Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

Seedy Subjects! => Grow From Seed => Topic started by: Tristan_He on June 16, 2016, 05:30:57 PM

Title: Growing Callistemons from seed
Post by: Tristan_He on June 16, 2016, 05:30:57 PM

Hi there, my mother has a very beautiful large shrub of Callistemon salignus which I would like to try to propagate. I've collected some of the seeds / nuts (or whatever they are). Does anyone have any advice on how to encourage germination? They look like the sort of thing that would be stimulated by fire.

Thanks, Tristan

Title: Re: Growing Callistemons from seed
Post by: Maggi Young on June 16, 2016, 06:36:34 PM

Advice from several Australian sites - so the months suggested for prime cutting success should be adjusted for northern hemisphere .... so I suppose July and August for semi-ripe wood....
https://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2003/callistemon-acuminatus.html (https://www.anbg.gov.au/gnp/interns-2003/callistemon-acuminatus.html)

http://anpsa.org.au/callis2.html (http://anpsa.org.au/callis2.html)

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/propagate-bottlebrush-plants-cuttings-38812.html (http://homeguides.sfgate.com/propagate-bottlebrush-plants-cuttings-38812.html)

Interesting to learn that the seed heads are  from several years on each stem - and need to be brought indoors to encourage them to shed their seed.

Title: Re: Growing Callistemons from seed
Post by: Tristan_He on June 16, 2016, 06:43:19 PM

Thanks Maggi. After posting I also had a little look and realised these were capsules not seed - sadly not looking viable when I cut them open. So I think cuttings it is.

Title: Re: Growing Callistemons from seed
Post by: Maggi Young on June 16, 2016, 06:58:36 PM

I'm not sure that good seed would be set in the UK, Tristan - until someone tells us different, of course!

Title: Re: Growing Callistemons from seed
Post by: Lesley Cox on June 17, 2016, 04:30:30 AM

And cuttings of that whole family are wickedly difficult to root. Use a liquid rooting hormone at least and you may be lucky. As a help with rooting cuttings of eucalypts, proteas, pines and some other difficult things, an agricultural research institute in NZ (Ruakura) years ago developed a liquid rooting hormone called Liba 10,000. It's very good and I wouldn't use anything else.

Title: Re: Growing Callistemons from seed
Post by: Hoy on June 18, 2016, 09:09:05 PM

I have grown Callistemon from seed several times (not of European origin those seeds!). No problem with germination (quite ordinary treatment) but I have never successed with the plants outside more than a couple of years.