Acacia

[Sallubrious]

Hi

The moon seems to be in a favourable phase at the moment and I was hoping someone could give me an idea of how deep to plant

* Acacia acuminata

* Acacia maidenii

Any tips would help.

I do plan on scarifying the seeds and soaking the seed in seasol or do I need smoke water for soaking the seeds.

[psili sausage]

I got both to germinate recently by soaking in hot water until they swelled. Then I put them in a container with a wet cotton swab in a cupboard.

They germinated within days and I planted them <5mm deep.

Edit: general rule of thumb, from what I understand, is you plant seeds about as deep as the length of the seed... acacia seeds are tiny, so not very deep at all.

Edited November 20, 2010 by psili sausage

[Sallubrious]

Thanks very much for that psili sausage

[J Smith]

I germ mine by soaking in hot tap water (changed daily) until they start to throw roots. I don't know if seed actually throws roots, but that's what it looks like.

Then chuck em in seed raising mix about as deep as the length of the seed with the "root" pointing down, leave out of direct sun, water occasionally. Easy.

[Yawning Man]

Personally i have never been able to germinate acacia seeds by hot water treatment only. Scarification is the way imo. I recently put in 10 of each and most if not all germinated and breached the surface (all died in the hothouse on a farken hot day).

I get a stanly knife and sorta shave off the coat untill i can see the seed, then dig the tip of the blade under the coat and flick bits off. A 3rd of the coat off will germ the seeds no worries. Psili sauages rule of thumb re. depth sounds about spot on

cheers

Edited November 20, 2010 by Yawning Man

[Sallubrious]

Thank you madhouses visites and Yawning Man.

I really appreciate your opinions.

Sounds like they can be a tough nut to crack.

[psili sausage]

Thanks for reminding me Yawning Man, several of the seeds did refuse to swell after a few hot water treatments. I used a steak knife to cut a groove (quite difficult on the tiny seeds) and they promptly swelled once put back in the water.

[Yeti101]

I got most of my Acacia maidenii to sprout by pouring a bit of boiling water on them.

[Yawning Man]

Yeah, these two species in particular have really small seed, it's actually quite hard on the eyes knicking them all.

[WoodDragon]

Mutant's acacia cultivation thread a few months back has a few good tips.

As to the seed coat scarification, if a knife is too unweildly, gentle rubbing between two bits of fine sanspaper will do the job. You don't need to go all the way through the black coat, and you only need to uncover one small spot fot the water to soaki in and do its job.

[ENtiTY]

As WoodDragon said. Rough between 2 pieces of sand paper and hot water soak. Re-sand the ones that don't swell overnight and soak again. Piss easy!

Use a sandy mix for accuminata. Same will do for maidenii.

[TG83]

Only have experience with maidenii and obtuse, but a 50% peatmoss and 50% seedling mix has proven the best bet so far, plus holds moisture more so can mist them once a day or skip a day or two on cold days without any problems.

Did a bit of a personal experiemnt this year with them, mixed up 6 different kinds of soils to see which would germinate and sustain them the best. So far the 50% peat moss and 50% seed raising mix mentioned above is doing the best, but the others (clay based soil, commercial cactus mix, 50% sand 50% soil, potting mix and seedling mix alone) are still a close second. So not really much difference in any soil base, even ones with very minimal nutrients.

Always been able to germinate them by putting a single seed in a shot glass, pour boiling water over the top and cover with glad wrap, within a few hours to two days all of them swell / sprout, some will occasionally be stubborn but I find leaving them in the water a bit longer or re-soaking with boiling water again gets them going.

Planted mine about 2cm deep which is a bit over the recommended, they take about a month to rise from that level but I find they seem to be much hardier once they do surface that way. Previously grew from 1cm deep but found a few needed a fair bit of care by keeping them correctly watered early on to sustain them, so now go with the 2cm method and mist daily until they show up. Everyone will probably have a different method, for me in Melb this is the best method I've found so far.

[∂an]

IME acacia's love being in the ground - the growth gets stunted after about a year when in pots. guess its the same with most plants, they prefer space for their roots to grow.

[mud]

Maybe a moderator could merge and sticky a thread like these about acacia?

I like TG83's advice on depth too.

I start them shallow, but build up soil around them as they grow.

After all, many maidenii's end up falling out of the ground.

[random]

I just received my 2 acacia acuminata seedlings in the post today that I wanted as a host for my sandalwood I need to put them into pots though as nowhere to plant them in the ground yet. What kind of soil medium should I use to plant out my acacia seedlings? I'm all new to gardening and have NFI lol.

Thanks

[Yawning Man]

Hello meeka

There's heaps of advice right here in this thread, and even more in this forum. Hope it helps!

cheers