Germinating Acacia courtii seeds

[Paradoxical]

I have recently received a few A. courtii seeds and I want to maximise the germination rates (as i don't have many).

I was going to use the boiling water method (pour boiling water over the seeds in a mug, and let sit overnight before planting) that appears to be applied to numerous Acacias species.

But I was wondering if anyone that has had success on germinating courtii, had any tips that were directly relevant to this species that they would be willing to share? i.e smoke water treatment (I have a pack of smoke treatment available if need be).

Cheers in advance for the advice.

P

[2XB]

I'm no expert but I use fine wet and dry sand paper to lightly (very lightly) scarify the seed coat. I then put the seeds in just boiled water and sow when swollen. Usually next day...

Peeps say not to do both scarify and hot water, but doing both works for me so I keep doing it.

I have great success with this method :-)

I fold the sand paper in half and envelope the seed. I then gently roll the seeds on the sand paper with thumb and index finger.

Hope it helps, fresh courtii are easy to get to pop, not sure if it is critical but adding rhizobia may be beneficial.

[Sallubrious]

I did mine (the first batch) the same as you DB and somehow managed to kill the lot of them.

I do all my Acacias like that and have great success with every other species I've ever sown bar one. The others were phlebs.

For the second batch of courtii seed I recieved from Folias I was very wary of using scarification and boiling water at the same time, so I just used hot water. All the seeds swelled up and I planted the same way I do for acuminatas, maidenii and floribunda ect and none of those came up either.

I have a special relationship coutii & phleb so I was very dissapointed to say the least.

I normally plant them in a native mix with the big chunks of bark removed and cover them with about 8-10 mm of coarse sand and then sprinkle the smoke granules over the top of the mix and water it in.

I wonder if it could have something to do with the smoke granules with these two species ?

[2XB]

No smoke granules nor did I cover seeds with anything, only lightly pressed into a nice blank (no ferts etc in this soil) soil mix I get from a native nursery.. close to 100% germ rate on folias courtii seed.

The soil I get is not a commercial bagged product, I buy in bulk, and it is lovely ;-)

[mysubtleascention]

I used decomposed leaf litter as a substrate,mixed with sand and perlite.. / poured insecticide solution over to get rid of any lurking grazers/

Nipped 2mm from the fluff /pointy/ side with a sharp blade and soaked in cold watter for 24 hours /same as the other acacias/..

Then between wet paper towel sheets 24 - 48 h to see what pops out ..

Funny - the embrios hatched the other way around,coming out with their leaves first so I figured I have to use tweezers to peal the seed coat and help the root reach soil..

Out of 12-13 seeds I have 7 survivors to work with..

Edited July 29, 2015 by mysubtleascention

[bullit]

fresh is best.. boiled water sit for 24 hrs / plant out in riversand / happy dayz

[LokStok]

i reckon nicking, then soaking overnite is always the best course when you dont have many to work with.

[☽Ţ ҉ĥϋηϠ₡яღ☯ॐ€ðяئॐ♡Pϟiℓℴϟℴ]

I like to boil , add seeds, stand until swollen, .... {taken way more than 24hrs with some -e.g. obtusi and victoriae]

which sometimes necessitates a reboil and at the very least a daily water change..

then gently tease a nick into the seed coating post hot water method...

then leave in the soak tub[and lid on tight] with just enough water to cover them 'till they poop tails..,

[again with a daily water change] - somewhere warmish and in filtered light.. [windowsills have worked well as well as in a propogator or in my rainforest box]

then try to remove the entire seed coating if I can... and..

then sow them already born.. into john innes seed loam [the one with no ferts]..

for my Acacialities but..

I haven't had a chance germinating with phleb or courtii but will be doing them both at some point soon with the seeds I managed to source.. and a krillion others :3

... oh yeh I always used our shitty tap water as it was out of the tap with no prior treatment [other than the boiling part]

I'll use distilled water next round and see if I feel any difference overall afterward and this time round I will be using Acacia inoculant at some point in the process [probably when I sow]

Edited July 30, 2015 by ☽Ţ ҉ĥϋηϠ₡яღ☯ॐ€ðяئॐ♡Pϟiℓℴϟℴ

[mystical oyster]

Yea with folias seeds, hot water and left over night, nearly %100 germinated for me..

[folias]

I'm not sure if on the mountain these acacias need fire to germinate unlike many other acacia species. They seem to germinate just fine on the mountain with lots of little one's coming up without fire.

It is good to hear that people are getting them up and growing!

[Paradoxical]

Thanks for all the advice.

Here is an update on what I did. I purchased some courtii seed from eBay.

The seeds were placed in a cup, with a quarter of a teaspoon of smoke granules, and just boiled water was poured into the cup. This was then left overnight.

The seeds appeared to swell up so I put them in some soil that I had lying around and placed them on a windowsill in my room. In this spot they get warm filtered sunlight for most of the day (melbourne region).

So that was three weeks ago, and nothing as germinated yet. Should I be worried, or do they normally take this long to germinate?

Thanks in advance.

[AbleKay]

On 17 August 2015 at 9:50 AM, Paradoxical said:

...

So that was three weeks ago, and nothing as germinated yet. Should I be worried, or do they normally take this long to germinate?

Thanks in advance.

 

Any luck in the end? After reading this thread I'm only going to use hot not boiled and give them 24-36 hrs. I like folias' observations and logic (less effort too,)

In the past I've found the window sill has performed better than lights and a heat mat (size not rate) so your result is surprising.