Sowed in very light seed raising mix. 1 part peat moss, 1 part coco peat, 2 parts fine vermiculite. Added gypsum, dolomite lime, Micromax, 3 mnth early start Apex slow release.

Laid on their sides and covered lightly.

-Kept moist but not wet.

-In glasshouse with 50% shade. Temps approx. 15Deg min. 25Deg max.

- Excavated 1 after 2 weeks to check. Swollen but no other action. Embryo visible at nick still healthy white. Re-covered.

- Excavated both after another week and decided to manually remove half seed coat from each. Re-covered.

- 1 week later definate signs of movement under the seedraising mix.

- 3 days later, first ones cotyledons breaking thru and slightly open.

-Second one follows three days later.

-One week later manually removed remaining bits of seed coats which were stuck to the cotyledons and inhibiting them (IMO)

-I have been giving them very diluted seasol 2-3 times a week for two weeks now.

-Both sets of cotyledons show damage which I am attibuting to fungus gnat larvae attack. The smaler one seemed to be going downhill

for a while there, so i gave both a very very diluted dash of Confidor in with seasol to smash any larvae/nematodes around the roots. It picked

up after that, so not sure if coincidence or what.

-I'm planning to transferr these both to 70mm native tubes today in a free draining mix with a dash of sand from around the roots of one of my

A. floribunda's to hopefully transfer some bacteria.

Theses pics were taken 19/11/12 (just havnt had time to upload and post).

Ive grown many different Acacias over the years, both in bulk commercial lots and smaller more personalised projects, and these guys

are by far the slowest. And by that I dont mean slowest to actually germinate, but its like they are just operating in slow-motion, like

they have no energy, or are missing something.

Acacia003.jpg

Acacia013.jpg

Acacia014.jpg

Edited by LokStok
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nice seedlings! I think they will start making phyllodes after this two pinnate twigs

Edited by mindperformer
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After doubling in size since winter mine is starting to flower :)

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Excellent pics.

Cant wait for mine to start doing that. perhaps another year and i might expect the same.

Post updates on flowers and seed set please.

Cheers, Ob.

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Excellent pics.

Cant wait for mine to start doing that. perhaps another year and i might expect the same.

Post updates on flowers and seed set please.

Cheers, Ob.

 

Will do mate.

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I can't seem to view that pic for some reason.

I've heard they don't survive long term in pots so getting it into the ground was a good move. It obviously likes it too.

Does anyone know how long they live ?

Some Acacias just flower once and then kick the bucket.

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Ey up.

Time for an update.

Here are the two plants that i uploaded pictures for earlier this year:

first:

post-2028-0-63895000-1355209697_thumb.jp

compared to earlier this year:

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second:

post-2028-0-32017100-1355209782_thumb.jp

again compared to earlier this year:

post-2028-0-26395200-1330899071_thumb.jp

 

Looking healthy lots of new growth. They have had had to deal with an unusual spring here with lots of moisture, wind, and the occassional blistering hot day - i.e normal tassie weather.

tolerating the sandy soil fine.

Cheers, Ob.

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Edited by obtuse
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Update:

1st true phyllode

146.jpg

the little one is catching up

153.jpg

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Do you get a dormant plant when it becomes winter beacause this looks like a tropical tree and couldn't imagine what it would look like without the leaves?

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It does resemble some tropical acacias with those fat phyllodes, but no it doesnt go dormant and is happy growing throughout winter.

Cheers, Ob.

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seeds are soaking overnite in hot water

i'm gunna sow some in straight crushed granite, the fine sharp grey stuff

has anyone else tried this?? stop me now if this medium is no good

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Update:

1st true phyllode

a>

the little one is catching up

a>

 

maybe the trick is to grow them in a baby's cot with sliding side doors for easy access to water and talk baby googoo gargar at them. they look healthy as :) nice one lok.

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CBL's Acacia FAQ

Alright, so I'm gearing up to grow some Acacias. I have some acuminata (narrow-phyllodes), floribunda, phlebophylla, obtusifolia and victoriae seed. I didn't think it warranted making a new thread, so I hope it's okay to post it here. I'll make a new thread if that's a better idea.

The current plan is:

1) Scarify the seeds using some sandpaper in a jar, just to weaken the seed-coat a bit (don't think it's worth the risk to nick it with a blade - to both the seeds and my hands).

2) Put into jars with hot water (will use water of 80 degrees celsius [using a calculated ratio of boiling water to cold water] ), and soak overnight.

3) Sow into individual containers with two seed mixes, under a thin layer of coarse sand:

Seed mix A:

25% Soil/loam from around the roots of an Acacia melanoxylon

75% mixture of gravel, coarse quartzy sand, Coromandel cacti fine mix (basically a pumice sand with scant loam in it - can take a photo).

Seed mix B:

25% Soil/loam from around the roots of an Acacia melanoxylon

50% mixture of gravel (came from the top of a mountain), coarse quartzy sand, Coromandel cacti fine mix (basically a pumice sand with scant loam in it - can take a photo).
25% seed-raising mix (a dark loam with no chunks in it)

For the species seed mix, I'm thinking:

Acuminata: B
Floribunda: B

Phlebophylla: A

Obtusifolia: 50/50 of A & B
Victoriae: B

The containers will be placed on a tray, and I'll keep this in my garage for at least a few weeks. The garage is quite dry, so I'll be misting the soil and keeping it moist (after an initial few days of "simulated deluge" :P)
I'll be increasing the sunlight once they've germinated and using shade netting as appropriate to bring them out into the sun as soon as possible (a mistake I made with my last Acacias was to keep them in shade for too long) - I'll be trying to keep the tips a bit red. I'll be using seasol maybe once every 10 days or so, or as I see stress.

If I get to this stage, I'll grow them in pots until they're about 20-30cm high, and plant them in a sheltered spot on the hillside, with a soil mixture to be determined.

If there's anything I've forgotten, or could do better - then please let me know before I accidentally ruin these


Question 1) When I take the mycelium from under the existing Acacias...
Do I scrape the root itself? Is it a bad idea to look for the nodules themselves, and pop a few? The trees are melanoxylon, but there are some Eucalypts right there - should I include them in the mix too?

Question 2) Is it a bad idea to use the soil from around the trees as part of the seedling mixture?
I'm thinking that it's actually a really good idea, as long as I don't leave chunks of root near the surface. Secondly, the type of soil will be slightly clayey, something I think protects roots from drying out if the mixture is only made up of coarse material. Plus the site where the Acacias are going, will contain the same type of soil under the bed I prepare - seems better to introduce them to it now.


Question 3) coming later


Thanks in advance for any advice. :)

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Q1. I always scrape the leaf litter away from a spot about a metre out from the trunk and carefully dig down with a trowell 10-15 cm.

By then Im already coming across large roots (A. iteaphylla). I dont scrape roots or take nodules, just some scoops of soil from close to

the roots. I use this when I am potting on from cells or tubes and usually just throw a handfull in around the roots. Seems to work pretty

well for any acacia I have grown, as well as legumes like Glycyrrhiza glabra, Sutherlandia frutescens etc.

I would leave the Euc soil out of the mix. Leaves when broken down are germination inhibitors.

Q2. I dont, mainly for sterilization reasons, but plenty of people do, with good results.

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That sounds like some good advice there. I'll hold off a few days to gather the materials and hopefully some more sages can share their advice. :)

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My phleb seeds (from Folias' giveaway) didn't respond to the hot water tek, they didn't swell up at all. I'm guessing they must be very fresh and still have a very waxy coating that is almost impervious to hot water.

I gave them a light sand with sandpaper and soaked them overnight in cold water and they all swelled up nicely.

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The last time I germinated Acacias, I actually let them sit in water for up to a week (some I left in for maybe a month - until they had started sending out their taproot :P ), and I repeated the hot water treatment up to 3 times for seeds that didn't swell (but the second and third time, I left a few mills of water in the jar to buffer the heat change a bit) - I think I got close to 100% germination from the seeds that ended up swelling, and only a few floaters that I chucked away.

I think I'll do a fair sanding of the seeds (until the shininess is gone, and I can tell the seedcoat is wearing thin), and then I'll use just water of maybe 60-70 degrees - that shouldn't kill the seeds I think. I think that they might like the heat itself though. Maybe I'll try half with cold water and see how they compare to hot (not that I have enough seeds to make much of a test). :P

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Okay, update:

Went today and dug some soil from the Acacias. I didn't really pay attention before, but it seems that all the trees on that part of the hillside are Acacia melanoxylons. I selected a few trees that looked healthy, and dug up some soil. There was that funny onion smell (the rhizobia?), and I saw some little nodules. I got half a bucket worth, and sifted it through a very coarse strainer to get the root chunks out. Then I stirred it a lot, and wet it to get the clay parts to dissolve. I made my soil mixtures more or less as I intended, but included some vermiculite too. I put the mixtures into their little pots. The seed-raising mixture that I included as part of some of the mixes apparently contained a fungicide - I didn't have anything else to substitute it with, so just put it in anyway. I'll just have to make some "soil tea" and innoculate at regular intervals at a later date in case this fungicide is strong enough to wreck the rhizobia.

Then I got the seeds out, and labelled some glass containers with the names. I decided I wouldn't risk scarification, as I'd had only success in the past with hot-water, and I didn't want to try a new technique this time. I've since put the hot water onto the seeds, and am waiting overnight for any swelled seeds to get planted. I might nick the seedcoat of the swelled seeds if it seems easy to do so.

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Pretty happy with how this 3.5 year old is going. Really wish I had've germinated more seed at the time!

Germinated in native potting mix with a bit of propagating sand added, repotted thrice into straight commercial native potting mix. Was getting rather rootbound in its last pot, since repotting it has pumped out a shitload of new phyllodes.

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Really nice ferret, what a beauty. Mine are liking the bagged native mixes too, mixing up some sieved sands, coir and innoculants as well to see what does what. Sun scorched them really bad the other day, no longer blemish free hah :D but tough buggers.

Missed your big ones too interbeing and obtuse, looking really nice guys.

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