Hi, I got an Araucaria heterophylla cone from a friend's tree. I cut it off the tree not collected it from ground (see photos). I read about germinating those beautiful trees online and experts say they germinate within two weeks. I have put some on tissue+plastic bag since 4 weeks, non germinated. Tried planting them in different conditions, peat-moss in the fridge, direct in the ground, soaked in water then planted in dirt indoors. Nothing worked. What could be wrong? How to check if the seeds are viable? is the water floating seed test OK for these type of seeds, as the all float when put in a jar full of water? Thanks
Can you get one that is already on the ground? The seeds in the pod taken from the tree might not have been mature and not ready to germinate. If you try the seeds from one that has already ripened and fallen off the tree maybe you will have better results.
The document linked here may provide some help: Norfolk Island Pine Production Guide It doesn't seem as though they are suggesting anything "fancier" than laying the seeds flat directly on top of the medium (apparently a particular light level is preferred/beneficial) and keeping the medium moist: Hope that you can get some of your seed growing, and maybe you'll find some other helpful info in the rest of that document.
Thanks zuzu's petals. I have seen those and you are right, the method of planting the seeds is very simple. I suspect that the seeds may have not been pollinated. Is there a way to check the seeds for viability? Does water soaking and check which seeds sink work with this type of seeds? Thanks
Ah, sorry that link didn't contain the info that you need at this time. I do know that I've heard that N.I. Pine seeds lose their viability surprising quickly after harvest even in an ideal situation - and yeah, if they may not have been pollinated, or had not fully matured, as Toni noted ... I see why you'd like to find a test that could help to be sure I wish that I could give you a definitive answer about the float test - but the only Norfolk Island Pine seeds that I've actually handled had quite a lot of "papery" coating, and because of that, I'm pretty sure that they'd float, either way. Hopefully, someone else with more hands-on experience may chime in.
