Has anyone had any experience with the species....

[Jester]

Afrocarpus Falcatus - Sickle Leaved Yellow Wood? It seems like a brilliant species for Bonsai. These trees can live for over six hundred years and originate in Africa. I have one just down the road from my house. I have attched a few photos for those who might not be familiar with it.

[Grant Bowie]

Hi Jester,

It is one I have often thought of having a play with as I love podocarps and the like. It would grow from seed or cutting but be a slow grower most likely.

I have had a Podocarpus macrophylus "Maki" for over 25 years and it is coming along slowly but nicely. It has male and female plants.

Let us know how you go.

[Jester]

Hi Grant, you're right about it being slow growing but regardless soon I will start planting about 20 seeds I have collected and I will see how I go.


John

Hi Jester,

It is one I have often thought of having a play with as I love podocarps and the like. It would grow from seed or cutting but be a slow grower most likely.

I have had a Podocarpus macrophylus "Maki" for over 25 years and it is coming along slowly but nicely. It has male and female plants.

Let us know how you go.

[Grant Bowie]

Hi John,

It is good practice to sow the seed as soon as possible after collecting. If the seed is mature it is ready to grow and so long as you don't plant it too early, get germination in autumn then get clobbered by frost or insects etc..

I have sown some seed(black Pine) in August and it hasn't come up whereas if you sow the same seed in May it comes up. That way it goes throught its dormancy in the ground and is ready to burst for spring.

You could take some cuttings now and in a few months time etc. It may be quicker.

Grant

[Jester]

Hi Grant, thankyou very much for that and I will follow your advice. I just hope it's not too late to sow the seeds this time of the year.!!

John

Hi John,

It is good practice to sow the seed as soon as possible after collecting. If the seed is mature it is ready to grow and so long as you don't plant it too early, get germination in autumn then get clobbered by frost or insects etc..

I have sown some seed(black Pine) in August and it hasn't come up whereas if you sow the same seed in May it comes up. That way it goes throught its dormancy in the ground and is ready to burst for spring.

You could take some cuttings now and in a few months time etc. It may be quicker.

Grant

[pasquale]

Hi Jester,
I walk past one on the way to and from work each day. About this time last year or maybe a month earlier, I picked some fruit and bunged a few seeds into pots, just for fun. I now have a couple of 15 cm high seedlings that are just showing new buds. I didn't do anything special, just soaked the fruit, scraped off the flesh, threw the seed into propagating soil and forgot about them (literally, when they popped up last summer I couldn't remember what they were). I expect in 20 years I will have a couple of elegant bonsai, or at least some interesting pot plants.
The fruit seems to make a very tasty breakfast - if you are a cockatoo. The cockies have been pillaging the tree for weeks.
Have fun and thanks for the ID. I didn't know the name of the tree.

[Jester]

Hi Pasquale, thanks for the great email. You have "NO" idea how long it took me to ID that tree!! Initially I thought it was a species of Podocarpus and then something else. After consulting a multitude of databases on the net without success, I finally rang the botanical gardens of Sydney and they I.D.'d the tree for me. The info you just provided me with on propagating the seeds is "Fantastic". Thanks to your help, so am so encourged by your email I will be planting some today. The tree I saw is just outside of Centennial Park. Yes you are right about the fruit being tasty to Cockatoos but definitely not to humans. I tried one and quite franky I would rather have my tongue up the exhaust pipe of a truck!!!!


John

Hi Jester,
I walk past one on the way to and from work each day. About this time last year or maybe a month earlier, I picked some fruit and bunged a few seeds into pots, just for fun. I now have a couple of 15 cm high seedlings that are just showing new buds. I didn't do anything special, just soaked the fruit, scraped off the flesh, threw the seed into propagating soil and forgot about them (literally, when they popped up last summer I couldn't remember what they were). I expect in 20 years I will have a couple of elegant bonsai, or at least some interesting pot plants.
The fruit seems to make a very tasty breakfast - if you are a cockatoo. The cockies have been pillaging the tree for weeks.
Have fun and thanks for the ID. I didn't know the name of the tree.