So, I just started some Acacia Acuminata and Floribunda seeds. Does anyone have any experience with these plants that can offer me some tips? Also, are there other threads dedicated to the cultivation of these specific plants that someone could graciously refer me too?

I dropped the seeds into just-boiled water, as suggested by the growing instructions that came with the seeds. Is this the best method? Something about it seems kind of dangerous for the seeds, being in that high of a temperature.

Thanks!

yup the boiled water thing is legit. Im not an expert so wont give advice beyond that but I do have a 1 year old acuminata I grew from seed and some floribundas so the boiling water works.

yeah boiling seeds works fine.. try sitting them in a mug of boiling water until swollen, then pour the water out and leave half the seeds height worth in there so that they can remain damp. within a few days you should see little white sprouts emerging from them.. this is when you can plant them... preferably half a cm under the soil

+1 to the boiling water treatment. Just think how hot a bush fire gets (much hotter than boiling water), and the seeds germinate after fire then rain.

If you acuminata seeds haven't sprouted within 2 weeks, give them another soak in boiled water for 20-30 mins, I have had seeds sprout the very next morning after doing a second treatment. That's with BOTH the broad and narrow phyllode variants. (Never got any further luck with a 3rd treatment - and I've been waiting over a month)

I leave them germinating in a germination tray with heat pad, and 100% humidity. Temp sits around 25-30C. I Spray them with distilled water in the morning, in the arvo, and before bed. Each time allowing some fresh air into the area to help prevent rot

Also checkout: ANATOMICAL FEATURES OF THE SEED COAT OF ACACIA, WHICH RELATE TO INCREASED GERMINATION RATE INDUCED BY HEAT TREATMENT

I've done a boiled water soak over 24 seeds of A. acuminata (narrow var). I've had very little strike rate with these compared with the typical (broad var) variant. EDIT: Due to the seeds being smaller, an overnight soka may in fact burn them. Smaller seeds generally should only be soaked in boiling water for a shorter period of time

I've lost a couple of A. acuminata (narrow var) due to the seed shell just not busting open enough for the first leaves to get out. They germinated after a boiled water soak ok,but the shell never fully breaks open enough for the first leaves to get out. The seeds sprout, and then look like they dry or harden up. I tried sitting droplets of water on the seed, but not much would work.

I had one left that had stopped growing two weeks into life. it didn't look like it was going to survive. I HAD to intervene... ..with tweezers.. to deliver the baby.

So today was the day to set my Acuminata children forth into the wild.

Within a month of seeding Acuminata (broad & narrow var) and placing them in 15 cm high potting containers, the roots were already poking an inch out of the bottom. I use mesh cloth on the bottom which breaks down over time, so transplanting is very simple. I just dig a 20cm hole, layed down a bed of the same potting soil as the containers were in. Hopefully this will give them some time to re-establish without the root hitting new soil and shocking it.

acuminata

one thing..

You sure you want to be planting a tree that close to a fence?

Aw they're so cute! I love baby plants!!

I have a few 8 month old acuminata's and another 12 1 month old seedlings and this is what I've learnt.
-Require lots of prolonged direct sunlight exposure, even at seedling stage. Lack of sun and the plants will droop and eventually die. Tall skinny acuminata's are begging for more sunlight. When new growth is a deep rich red color they seem happy.
-They like plenty of water when the weather is warm.
-You can use more compact potting soil to get a stronger root system, which makes it easier to transplant/pot out.
-They can also strike up some interesting conversation! (If you're a little mad like me)

Overall they're fairly easy to germinate and look after.

Thanks for the pics OneEyeAscension.
I'm curious about the effects of leaving them potted for so long, that tap root must be coiled around like a snake.
Does it effect future growth size and/or growth rate I wonder...?

And jamie, do you think top part of these acuminata (far left one is narrow var) will have a problem with the fence that close? I could possibly move them in a foot before they root too deep.
My friend has a whole bunch of bottlebrush along the other fence line which are even closer, so I thought they would be ok that close. But, the bottlebrush are already way taller than the fence, they possibly were there before the fence got built...not sure

Might go hunting for some ryzobium today and gives these all a little head start...

I would have planted them out from the fence a bit more too, the nearest one in that pic looks OK but the others could be a bit close.

I wouldn't normally plant a sapling that small in the ground, I let them get to about a foot tall in a propagation tube before they go into the ground. They will grow much faster in a pot at that stage too, particularly if you get low temps in winter. They are also very prone to insect and snail attack at that early stage when planted in the ground too.

Propagation tubes have ridges on the inside that guide the roots almost straight down and roots that come out the bottom get air pruned. So you don't get that coiled taproot like you do in a round pot.

Sometimes a tree grown in a round pot gets coiled roots and it can cause a few problems. If they have coiled roots (particularly if they stay in the pot in that state for too long) they can get a slow start when planted in the ground and the tree ends up with a wobbly rootball. A tree like that can also strangle itself as the main feeder roots grow into a tangled mess.

Propagations tubes IMO are by far the best for saplings.

Hey guys,

I noticed today my oldest A. acuminata (broad) has yellow spots on the leaves.
I have measure pH is 6.8
It's had ozmocote on the top layer of soil since day 1
Have been watering with mister every day to every 2nd day
No change of environment

Should I be worried, or is this fairly normal at any stage of its growth cycle?

I wouldn't worry too much about those spots, they seem to be on older parts of the plant and they will eventually fall off anyway.

Is it growing under artificial light or in a heavily shaded area ?

It seems a bit "soft" for that stage of development. Mine are fully hardened off and acclimatised to full sun by that stage.

I don't know if they'd need quite that much water either, if I had them in a pot that size I'd be letting them dry out a bit more between waterings (not in hot weather though) to toughen them up a bit. They grow quite well with a lot of water but it can increase the chance of fungal problems. When they get more of a dry cycle they take on a darker colour & grow into tougher plants.

I've had them the whole time under 2x20W fluorescent lights, with a small fan keeping the air circulated.
I'll cut back on the water as you suggest.
I'm actually transplanting it this weekend into a 1m deep, 17cm daimeter PVC pipe . I'll attach a pic over the weekend when I have it all setup

..enjoying this thread..and some great advice..
the juvenile leaves often develop yellow spots as they are more quickly expendable than adult phyllodes..
if yellow spots or blotches persist in older plants, it can be nitrogen deficiency..the more bioactive but aerated the soil the more likely rhyzobium will occur to boost nitrogen
--Shadow, just checking you're using ozmocote for aus natives & proteas? it's lower phosphorus, which acacias prefer..
in personal experience, for maximum growth rates, very good drainage combined with frequent watering in the first 18 months plus a lot of light has worked for me..drainage also increases aeration..
it's not good, as Hieronymous says, to allow plants to become too rootbound..and i agree tubes (deep ones) are better than plastic pots..

makes me happy this thread..

Yeah nen, the taller tubes are the best choice for Acacias. Sometimes they are called forestry tubes.

Shadow - you can grow things quite well in a pipe, I've seen it done quite successfully with Welwitschias a few times. My Welwitschias are ready to re-pot and I considered that method for growing them. Personally I wouldn't recommend it for an Acacia as they tend to have a shallow root system that likes to spread out just beneath the ground, but it will work if you manage it properly.

There's a few things you have to take into consideration, the fluid dynamics of the soil in a long tube are much different to the same soil in a conventional nursery pot. If you look at a standard nursery pot from almost anywhere in the world you will notice that they have very similar dimensions in regards to the height to diameter ratio. They have evolved that way because of the way soil/media holds water in a pot. A squat pot is generally not as tall as a conventional pot in relation to the pots' diameter.

The simplest way I can explain it is an analogy to a sponge like you'd use to wash a car. If you dip the sponge in water and without wringing it out sit it on its end so it's standing up (similar to a conventional pot) and then let it drain for a few minutes it will come to a point where no more water drains off and then wring out the water and measure it, it will hold certain amount of water (this is called hygroscopic water). Then if you take the same sponge, soak it in a bucket and then take it to let it drain on its side (which is comparable to a squat pot), when you wring it out and measure how much water it holds you will find it holds more water than it did when the sponge was vertical. So a short wide pot has a higher hygroscopic capacity than a tall narrow one That's why squat pots are used for plants that like wetter soil.

So when you scale the concept to a long narrow pipe you create conditions in the growing media where some weird things happen. The top half of the pipe will hold very little water because of the hygroscopic effect mentioned above and the bottom of the pipe tends to become overly saturated. So you need to keep a few things in mind when you're setting it up. The pipe must have very good drainage, I'd use a layer of rubble at least 2-3 inches deep (preferebly more in a pipe as long as you intend to use) and the pipe will need to have enough holes to allow air to circulate through the drainage layer, if that bottom section of the pipe stays wet it will become anaerobic & it could be a death sentence for an acacia. The top of the pipe will drain much faster than a normal pot so it will need careful attention (extra waterings) for several months until the tree is established. A soil moisture meter would be a cheap investment that will let you know what's going on with the soil.

^ this was an excellent post, thanks.

A few notes about Floribunda (hey, she's in the thread title too!).

Unless my batch of seeds had particularly thick coats, they seem to need a longer germination period. Mine took 2-3 weeks. I used a 24-48h plain soaking, no nicking and no boiling water, so maybe this accounts for the long germination time. But germination rate was 100%, and they all showed up within few days.

And once they get started, they grow at a MUCH faster rate than acuminatas. The floribunda in the attached picture is around 7-8 months old, and has been grown indoors under fluorescents (2xCool White 18W T5 and 2xDaylight 20W T4) so in optimal conditions it might be quite bigger. Substrate is 50/50 mix of coco coir and peat based potting soil.

Thanks for those tips Hieronymous, I hadn't taken this hydroscopic effect into consideration.

Here are the pipes I will be using.

I plan to keep the base of these pots (that hold the PVC pipe) sitting on top of some metal meshing with a hole beneath, to allow full drainage.

I will also drill a few holes at 20cm intervals down the pipe, where I can feed water into, check ph etc.

The potting mix I am using 1 part river sand, 3 parts potting mix (either ozmocote, or today i might go dig for some rhyzobium bacteria).

No doubt I will need to water and drain, and add more soil a couple of times so it doesnt sink down too far into the pipe.



Can you think of any other things I can add or alter to this setup?