Getting Voacanga africana to set seed

[Scientician]

I have a number of large V. Africana plants that have flowered profusely 2 years in a row without setting any seed.

insects were all over them & I had a go at hand pollination which is difficult given the design of the flowers.

It is too late now to do anything this year but am really keen to get to the bottom of this problem before next season.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Does anyone have any ideas about what could be the problem with these plants?

Cheers

[TrailBlazer]

I had the same experience mate, It will set seed when it's ready hey.

When mine got to about 3m tall it started setting seeds. But had many a season with lots of flowers and no seeds. They don't always set seed for some reason.

Hows the smell of the flowers mate? hahaha ;)

If you have a large tree you can get them to go sucker mad by taking a shovel and cutting about 1m away from the tree trunk on some of the surface roots the same way guava's can be propagated. The root systems are massive and I have had suckers come up 4m away from the main base. Cool hey?

Normal cuttings methods work without a drama to hey.

I dig the look of this tree when its older and makes a great place for orchids, Broms and Pitcher plants because of the V shape branches and nice shade canopy.

Edited April 10, 2013 by TrailBlazer

[Scientician]

Thanks for posting TrailBlazer. This has given me some comfort. Mine are around 7ft so maybe another year or so. Not sure how to explain the scent of the flowers. I found it neither good nor bad but at the same time very obvious. Kind of like a rubber mat thats been in the summer heat with a dash of frangipani.....maybe?

Do you think with suckers bahaving like that it could become invasive at all? I haven't seen this behaviour so am not sure whether this is a good thing or bad.

Similar behaviour is why I would never plant my Murraya Koenigii in the ground. Pretty soon you'll have nothing but curry trees in your yard this shit takes over everything. If however this is not the case here then this is indeed very very cool.

[Alice]

To me, the flowers smell kind of.... seminal. There is some other common landscaping tree that shares this smell, had one next to the carpark at my old highschool. Always had a chuckle at girls sitting beneath it, they were the throw-a-leg-over-anyone girls too, how appropriate. Maybe they were subliminally attracted to the smell of jizz. I don't know how they could stand the stench, frankly.

I'm in the same boat Muskrat, decent sized tree which have flowered the last few season, but no seed. Lot of insects on and around the flowers and yes, I have also tried hand-pollination with a small paint brush. No luck I'm afraid.

Trailblazer - I wasn't aware they they suckered well, I'll have to give it a go, thanks!

Edited April 11, 2013 by Alice

[TrailBlazer]

No muskrat, Alice caught on to the wiff. The flowers smell much more late at night.

After observing mine over the last year I would say yes, It does have invasive potential should ideal conditions be a factor. Suckers are easily removed with a quick Chuck Norris style kick to the balls! But if you plant it with not much room I can see them being a PITA.

When its not raining I will take a photo to show you the suckers and how they can spread hey.

Cheers.

[Scientician]

I think I might have been better off being niave/ignorant to the semen smell. I won't be able to help but make this connection in the future....Thanks Guys!

I would love to see those pics TrailBlazer.