Nothofagus gunnii

[sand]

Anyone here have some pre treatment advice? I purchased some seeds along with a bigger order from wildseed tas. But haven't found any concrete germination advice. I assume cold stratification is necessary. They are more a experiment then anything so the current goal. Is to try make them survive a year.

[shibui]

My go to for native seed germination is Growing Australian Native Plants from Seed by Murray Ralph. It is getting a bit old now but I don't think the info has changed much since it was published. He mentions that viability declines quickly in storage and is likely to lose half the viability after 2 year's storage.
No mention of pre treatment but he does mention that viable seed sinks after soaking in water for 24 hours.
Cold stratification will never hurt. I found another source that recommends 2-5C for 4 weeks. Depending on your area, just sowing outdoors in winter may supply that level of stratification.
Murray Ralph does mention that N. gunnii germinates in about 6 months so you'll need to be patient.

[damothedamo]

I also purchased some seeds from Wild Seeds Tasmania, and have been considering options of when to when to sow. I live in Hobart.

I have also seen the viable seeds sink in water after 24-48 hours.

[sand]

As I have seen many mentions of others interested in seed growing nothofagus gunnii, i thought I'll share this paper that I recently found on germination. Interestingly it goes against much of the other information on the species, with quite fast germination particular in warm temperatures, and also also shows that cool stratification is not necessary, but does increase germination speed very slightly

https://eprints.utas.edu.au/13807/4/198 ... nology.pdf

[sand]

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