Hello Kovyor

I have a Bunya pine in my garden, I hope you have a big garden as they are very large trees. The one that I have is about 30 metres high. In January it drops massive seed pods, that are really spectacular. I have had people steal them from my garden they are so interesting. But you certainly wouldnt want one falling on your head !

The information that I have found relating to germination is that the seed should be sown fresh, it can be sitting up half out of the seed raising mix, this way you can keep an eye on germination.

I have also observed that the seeds will germinate under the tree, just sitting on the soil.

I am afraid I cant help you with how long they take to germinate, maybe someone else can.

Do these trees grow in CA ? I guess our climates are pretty similar.

All the best with your seeds. Did you know they are also edible ?

They took 6 months to a year to germinate for me. I wrote the wikipedia article on this, so read that. Fresh seed might be good, but if they take a year to germinate, it can't be too important :)

Bunya Bunya Trees were quite popular here in California back in the 1880's, and many can still be seen in old gardens of Victorian homes that haven't been razed for newer construction. Beautiful specimen trees, but you are absolutely right that they are not a tree for a small city garden, and the cones are a hazard. Our climate is close, but not identical to NSW, as here in northern California it is extremely difficult to grow Plumeria outdoors year round, and they seem to thrive in Sydney, which seems to have the humidity of Miami with the temperature range of Los Angeles. San Francisco is probably more similar to Melbourne, although we don't get as cold, nor as hot. We have lots of Australian plants here, with Eucalyptus and Acacia and Callistemon nearly ubiquitous. I wish we had more of your Grevillea cultivars and the rarer things from Western Australia, maybe one day...

If you plant the seeds laying half burried and flat within the potting media and wait for about two months what will happen is the 'seed' will detach itself from what is similar to a carrot. The root develops a 'carrot' like root which can sit dormant for months and sometimes years before sending up a shoot to the sunlight above. What you can do is as soon as the 'seed' is able to be manually detached from the underground root system is dig it up and place the 'carrot' like root flush with the top of the potting media. This initiates stem growth and reduces often months of waiting.
Cheers from kris

I've been told that Bunyas make good bonsai specimens, but haven't actually seen one. Has anyone else? The mature shape of the tree in miniature would be something outstanding, if it could be done.
Trish

I doubt very much that bunyas would make good bonsais (unless you mean 3m high bonsai). The leaves are the wrong scale, and the initial growth spurt is too fast.

The carrot kris mentioned is actually the cotyledons:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypogeal

Been looking for fresh Bunya pine seed for a while but the only ones I found in UK were too old to be viable and just rotted, also looking for Norfolk island Pine seed.
It is possible to grow these as Bonsai but it is also a long and hard process, a delicate balance of root restriction and very little fertilising to stunt the growth.

Yes Nathanhurst 'cryptogeal' is another term to describe this.
This species develops a parenchymous tuber which is believed to be an adaptation to low light levels within the rainforest.
Kris

I am an interiorscaper with a penchant for interior bonsai, I've had a monkey puzzle "bonsai" for 3 years now in a lower light office, watered via a wick and water reservoir, not a true bonsai but my client adores it, she never touched until yesterday and was shocked at spininess, i chose this tree for bonsai presntation because it was in a 6" pot, had gorgeous metallic peeling bark, looked in perspective as a small tree, had multiple layers of foliage etc, i'd seen many other monkey puzzles in the nursery and their perspective /scale was always off, choose carefull and accept it for what it is, the bonsai club folks will scoff, but if you like it, thats all that matters. Regarding training it theres not much to add as its been self pruning and remained appropiately foliaged. I've seen plants in a 10" pot that were 3 feet wide so be aware that not every tree is bonsai material. Do google searches for araucaria bonsai and you can find norfolks that are imports from asia that look cool, I've done norfolk forests with great satisfaction, ck out my website in portfolio, over time the foliage reduces in scale and produces a lush and happy presntation
Good luck!
Alan Kvasnik
www.greencanvasinteriorscape.com

Here is a link that might be useful: my web site

Australian aborigines used to come from up to 600 kilometres away to the Bunya feasts every four years at the Bunya Mountains north-west of Toowoomba. They would take nuts home and bury them to produce sprouted seeds, which they liked to eat. Apparently they liked the flavour, but they must also have been very nutritious. I have wondered why, given this habit, the "natural" range of the tree didn't spread further, as you would imagine that caches would be forgotten, or just left too long by mistake, so that the people returning to get their sprouts would just leave the too-big seedlings to grow instead of digging them up to eat. This would seem to be extra likely, if, as in Nathan's experience, they take 6 months to germinate.
Wooroonooran's experience does seem to explain it. A long period of dormancy between the initial germination and the appearance of a seedling would provide plenty of flexibility for hunter-gatherers to come back and collect the food as needed. Almost as good as keeping emergency food in the freezer!
Trish

I picked up 4 seeds in a garden in the Hunter Valley 2 weeks ago, shoved them in a pot without too much care and noticed yesterday that all 4 have germinated and are already growing strongly. Intend to create some bonsai from these, if