Re: Acacia Germination
At 03:38 PM 8/23/99 PDT, Bob Beer wrote:
>Hi Barry,
>
>The main germination inhibotor in the Legumes is the thick seed coat. So
>the best thing you can do is either file or nick the seeds and soak them
>first. Either way, you want to go through the seed coat till you see the
>light starchy part of the seed inside. Do it on the side away from the
>point of attachment. Plop them into some warm water and usually an
>overnight soak will have them ready to go.
>
>bob
>
>At 20:34 PM 8/18/99 PDT, Barry Garcia wrote:
>>I recently collected some Acacia baileyana seeds at a nearby school. My
>>question is, how long do these seeds generally take before they begin
>>to sprout? I want to try to bonsai these, and am going to try to grow
>>them directly in the pot, instead of ground first. I know they grow
>>readily because i saw ten, foot high seedlings up at that school :).
>>
>>Any help greatly appreciated!
Barry & Bob -
Acacias are apparently a special case when it comes to germination. They
are specifically engineered to sprout after fires. One of the most common
suggestions I have found in literature for sprouting Acacia seeds is to
BOIL them! That's right - put them into a pot of water and bring it to a
full rolling boil for a few minutes. Then plant. You'll find a very high
germination rate after this treatment.
One of the most interesting experiences I have had related to this topic
took place after the 'firestorm' here in the East bay a number of years
ago. I was familiar with a very old garden owned by a friend, one in which
I had consulted routinely over several years. The firestorm wiped out all
their neighbor's homes and rampaged through most of their garden. It even
'melted' a greenhouse and other garden machinery stored in a shed. Few
plants survived above ground, by surprizing, a lot came back over time.
In this garden there was a good sized Acacia baileyana purpurea which
flowered (and produced seed) annually. The tree itself was completely and
hopeless gone. The first real rains which fell immediately after the
firestorm brought up THOUSANDS of little seedlings of this Acacia in the
general area in which it occupied! I had never seen even one of these
seedlings in all the years I had known the garden, but now the ground was
carpeted with them!
So, if your happen to have pyromaniacal tendencies, buring some pine
neddles over your Acacia seedbed might also work to induce gemination.
Does anyone have data on using the new 'smoke treatments' on Acacia seed?
I know that throwing cinders on Watsonia crons will help induce them to
bloom (like after a fire) - maybe this would also work for Acacia seeds?
Sean O.
Sean A. O'Hara sean.ohara@poboxes.com
h o r t u l u s a p t u s 710 Jean Street
'a garden suited to its purpose' Oakland, CA 94610-1459, U.S.A.
