Acacia seed pretreatment/germination

21 years ago

Sometimes only a small proportion of Acacia seeds 'plump' when I pour boiling water over them as recommended. There has to be a way to get a better germination rate out of these things without nicking each seedcoat individually (which I have been doing for the larger seeded ones - it takes forever!!!!). What's the secret? Would cold stratification help for some species.... which ones? I'm thinking mostly of species from the cooler montane regions of eastern Australia... the only ones that have a shot at growing way up here in the Seattle area. Thanks!

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Comments (5)

conifer_nut
21 years ago
A lot of Australian native plants regerate after a bushfire goes through them.Most Acacias as well.Try placing your seeds in a shallow metal dish and then stack some kindling wood and some larger wood in a pyramid shape over the dish and then simply light the fire and let it burn out.Probably a ten minute burn would be enough to mimick a bushfire condition.Carefully sift the seeds from the burnt wood and sow in the ground probably about 1/2 inch deep.See how that goes.Hope this helps, C.N.
Robert_NSW
21 years ago
I fear that ten minutes of heat from such a large fire as Conifer nut has decribed is surely going to kill your seeds.

It often depends on which Acacia you are propagating. Some seeds will be destroyed if they are exposed to hot water for too long. Other seeds will swell after ten minutes. Some require a couple of applications of hot water. If you have already given the seeds the hot water treatment, you can often repeat it with the lot that have not responded and get more success. Many Acacias will only give around fifty percent germination with hot water.
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Wilky
21 years ago
Have a look at 'treesforlife.org.au' and hunt around that site. It has good info on many species. I've grown many acacias and have only used the hot water treatment - successfully.
gregaryb
21 years ago
Scraping them on fine sand paper works best. No risk of cooking the seeds and most will swell.
lucaci
16 years ago
The 100% way is to take the seed complitly from the coat! No one tells you about that...i do it like that:
1-Nick the coat seed each side so you get 4 sides nicked (i do it with drill and special nozzle that is like sand paper)
2-Spill hot water on it inside metal or glass bowl
3-Leave it for a night
4-Gently take the seed out of coat and it is ready to plant
5-The seeds raise up in 3 days.

Acacia seed pretreatment/germination

Comments (5)

conifer_nut

Robert_NSW

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