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Local seeds ..what do i do with them?
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Posted by antesoo Victoria,Aust. (My Page) on Sat, Feb 26, 05 at 20:29
| Hi folks, I have been given five polystyrene cartons of gumnuts and seed pods from the local Wimmera Area....at the bottom of the boxes undert the nuts is inches of seeds!
I have never cultivated with native seeds and don't know how to treat them.....can anyone suggest correct treatment? The nuts were all saved from local trees for craft use that was never made and now have been given to me to use as I see fit....I have four acres of undeveloped land that I'd like to plant to local species..... and as I don't know exactly what these natives will be other than local..... that will be OK with me too......I live remote so can't access a library to find out what the nuts are and haven't a clue as to some of them , though they are interesting shapes ranging from gumnuts to four sided capped nuts, mini pine cone shapes and finger shapes like hands and many more.Any suggestions appreciated |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Local seeds ..what do i do with them?
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RE: Local seeds ..what do i do with them?
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| Yeah, the website Nathan linked to is well worth checking out...its to trees for life here in SA, they have a free tree scheme that gets volunteers growing natives for landholders in SA. Each year they produce a propagation booklet for their volunteers, which gives good info on most commonly grown genera. Maybe this info is on the website - worth looking for. I have grown trees for them and they tend to time their planting of seeds of various species so that they can all be planted out around the time that good rainfall can be expected to minimise the need to water. From memory most things were planted around December & January. They send out propagation kits that include seed raising mix that has a high % of coarse sand and has a slow release fertiliser for natives added, they also use a fine gravel 'mulch' on top of each 'tube'. Most seedlings are started off in shade and put into full when they grow their first true leaves. It sounds like you have mostly eucalypts, and possibly some allocasuarinas, or maybe some callitris (?). You will need to do some searching on this. or post a pic to verify the species as I believe callitris is best sown in the cooler months.\ Here in SA, if you become a member of TFL you can get all the things you need to grow seedlings using your own seed, but you need to be able to get to a collection depot to pick up the gear. In Victoria, I think a free tree scheme is run by "Men of Trees", which is the original name of TFL, try contacting them. In terms of treatment of seeds, the eucalypts can just be sown direct in to the seed raising mix with no pre-treatment at all and sprinkled with a little mix over the top. Allocasuarinas (this is what I think you are describing as little pine cones - pics would be really useful!) also need no pre-treatment, but should be sown a little deeper. Both Eucs and Allocasuarinas are pretty easy to grow, its hard to give advice on anything else until you have figured out what they actually are. Cheers, mudlark PS: you could also try direct seeding your property, this involves spreading the seed either mechanically or by hand and hoping something grows before the ants knick it all! Usually, depending on rainfall you will either have a really lousy result or it grows up like a very unnatural forest and you then need to thin it all out to avoid loads of spindly saplings. (you might guess, I'm not a big fan of direct seeding! but if you're interested you could try an internet search on the subject.) |
RE: Local seeds ..what do i do with them?
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| Just wanted to check - are you sure that the seed is from local remnant vegetation, or are they possibly just from trees growing locally, that may well be garden plants? One of those shapes you described sounds a touch WA - just a thought, if you are hoping to plant local trees. Dan |
RE: Local seeds ..what do i do with them?
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| The four sided capped nuts are probably tasmanian blue gums, which are possibly indigenous; the classic gumnuts are 'Corymbia ficafolia' (fig leafed gum/red flowering gum). |
RE: Local seeds ..what do i do with them?
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Thanks to all for the hints and tips.I have identified several types so far, E.Podocarpus,Ficifolia, Moort, And several Mallees so they are all indigenous to my area. I have set up some seed trays with river sand and peatmoss so now we wait.I also tried a few direct seed areas down the paddock near the dam ...just for luck.
Thanks again. |
RE: Local seeds ..what do i do with them?
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