Catha edulis seed

[fyzygy]

Last small handful of C. edulis seed pods. From early 2023 harvest.

There won't be any more in future. 

PM if interested. 

[fyzygy]

Gone to good homes. 

[mcgrath111]

Hey mate, how many years did yours take to flower?

[fyzygy]

Like, 20+ years? This past year was the first time it flowered, to the best of my knowledge. Foliage was lush and green, as there'd been higher than usual rainfall -- maybe that sends a signal to set seed? I think its typical reproductive strategy is to produce offsets and runners. In areas where it's cultivated as a cash crop, growers tend to plant 12" cuttings of their favourite trees, rather than germinate from seed. Or so I have read. 

 

[mcgrath111]

13 hours ago, fyzygy said:

Like, 20+ years? This past year was the first time it flowered, to the best of my knowledge. Foliage was lush and green, as there'd been higher than usual rainfall -- maybe that sends a signal to set seed? I think its typical reproductive strategy is to produce offsets and runners. In areas where it's cultivated as a cash crop, growers tend to plant 12" cuttings of their favourite trees, rather than germinate from seed. Or so I have read. 

 

Ah cheers,  guess I'll be waiting a few more years haha 

[saguaro]

i've seen one flower 4 years after transplanting from a cutting. it may be possible for them to flower even sooner than that.

 

I didn't get any seeds though cause they are self-sterile 

[fyzygy]

If khat is self-sterile then I don't know how I got massive volumes of seed? My flowering "stand" of trees began as a single 6" cutting. It's located west of the Great Divide, quite arid until that year that it did flower and set seed, after receiving copious rainfall. Soil is reasonably poor, although grey-water has always been diverted to the general vicinity where that tree stands. Who knows, maybe my parents switched brands of laundry detergent, and that was the trigger ... 

 

I've kept clones of that plant in a pot for 7 - 10 years, and never seen a flower. But that's in Melbourne, where foliage turns deep red (with seasonal variation). 

 

[saguaro]

oh you're right, apparently it is self-fertile.

 

I don't know why mine didn't give seed.

 

Are you cutting your plants down? you say there won't be more seed in the future

[fyzygy]

The property has been sold. Maybe I could pay the new owners a visit, down the track. But it's a long way from where I live now. I wish my parents had kept me in the loop, I could've arranged a salvage operation. Lots of other amazing plants there too, I'd always imagined that would be my very own cactus farm and nursery ... my folks are adept at spending their kids' inheritance. 

[fyzygy]

There is one pack of 20 seeds left over. Lucky last. 

[BR14N]

Could I please grab them Fyzygy, also when is a good time to plant?

[fyzygy]

Yeah, about now would be good. 

 

[withdrawl clinic]

all you guys said it correct.

it's self pollinating, can produce seeds after 4 years, and if planted out you get fantastic seed set, only after a perfect season...

in pot's you get seeds almost every year.

they like water over winter, but in pot's not too much.

 

the most incredible thing regarding catha, is that they can form underground shoots, to form a new plant, wher they think it's better for them.

they are not roots, but very thin vegetative shoots, with long nodes and tiny pale leaves.

i never found anyone mentioning this in the sience litarature.

once this underground shoot likes the position it, forms roots, and upright grow.

it's a form of suckering with a distance.

[fyzygy]

I can attest to the wild suckering behaviour. I've read that they can travel considerable distances too.