Hi guys! My tagaste seeds are making their way to me through Aussie Post and I would like to be prepared for their arrival!!! I would love to hear your ideas for the best way to germinate these seeds for South Australia. Direct seeding? Raising in a greenhouse set up and transplanting when they reach a certain height. Stick em in a pot on the verandah. Do I use seed raising mix or is their something better? I have various places I want to plant them, so I am leaning towards raising in pots and transplanting.... I heard I need to scarify..... I would love to hear of your methods!! Muchas gracias!!
Hi Gypsy. I recieved some earlier this year. I followed the recommendation on the packet to add to soiling water and boil for one minute remive from heat and leave to cool. It was a long long time before I got any to germinate and still only have four germinated. Some recommend to scarify with sandpaper first although I have seen many self seed. Permibeginner
Re: Best way to germinate tagaste seeds? I have had a good success rate wiith germinating tagasaste - got my seeds from Eden Seeds, and they also sent me a small packet of innoculant. Didn't think that boiling them was the way to go - Boil the water - leave to cool down for a short time (just off boiling point) - seeds into water - leave overnight. either plant them in a seed raising mix or if innnoculating - mix seed with a small amount of dry milk powder and the innoculant (the milk apparently acs as a sticking agent to adher the innoculant to the seeds) - add a tiny amount of water so that the mixture becomes slightly sticky but no excess water - then plant as above. My success rate with germination is great - Planted some maybe 3 - 4 weeks ago and they're an inch or so tall and starting to get their first real leaves - I didn't think it'd be so easy. Let me know how it goes
Re: Best way to germinate tagaste seeds? Just an update on my Tagasaste (Tree Lucerne, for google's sake!) seedlings. I scarified the seeds on 30th Mar by putting them in boiling water on the stove for 1 minute. I then removed and planted in regular seedling mixture from the local nursery. The first two weeks I had them outside on a heat mat and ended up giving up because there was no growth to be seen. I placed them in my little greenhouse which gets nice and hot and humid and low and behold, over the last 2 weeks I've now got 6 out of 12 seedlings growing! I'm expecting more to pop up, as they've been springing up over the last 2 weeks. They're about 2cm tall.
Re: Best way to germinate tagaste seeds? Good news. As I mentioned in my post, and others have too I think, they don't need to be boiled, I tend to boil the water, add a little cold to the bowl to take it down a few degrees and leave the seeds in overnight. On the subject of the innoculant, I have a tray with several hundred seedlings 4 inches high or so. The growth and bushiness appears far better than the previous batch I did without innoculant. could be a fluke but I think it definately helps, eve nin these early stages of growth. steve
Re: Best way to germinate tagaste seeds? That may be correct, but I'm still having quite an acceptable germination rate, so at least a few of the little guys are still alive :lol: Is it the same innoculant that would be used for any other legume? I have some in the fridge from my cowpea. Can I somehow add this to the soil? Tagasaste thrive on poor soil, does that mean I'll do more harm than good by adding fish emulsion and azomite mineral powder? Cheers 8)
Re: Best way to germinate tagaste seeds? There a a lot of innoculants around, many (if not all, I don't know) which a specific to the plants the bacteria attach to. Many different ones for clovers, and I got innoculant from Eden Seeds specifically for tagasaste, although it may suit other legumes..... Green Harvest sell the innoculant, although they supply it with the seeds when you purchase them. Don't think it's acceptable to add it to the soil, perhaps you can apply some when you repot if indeed thats what you intend to do. I don't know, I added it to the seeds before planting Cheers
This is grate I have finally fawned a forum that knows about tagasaste. I germinate all my seeds the same way by Boiling the water - leave to cool down for a short time (just off boiling point) - seeds into water - leave overnight using this method of seed treatment has had a 90 percent success rate for me, I harvest my own seeds from some of the many local tagasaste trees in my area, I have big plans for the many 10s of thousands of tagasaste trees I am going to start from seed and plant on my 30 acer property.
G'day Steve I've been purchasing a lot of these tagasaste seeds about 500 grams worth and been getting the innoculant sent over to me from Victoria to perth . I've been having trouble even getting one single seed to germinate , I've even tried to get tried getting the seed to sprout in cotton wool first then transplant very carefully into soil then sprinkle some inoculant on top of sprouted seed and still no luck with any seed appearing
