Wow.. I have a lot to catch up on here. My apologies to anyone who has directed any questions at me.. I've been very busy between work and finalising my next music release. Fortunately its inspired by Acacias - so I haven't been starved of wattle vibes by any means.. and they're about to come out in musical form to the world!
First of all, @CheeseCat .. I'm sorry to hear of what is going on with your phlebophylla. Not sure what's going on there... could be wet roots as you say - they certainly like good drainage. However, we had a very wet year here the last 2 years and I am in heavy clay - which when wet, stays wet.. I haven't experienced those symptoms.
To me it looks more like something fungal. The reddish dots which cause dying around the leaf are identical to what I see on Eucalypts with fungal infections at work a lot. We have a lot of issues with plants getting too wet due to a poorly covered hardening house which is close to a swamp (like.. meters).. The wattles tend to react to waterlogging by going yellow when waterlogged. Being in another country its likely that they could be more susceptible to pathogens than the native species there. People grow phlebophylla on all up the east coast of Australia which is most areas is suptropical to tropical with very high rainfall and high in organic matter. Generally I think the Acacias that grow in more arid, or rocky areas don't like too much an abundance of nutrients.. drainage is what matters the most. They grow in many nutrient deficient areas. The wet sclerophyll/rainforest species are of course a different beast and love lots of broken down organic matter and hence nutrients.
@Sierracacia welcome! To start with your questions.. Acacia acuminata tends not to thrive in very wet areas. Yes it will grow.. but not in the way something like courtii thrives. Courtii in suptropical/tropical conditions is so fast growing you can harvest phyllodes after just a few years from a tree potentially 4m high. It will grow faster than an acuminata in it's natural habitat. They are incredibly quick growing. As far as frost, you have it the wrong way round.. Acuminata is frost tolerant from a young age.. courtii will die easily when at seedling stage.. and slowly over a couple months when more established. A large tree would be ok I'm sure but how it get to that size when it has to face frost every year. It also depends on severity of frost. Here they don't stand a chance unfortunately.. I lost all of mine. I didn't lose any acuminata to frost.. but they are not thriving. They don't seem to love where I live. As @_Trip_ said, phlebophylla is in an area which receives low rainfall in summer.. but the other months are more wet. In winter its covered in snow so that gives the ground a great soak before the dry summer. It also grows in very well draining soil.. often out of the cracks of sloped granite outcrops at specific altitude. In my garden, they seem not so phased by low rainfall.. we are in a bad drought right now and its one of the only plants that doesn't seem too bothered. Your soil sounds actually very ideal for the buffalo wattle.
@_Trip_ .. your phleb is absolutely stunning! I'm jealous.. mines going slowly but doesn't seem to be showing any signs of giving up. Its heavy clay in my garden.. its not great for acacias.. as I'm sure you can imagine how much that hurts my soul. They're all doing their thing.. just slowly. Except for one of my floribunda and cardiophylla which are just totally lording it through the drought initiated solid clay walls. I do think floribunda is perhaps the most versatile of the DMT containing species that I have met, when it comes to ability to thrive in varying conditions. It loves clay, loam, loose organic matter and absolutely adores good coarse sand along creeks. Its just strain dependant for alkaloids and basically refuses to solidify into anything that isn't sicky. Great smoke though.. and great vibe in the garden.. especially when established. @Jamie01 .. I'd love to see some photos of yours!
Bye for now .. glad this thread is organically doing it's own thing now.
First of all, @CheeseCat .. I'm sorry to hear of what is going on with your phlebophylla. Not sure what's going on there... could be wet roots as you say - they certainly like good drainage. However, we had a very wet year here the last 2 years and I am in heavy clay - which when wet, stays wet.. I haven't experienced those symptoms.
To me it looks more like something fungal. The reddish dots which cause dying around the leaf are identical to what I see on Eucalypts with fungal infections at work a lot. We have a lot of issues with plants getting too wet due to a poorly covered hardening house which is close to a swamp (like.. meters).. The wattles tend to react to waterlogging by going yellow when waterlogged. Being in another country its likely that they could be more susceptible to pathogens than the native species there. People grow phlebophylla on all up the east coast of Australia which is most areas is suptropical to tropical with very high rainfall and high in organic matter. Generally I think the Acacias that grow in more arid, or rocky areas don't like too much an abundance of nutrients.. drainage is what matters the most. They grow in many nutrient deficient areas. The wet sclerophyll/rainforest species are of course a different beast and love lots of broken down organic matter and hence nutrients.
@Sierracacia welcome! To start with your questions.. Acacia acuminata tends not to thrive in very wet areas. Yes it will grow.. but not in the way something like courtii thrives. Courtii in suptropical/tropical conditions is so fast growing you can harvest phyllodes after just a few years from a tree potentially 4m high. It will grow faster than an acuminata in it's natural habitat. They are incredibly quick growing. As far as frost, you have it the wrong way round.. Acuminata is frost tolerant from a young age.. courtii will die easily when at seedling stage.. and slowly over a couple months when more established. A large tree would be ok I'm sure but how it get to that size when it has to face frost every year. It also depends on severity of frost. Here they don't stand a chance unfortunately.. I lost all of mine. I didn't lose any acuminata to frost.. but they are not thriving. They don't seem to love where I live. As @_Trip_ said, phlebophylla is in an area which receives low rainfall in summer.. but the other months are more wet. In winter its covered in snow so that gives the ground a great soak before the dry summer. It also grows in very well draining soil.. often out of the cracks of sloped granite outcrops at specific altitude. In my garden, they seem not so phased by low rainfall.. we are in a bad drought right now and its one of the only plants that doesn't seem too bothered. Your soil sounds actually very ideal for the buffalo wattle.
@_Trip_ .. your phleb is absolutely stunning! I'm jealous.. mines going slowly but doesn't seem to be showing any signs of giving up. Its heavy clay in my garden.. its not great for acacias.. as I'm sure you can imagine how much that hurts my soul. They're all doing their thing.. just slowly. Except for one of my floribunda and cardiophylla which are just totally lording it through the drought initiated solid clay walls. I do think floribunda is perhaps the most versatile of the DMT containing species that I have met, when it comes to ability to thrive in varying conditions. It loves clay, loam, loose organic matter and absolutely adores good coarse sand along creeks. Its just strain dependant for alkaloids and basically refuses to solidify into anything that isn't sicky. Great smoke though.. and great vibe in the garden.. especially when established. @Jamie01 .. I'd love to see some photos of yours!
Bye for now .. glad this thread is organically doing it's own thing now.
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