I got germination out of everything I ordered so far - Araucaria rulei and montana (4 cotyledons) and one germination out of Neocallitropsis pancheri. Whoever was able to collect and smuggle this seed out of New Caledonia did a wonderful service to the conifer community and arboretums in general. But seriousl...any idea on how hard it must have been to secure the exportation of this seed? Ive heard New Caledonia is very restricting about its flora...

Does your Neo look like mine ?? (Thnx)

...we're FAR from home-free !! ...a single germination can be lost like that !

Good questions though -- would like to know the answer myself !

I have germination of Dacrydium araucarioides now!! Still no Neocallitropsis - however, this is already in cultivation at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Montgomery Botanical Center in Miami and possibly the UC Santa Cruz Arb.

Joey - Glad to hear you had such good germination. You have immediately increased the diversity of southern hemisphere conifers for Strybing.

All my Araucaria have germinated. Just waiting on Dacrydium araucarioides...

Eric
Orlando,FL

Got some podocarpus novaecaledoniae seed in from RPS
just have to wait for germination.

Finally received 6 species of Araucaria seed from New Caledonia after an anxious wait. I almost had to mortgage the house to get them so here's hoping I get a few plants going. All species passed the "float" test and are now sitting on the heat mat at 20C but no sign of life yet after 7 days. Araucaria, although not uncommon here, are rarely encountered except for A heterophylla, A bidwillii, A cunninghamii and A. araucana. I have all of these plus A biramulata, A. columnaris and A. angustifolia so if I cna mange to get a few aof the seed up they will bw=e a worthy addition to the collection.

Having soaked all six species in water for 48 hours to rehydrate them after seed being in transit for over 30 days I am now getting good germination of A rulei, A nemerosa and A laubenfelsii (after 9 days). The soaking of seed seems to be the key to getting the seed moving particularly as it ages. I am guessing the seed I have is at least 12-16 weeks old so must be close to losing some of its viability. I will post final results of germination at a later date to compare with those of you that have also obtained seed for these remarkable conifers from Rare Palm seeds

finally, i placed my order for A. rulei and another conifer like angiosperm - gymnostemma (causarina relative) from Rare Palm seeds last week. Hard to pass this offer up. Hope the seeds will get to me this or the following week.

Any updates on Retrophyllum minor germination?

After 26 days on the heat mat at 20C I have the following results for Araucaria germination;

A. laubenfelsii 10 out of 10
A scopulorum 7 out of 10
A montana 20 out of 43
A rulei 3 out of 10
A luxurians 3 out of 10
A nemerosa 4 out of 10
I am still fairly optimistic that I will get a few more up as from my experiences, most seed of this genus will give results for up to 12 weeks once sown.

TFP,
What do you guys do with the various araucaria cones when they come out? I'm trying to get my hands on some seeds... I don't feel like I've ever seen any cones on the trees in Strybing, I do keep my eyes out for ones to appear on those bunyas down by the Hyde St. pier.
Thanks!
Ry

Our bidwillii coned last year, probably a few viable seeds in the cones as this species is monoecious. Theres a single bidwillii in lakeside gardens in oakland that i got a few germinations out of last year. Theres also columnaris all over oakland which release seed.

Folks,

Got my 10 araucauria rulei seeds. This is a plant i wanted for a very very long time. After sowing in 7 - 10 days, i have about 6 out of 10 germinating. I can see another "crack" so the tally could be 7/10. However, there are some seedlings that are tan in color vs green. Any idea why?

Temp: 26-30 C
Singapore

The different color is normal variation. I don't know about tan, but I did get some seedlings that were green and others that were purplish. This was true for several species.

The UC Botanical Garden has A. araucana, cunninghamii and angustifolia that have survived many winters. Our 27 yr old Aracucaria araucanas have produced their first good crop of seed this year (starting Aug,'10). I already have several dozen sprouting (2-3wks). I put a bunch in the fridge and expect they are still very viable. They could be made available. Let me know of interest.

Hi UC garden

Yes I would be interested in those seeds
please Email me.

Can anyone give a follow up on the progress of their seedlings? I was silly enough to get some myself and so far the results are pretty good after just 25 days:

A. laubenfelsii 6 of 10
A. montana 7 of 11
A. rulei 8 of 10

I was nervous because I got the seed pretty late compared to you all. Now to carry them happily through the cool to cold winter of southern Japan...

Two A. laubenfelsii showing the purple and green forms:

{{gwi:692058}}

It should be interesting to see how they develop as they age. I know I'm excited!

G'Day plantfreak,

following on from my previous listing no further germination occured.

My A. laubenfelsii out performed your result with 100% success, however your older A. rulei seed out perormed mine easily as I only had 4/10 germinate. I am happy just the same as to have these species at all.
The first true leaves have formed and all are looking remarkably healthy and with spring having arrived I expect they will take off any minute now. If I had any idea of how to put some photos up I would.
Cheers
Tasmanii

Now when will RPS offer A. humboldtensis, A. muelleri and A. schmidii?

Hey Tasmanii, it is interesting how different people had different results with these. My montana on average did better than most folks while the laubenfelsii did more poorly (so far). I'm really happy that the rulei germinated so well.

Jason, if RPS has any of those in the future, I'll jump at them, especially the muelleri.

What ticks me off is that the relatively common A. araucana can't be shipped to Japan - silly, silly given that breeding populations are established all over the world and the seed they offer isn't from the wild. International law can be very unbalanced sometimes. Ah well...

Don't forget to add Araucaria biramulata, A bernieri and A subulata to the list.
Agathis spp would be nice too as well as Nothofagus spp....and..... ....and.........and.....

G'Day plantfreak,
Unfortunately the CITES legislation doesn't discriminate between wild and cultivated populations of A araucana seed which probably makes sense when you think about it, I mean it would be too easy for unscrupulous traders to list wild collected seed as being from cultivated plants, its the only thing that would make sense to me.
Good luck with your seedlings
Cheers
Tasmanii

Tasmanii

Can I have your Email address please

Hi Tasmanii - best if you enable the "Send me an email" facility on your Gardenweb Member Page, it'll make contacting easier

Resin

Thanks pineresin,
I will see if I can work it out
Cheers
Tasmanii

G'Day again pineresin,
Couldn't work out how to enable my email address, maybe a step by step, in slow motion tutorial might help LOL
Cheers
Tasmanii

Hi Tasmanii,

It is rather complicated!!

Click on your 'My Page', go to the yellow bottom row, and near the right end, click on 'Member Pages'.

At that page, click on the 2nd line 'Edit Your Personal Information, Page, and Preferences'. It'll throw up your member login page; click on the 'Login' button.

This will give you an editable version of your member page; go to near the bottom of this, on a pale yellowish background, put a tick in the box next to 'Allow other users to send you email via forms at our site'.

Then click on 'Save Your Member Profile' at the end.

It should work! (I think!!)

Resin

Thanks Resin,
Its all good now I have loaded my email address.
I will put up some seed of mainly Southern hemisphere conifers for trade on my page, now that I am on a roll, so feel free to select something when I do.
Cheers
Tasmanii

Fresh seed of Neocallitropsis pancheri is again available.
They also have some other fresh seeds, for example Agathis ovata but very expensive !

http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/de/small.shtml#conifers

Hi,

just got my order from RPS this week (Retrophyllum, Neocallitropsis, Agathis) ... Retrophyllum was growing already in the envelope

http://groovy-garden.blogspot.com/2011/03/retrophyllum-minor.html

Agathis ovata started sprouting after after few days ... so far 4 seeds only

Groovy

Congratulations! Could you post a photo of the Agathis ovata ?

Yes would be very interested to see seedlings of
Agathis ovata and Reterophyllum.

hey Borubar,

thanks. here is the agathis ... another 3 started sprouting today
http://groovy-garden.blogspot.com/2011/04/agathis-ovata.html
now waiting for Neocallitropsis ;-)

Groovy

will post more photos on my blog as soon as something green appears ...

agathis cotyledons finally ... below
... one seed has two sprouts ... not sure if that is possible ... but might be twins at the end

{{gwi:692060}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Agathis ovata

Here are my 6 New Caledonian Araucaria species 10 months from sowing.
Only lost 1 A. scopulorum so far but will keep them on the heat mat to nurse them through their first Tasmanian winter which is fast approaching.

{{gwi:692062}}

Looking great ! ....good luck !

hello tasmanii, very nice photo of the seedlings, what media for growing are you using and what moisture and temperature levels are you using? Did you put the seeds directly into the media? thanks! I would like to try these in the Sacramento California area. Very hot and low humidity during the summer and low 30 F in winter

G'day Larry,

I use a proprietry mix, both for seed raising and for potting on.Basically both are composted bark and coarse river sand of roughly equal proportions. I pricked out the seedlings into the growing media once they were around 25mm high and fertilise regularly with a seaweeed extract liquid plant tonic and fertiliser, applied fortnightly. I currently have the seedlings sitting on a heat mat at 28C over winter and will remove outside once spring arrives in September. Once they establish a bit they should handle our climate but as young seedlings I think our winter frosts and cool ambient winter temperatures may pose a bit of a problem. Araucaria biramulata, A. columnaris, A. montana, A rulei and Agathis ovata all do well here outdoors. I will update their progress from time to time.

Hello all, just found this site. I made many collecting expeditions to New Caledonia etc in the 198o/90s. I have growing here ALL the NC Araucarias except schmidtii( I lost that one !) I have Agathis montana etc. Also Acmopyle pancheri and A.sahniana , Retrophyllum minor , Dacrydium guillauminii, Librocedrus chevalieri etc. I can swap some material for rare plant SEEDS.

Hey Stenocarpus!

You can count me in, would be very interested in exchange, I do have a few rarer bits and pieces that may be of interest. The New Caledonian stuff always gets me excited. I will email you a list of what I have going including seeds of some interesting conifers.
cheers
Tasmanii

Same here Stenocarpus! I am definitely interested. Do you have A. humboldtensis? Do you know if your Araucaria seeds are viable. I have had very little luck with seeds of New Caledonian Araucarias in cultivation, except A. columnaris.

Hi there. I just found this site. I'm thinking of buying some NC conifers, I had no idea they were for sale. I live in Ireland, it's quite mild here, I would be grateful for any advice regarding germination of New Zealand conifer seeds which I am about to germinate. What is the optimum method for them? Wet tissue paper? Cotton wool? In a clear plastic container? Heat lamps? Where would I get a heat mat which Tasmanii mentioned? Sorry for all the questions, I am just an amateur who loves conifers!

G'day jan golden,

The following info is only of a very general nature but if you have a question regarding a particular Genus or species there are many knowledgable folk on the forum that will be able to help you out.

Germination strategies can differ from species to species but personally, I would be forgetting about wet tissue paper, cotton wool etc etc,. Get yourself a quality seed raising mix that is moisture retentive but well drained and put your seed in that cause thats where home is going to be for the next 3-24 months.

There are many factors that may assist with germination,too many to mention here but a few include, some seed benefit by soaking in water overnight before sowing followed by a period of cold stratification of 28- 120 days so as to simulate normal exposure to Winter conditions, some require exposure to high light levels and others not, some that need to be sown within a short time of collection because of a short seed viability period, some that need to pass through an animal's/bird's digestive system and some that require no special treatment at all.

The general idea is to try and mimic what the seed of a specific species would go through in nature and when it is more likely to germinate. The one thing that doesn't change is that fresh seed is always best. So you see it can really depend on what you are wanting to grow.

Heat mats can be beneficial for "extending" the growing season in cooler climates but are generally unnecessary for the amateur gardener until they get a little more "serious" about propagating. Having said that, there are some very good, relatively cheap small units available and there are a few different styles of heat mats to choose from but its best to get one with a thermostat to give you more effective control over the temperatures as some seed will not germinate if the temperature remains constant. A reasonable quality 4 tray heatmat with thermostat will set you back around AU$230.00 (150 GBP), and there are a lot worse places than eBay to look for one, after all you can shop around and have one delivered to your door without leaving home.

Once you sow your seed, keep it constantly moist but not wet and never let the seed raising mix dry out, especially once the seed has germinated.
Good luck!

Hello, good evening. I would like to know if I can post an address to buy seeds of Araucaria by mail. I wish I had the full range of Araucaria. Here in Argentina we araucana, bidwilli, angustifolia, heterophila.

Matiaspereira,

You can get Araucaria cunninghamia (Hoop pine) seeds and Araucaria columnaris (Cook's pine) seeds from the Web.

You can also get seed of about 4 species of Agathis from the Web.

The rest are very hard to find. The vendor (rarepalmseeds) whose announcement of New Caledonia seed prompted this thread originally still lists some seed for sale, at steep prices. I've always heard that viability for most species is short-lived and so have wondered if that seed for sale now, assuming it is from the original seed a few years ago, is still viable. If of questionable viability now, maybe, the vendor would be willing to lower the price.

Seed for Araucaria hunsteinii (Klinki pine), I've always thought, should not be that hard to find. But I've always struck out. Any source anyone?

Matiaspereira, do you have a source for angustifolia you could recommend to me?

arauquoia: A. angustifolia seeds are very abundant and cheap in their natural occuring region (Brazil and Argentina) as food, but I suspect they are forbidden to ship abroad. An alternate source would be Chile where they are very popular and, as they are an exotic especies,they are free to ship everywhere. In Chile, www.chileflora.cl used to have a. angustifolia seeds for sale. It is an easy to germinate and fast growing tree if it likes the soil/climate but its fragile in the first six months. One year ago I bought 1 kilogram of a. angustifolia seeds from a market in southern Brazil. I dropped all the seeds in water and sow 32 of the ones that sunk and all germinated but many were kiled later by phytophtora.

Sheffields have Araucaria angustifolia seed there
source is Chile.

Did anyone get germination from Dacrydium araucarioides? I got 2 of 10 seeds. They are so slow growing.

Hi Guys!

Just came across your post during a web search.

I thought you might be interested in freshly collected Araucaria hunsteinii seeds. https://www.trebrown.com/

Phil

Hey phil , start your own post rather than tagging on to 5 yr old one

ron :-)

I know this thread is 7 years old but...does anyone have any NC araucarias for sale?