• Members of the previous forum can retrieve their temporary password here, (login and check your PM).

Botany The Acacia Grow Thread

Growing logs with advice and results.
Migrated topic.
Looking great @CheeseCat!

I love this time of year with acacias where they grow their red tips to protect their new growth from the cold.

My tree I planted in the ground is about 1.5m tall now. I'm about to repot a lot of the tubestock so they can get a bit bigger and do some guerilla growing.

CheeseCat is right re drainage, but also an important part is not too nutritious, especially phosphorus, acacias are very sensitive to phosphorous.
 

Attachments

  • 20250614_100356.jpg
    20250614_100356.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 8
Animistic said:
I love this time of year with acacias where they grow their red tips to protect their new growth from the cold.
Click to expand...
@Animistic, yeah, I've noticed that too on my courtii. I couldn't remember why they did it so thanks for the reminder. I recall acacian saying it was something to do with plant sugars. Congrats on getting your courtii in the ground! My courtii is starting to straighten up a bit. I've planted it on a sloped bank that gets some strong westerly winds.

@Phyllode_Pickler thanks! That's a good point about the sand.
 
Thanks my friend. It's been in for a little while now and has absolutely taken off. I did also put another tube stock in just a week or so ago as well. In a few years I'll have Courtii coming out of my ears and many trees living wildly around my local area I hope.
 
Do you guys find your Acacias keep growing over winter? Mine started growing nicely at the start of autumn and have slowly but steadily been growing through the colder months now. 2 of them are about twice the size as when I got them.
 
I live in SEQ.
I have some Acacia Acuminata tubestock that I am looking at putting in the ground.
They are currently about 20-30cm in height.
When would be the best time, and should I use a river sand mix for initial transplanting?
I don't want to transplant to early, but also not too late!
 
I just saw that things were very chilly around your way and wondered how they were going. Beautiful to see, thanks for sharing man!
 
First proper snow we have had in over 20 years! Also.. one of my Courtii died and the other two are barely hanging on.. so not a plant for this climate unfortunately.. the rest are fine though. Hope you are all well
 
Bugger!

Ive had a friend have his Courtii survive really heavy frost. They took a big hit but bounced back and seemingly had much better tolerance for it afterward. That level of snow is next level though. At least the species you have there will have some good stress tests for our northern hemisphere acacias.
 
acacian said:
First proper snow we have had in over 20 years! Also.. one of my Courtii died and the other two are barely hanging on.. so not a plant for this climate unfortunately.. the rest are fine though. Hope you are all well
Click to expand...
That's a shame about your courtii, I've been checking in on mine and I'm very surprised that they are doing so well considering they were only a month or two old when it started freezing here.

We have been getting down to -5 a few times a week. But looking at all that snow it seems that they are much tougher than I've given them credit for.
 
Animistic said:
Bugger!

Ive had a friend have his Courtii survive really heavy frost. They took a big hit but bounced back and seemingly had much better tolerance for it afterward. That level of snow is next level though. At least the species you have there will have some good stress tests for our northern hemisphere acacias.
Click to expand...
With Courtii it more seems an issue prolonged the exposure to frost. They seemed unphased over a month into winter but lately started turning quickly once it got colder. After 3 months of frost it seems they have decided to pack it in. One is barely hanging on.. if it can make it to spring it should throw new shoots. The other still might throw roots but it’s not looking good. All the foliage has dried out.. that said, scratching the stem a little it’s still green underneath.

For cold climates though it seems floribunda, obtusifolia, mucronata and phlebophylla are much more preferable.
 
Last edited:
30 days to spring, so I thought I'd give my V. Nilotica subsp kraussianna a head start about 2 weeks ago and it just popped up today.
open1.JPG

I usually keep it covered like a mini greenhouse, its tied with string to a wood screw in the kitchen window frame so it doesn't fall over.

covered.JPG

I just plopped the seed in, so the first leaves sorta came out the side, but there's an art to giving the seed the best possible head start.
If you look on the edge, you'll find a light colored spot with a tiny hole next to it.
This is where the tap root emerges and should be planted facing down.
The side opposite this hole/spot is where you do the scarifying.

nilotica seed .JPG


Heres a pic of the seed husk, basically you'd be nicking the hinged edge.
seed husk.JPG

I really wanted a Nilotica as I'm fairly sure its the "tree of life" referred to in the bible, whose leaves are for the healing of nations.
The gum that oozes from the trunk is antimicrobial and dissolves in distilled water, so I found a nearby mature tree and got some gum from that in order to spray the potting soil mix for this baby tree.
 
Last edited:
I've started transplanting from the seed trays into pots, they seem to be doing really well despite the continuing frost with very little protection which will hopefully net some really hardy trees.

Looking at the one that is growing in the cactus pot i can't help but think that it looks really similar to the flurobunda that i almost got through last winter.
 

Attachments

  • 20250827_134523.jpg
    20250827_134523.jpg
    2.1 MB · Views: 6
  • 20250827_134528.jpg
    20250827_134528.jpg
    1.9 MB · Views: 6
  • 20250827_134513.jpg
    20250827_134513.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 6
Back
Top Bottom