AusBonsai

Entering 4 species. The first photos will all be identical. All seeds were ordered from Living Green & Feeling Seedy, and arrived promptly. They were not float tested, as each packet has at least 100 seeds (excluding the Ficus Brachypoda).

I will probably use half the seeds now and half at the start of August. The Brisbane winter here is typically 10-20c and so maybe the heat tray is unnecessary. The time from germination until shooting is 1 month. The tray was filled with a seed-raising soil mix from Yates. The seeds were sprinkled atop, then lightly brushed with fingers to turn the soil. Then I sprayed with a fine mist until quite wet. This tray is on a seed warming mat and the vents are open. I have some caution about the chances of mold in this tray and migrating the seedlings from the tray to their own containers in late winter. From the seeds I expect to make some interesting trunks, some root over rock, and perhaps even some fused trees. They will be in direct morning sunlight until midday and then heavy shade until nightfall.

Ficus Brachypoda grows across norther Australia. If this is grows true to LucidCentral, then the leaves will be quite small (4.5-6 x 2-3 cm). It may grow slower than the Obliqua, as Brisbane is south of it's typical range. Root over rock would be 'true-to-form', as it's common name is 'Rock Fig'. There are other Rock Figs native to Australia.

I just planted some of these out this week. Just out in the Sydney sunshine, so will be interesting to see if the heatpad helps you to get earlier germination (or mine germinate at all). I'm very interested to watch how these turn out for you. Good luck with all your entries

During the seed stage, there was a lot of rain (prior to Tropical Storm Alfred). This flooded my seed trays and mixed things altogether. I selected 4 ficus seedlings to pot up. From these, this one looks a little bit different in that the new shoot is a maroon colour. The new shoots of the other ficus seedlings are green. So I decided this one must be a Brachypoda.

It was repotted about March and is ready for another up-pot. The heat of summer is already being felt around Brissie and there are many other tasks. If it seems right I will up-pot but that may be delayed until March 2026. Growing well, and this could become a Parent & Child design in the distant future of 2030.

@TimIAm, these didn't seem to germinate as soon as the Ficus Obliqua. You can see from the post that it's not easy to trace which seeds grew. Prior to the flooding only a couple of Obliqua were showing up and none of the Brachypoda. Maybe the flooding happened in September.