melbrackstone wrote: ↑December 20th, 2019, 10:40 am
So when are you going to set up your own nursery?
Ha! Thanks Mel... I could call it a backyard nursery I guess, but since I don’t actually have a backyard it’s probably not appropriate! I like to go big and then deal with the consequences later...
Your own nursery ..... I think the modern vernacular would call it a roof-top pop-up. Add a few tasty beverages and you have yourself another business R3!
Roof top pop-up ... I like it.
I also have a BBQ up there so catering is possible, the fact there's probably a maximum capacity of 8 people (plus trees) might make it a bit limiting as far as functions and Xmas parties are concerned. Would need to extend onto the neighbours roof, I'm not confident that would go down all that well.
demps wrote: ↑December 22nd, 2019, 5:12 pm
Hey guys has anyone tried using M. Diosmatifolia?
Hi demps,
Sorry, can't help you with M. Diosmatifolia ... it's not one that I don’t have any experience with and seems to be a species native to more Northern locations than Melbourne but I did have a look on Google and I see nothing to prohibit at least experimentation with it. It appeared to resemble M. Ericifolia to me, and when I looked further I found it was once known as M. Ericifolia var erubescens and then there was this (from Wiki) ...
"This species is relatively common in cultivation, usually as Melaleuca erubescens and is often used as a screening plant. It is hardy, growing successfully in a wide range of soils, including those that are poorly drained. It is easily cultivated from both seed and cuttings and can be pruned to keep a bushy shape."
All that says to me this may be worth a try as it sounds like it is quite hardy, happy to back bud etc.
Give it a shot!
After seeing this project post Ryceman I got inspired to try a few different mels, so I went up to the local rainforest nursery and got a few of these diosmatifolias. They have such tiny “needle” like leaves and interesting branching from the base
A month since I noticed some miniscule shoots poking through the soil, there are now plenty of each Melaleuca I planted getting bigger by the day - at least 2 dozen of each species. Probably the best performer in terms of germination rate was the M. Cuticularis - there must be over 100 in that little pot! I'll let them grow on for another month or more until they are big enough to be separated out and get their own piece of dirt to develop in. There are roots already coming through the bottoms of a few pots so maybe even slightly earlier.
I also collected some M. Nesophila seed over the Xmas break so I'll be planting them in the next few days along with a few other ones that weren't included in the initial batch.
MelSeeds_01.jpg
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terryb wrote: ↑January 22nd, 2020, 11:38 am
Nice to see they are growing well for you. Some Mels that I started early last year have just had their second repot
Cheers terryb, hopefully mine are just as prolific. How hard did you go on the roots initially with yours if you don't mind me asking?? I'm thinking to be reasonably tough while they are young and reap the rewards in the future??!?
Ryceman3 wrote: ↑January 22nd, 2020, 1:09 pm
How hard did you go on the roots initially with yours if you don't mind me asking?? I'm thinking to be reasonably tough while they are young and reap the rewards in the future??!?
Sounds like a sound plan. During the first repot I remove a portion of the taproot. How much depends on the lateral roots. If I have reasonable lateral root growth, I will snip right below them to encourage a single plane of growth, if they are weak, I will often leave a few more and deal with them on the next repot. If the lateral roots are really long because I was a bit slow in re-potting, these might get a snip as well so they grow neatly in the new pot. Treat them in the same way as your pine seedlings (not the seedling cuttings) and you should be right. The faster growing species will fill the new pots quickly.
I've cut mel seedling roots ruthlessly and the response is great. Mels strike easy as cuttings so there's no reason you could not make seedling cuttings like pines. I'd predict the response would be quicker and better than the pines but that's probably not even necessary a good root prune gives desirable results.
Many species seem to be very slow for the first year then they get up and go after that.
Over the recent summer holidays I went for many walks through local parks with my daughter. We stumbled across a group of Casuarina at one of these which she liked a lot and asked me about. I told her what they were and she said I should grow some. I said, “Ive got plenty but if you want some you’ll need some seed”... so we collected. And today we sowed a few. While I was there I decided to sow a few more Mels... and some Callitris. 4 of the 6 pots shown though contain Mels (hence this update):
Mel Lanceolata A
Mel Lanceolata B
Mel Nesophila (from seed I collected in January)
Mel Rhaphyiophylla ( Cos I had more seed and I like these!)
More Mels!
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That appears to be really good growth for mel seedlings over summer. Mine are a fair bit slower than that I'm afraid
I pot up seedlings at any time they and I are ready. Seedlings don't really seem to have a 'right' time.
