Acacia burkittii germination

[andros88]

Hi all - has anyone here had success with germinating A. burkittii? They seem much more challenging than other acuminata variants. 2x hot water treatment 2 weeks apart yielded no results (unlike a. broad or narrow phyllode which usually germinate within a week of hot water treatment).

 

Thanks for any help in advance!

 

[ENtiTY]

Not tried burkittii but I have grown many other acacia.

Personally I prefer to sand some of the seed coat away before hot water treatment. Not to much, you only need to break the very outer gloss coating, so you can see a bit of a flat spot. Seeds will swell if the process is successful. Much more reliable than just a hot water soak.

[infin]

On 08/03/2019 at 7:04 AM, andros88 said:

Hi all - has anyone here had success with germinating A. burkittii? They seem much more challenging than other acuminata variants. 2x hot water treatment 2 weeks apart yielded no results (unlike a. broad or narrow phyllode which usually germinate within a week of hot water treatment).

 

Thanks for any help in advance!

 

I germinated many acacias but burkitti doesn't germinate so far. From about 10 seeds nothing happend. Treatment with boiling water and swelling worked before with all other Acacias but the burkitti seeds seem to need something different or I have bad or old seeds.

[ENtiTY]

Pathogens perhaps. If using boiling water treatment try sowing in an inert medium like coarse sharp sand that has been nuked and let cool to room temp.

 

Otherwise once the seeds are soft after treatment you can pull one apart carefully to see if it is healthy or a shrivelled soggy mush inside.

If its mush your seeds are junk. If healthy then its probably a pathogen in your soil mix.

[andros88]

Hi all - thanks for your responses. I planted 40 seeds on the 5th of March after hot water treatment.

After no germination for a couple of weeks (this is the 2nd time I tried germinating burkitii) I did a range of things:

 

1. Dug up some seeds + scarified outer shell with knife or sand paper & placed again in warm water. Then placed back into soil.

2. Left all seeds to dry out in the sun (soil was totally dry).

3. Re-wetted the seeds.

 

Seeds from the both the scarified & non-scarified groups have now germinated (5 total). It seems they respond to dry & wet cycles. 

Have found germinating burkittiis to be more difficult than other legume-type (Fabaceae family) plants (have germinated a. confusa, a. acuminata narrow, typical, bundleflower, mimosa hostilis with just hot water treatment with higher germination rates).

 

[infi]

Maybe Burkitti needs some extra treatment. Will try to dry mine out a bit. I will also try a Gibberellic acid treatment.

[sagiXsagi]

sanding/filing the seeds a must for me. 

 

Snu mentions burkittii as a ssp of acuminata btw

[ENtiTY]

Perhaps they would respond to smoke treatment. Many native species require it to break dormancy.