Red Cedar seed collection?

[goodwoody]

Hello Groovers, The situation is that on my parents farm there are many mature red cedar trees and I'm interested in collection and propagation of these seeds. The trees are huge so I believe that they will produce seeds that have vitality and show great characteristics for growth and development. Any information and ideas appreciated. Damien.

[Barry_White]

Hi Damien

Have you thought about propagating them from cuttings rather than from seed.

[goodwoody]

Do cedar cuttings take well?

[Barry_White]

Do cedar cuttings take well?

Hi Damien


That I don't know but I emailed the question to a local Guru here in the New England.

When I get a reply I will let you know.

This is an extract from his website.



Why Cuttings? At Yallaroo we propagate the majority of plants grown in the gardens. Basically we use two methods of propagation. About 40% of the plants are propagated from seed, with 60% propagated from cuttings. Generally cutting propagation is more difficult than growing from seed. Why do we bother with cuttings?
These are three reasons why we persist with cuttings.
1. Hybrid must be propagated from cuttings. Even if hybrids produce seeds there is no guarantee that the resulting seedlings will come true to type. Grevillea hybrids come under this category.
2. Some natives have seeds that are difficult to propagate from seed whilst some species do not produce seeds. Correas, Prostantheras and Westringias come under these categories.
3. Plant maturity is an important reason for cutting propagation. Struck cuttings are the same age as the parent plant. If the parent has reached the stage of flowering then the cutting will also be at the flowering stage and should bloom during the next flowering season. Plants grown from seed may take many years to reach maturity. Banksias are examples of early flowering from cuttings rather than seeds.


This is his website. http://www.yallaroo.com.au/index.htm

[RufflyRustic]

Hi Damien,

Contact Bob Whitworth here on the forum and check out his Farm (http://www.forest.spiderweb.com.au/).

Cheers
Wendy

[prozac]

Doesn't the nursery industry use some kind of cell propogation now? I think it works something like taking a fine cut of cell sections and growing in a petrie dish perhaps. I think this is how they did so many Wollombi Pines in such a short time. Wish I could remember the name of the excerise.

I think that propogation by seed is a hit and miss kind of thing genetically. If you want the same genetic strain you must propogate a plant from a cutting or similar. Clear as mud.

[Barry_White]

Just to complete my comments in a previous post I received a reply from our local Guru and he says it is best to propogate them from seed.

[prozac]

Just had a quick look at the following site.
"How to Propagate Australian Plants" from the site, Australian National Botanic Gardens. http://www.anbg.gov.au/PROPGATE/plant01.htm
Offers up pros and cons of the different methods plus how-to guide.

[prozac]

Tissue Culture. No it's not the name of a band but what they use when they want to propogate lots of little plants all the same.

[Born2clearcut]

i live on the west coast of canada . red cedar grow here like weeds . i have a few in my yard . every year i see little seedling popping up everywhere in the yard i have even dug them up and potted them for wife garden. not sure about your grow zone but they grow from selfseedin no problem here .

[hansp77]

B2C,
I may be wrong, but unless Australian Red Cedar (Toona ciliata) has been introduced over there, you are probably talking about Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata)?

Western Red Cedar -------------------------------Australian Red Cedar

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Thuja_plicata_shoot.jpg/240px-Thuja_plicata_shoot.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Toona_australis.jpg/240px-Toona_australis.jpg

[Born2clearcut]

sry i must of not read it right i only thought red cedar to be growen here .excuse my ignorance and spelling lol

[Cin]

Check out this web site. They have seed stock of Toona Ciliata (Red Cedar) and they maybe could help you with propagating from seed.

http://www.ensisjv.com/WorkingwithEnsis/AustralianTreeSeedCentre/SeedOrders/tabid/371/Default.aspx

[gpigeon]

Damien,
I,m on the North Coast of NSW and from my experience the Red Cedar seeds germinate very easily in normal seed raising mixture. If you are doing heaps for transplanting it will be best to use tubes or better still "forestry trays".
I have some hardwood plantation and the red cedar seedlings, from natural regeneration, become a pest in amongst the rows of Flooded gums (Rose Gum) making slashing harder to carry out.
I would love to grow some Red Cedar in a plantation style setup as they are quite fast growing BUT the Cedar Tip Moth is a big problem. Before you embark on any large Cedar enterprise I suggest you look into the Tip Moth subject.
Has anyone out there found a solution to this insect pest?
Cheers.
Bill W

[echnidna]

grow them in a district that doesn't have the moth?

[tytower]

One answer to the moth is to hide the cedars in a forest of other plants .

On this basic theory it makes sense to me to plant a mixed plantation of cabinet timber seedlings amongst an evenly spread grid of very fast growing trees so the good timber is forced to reach for the sky

[Sibbo]

Damien,
I,m on the North Coast of NSW and from my experience the Red Cedar seeds germinate very easily in normal seed raising mixture. If you are doing heaps for transplanting it will be best to use tubes or better still "forestry trays".
I have some hardwood plantation and the red cedar seedlings, from natural regeneration, become a pest in amongst the rows of Flooded gums (Rose Gum) making slashing harder to carry out.
I would love to grow some Red Cedar in a plantation style setup as they are quite fast growing BUT the Cedar Tip Moth is a big problem. Before you embark on any large Cedar enterprise I suggest you look into the Tip Moth subject.
Has anyone out there found a solution to this insect pest?
Cheers.
Bill W
hello ,
2 comments on the moth .
One . If you set out seedlings through camphour laurel infestations they will go straight up .The camphour seems to over power the moth's sense of smell .

Two .It should be possible to grow cedar as a plantation and just spray insecticide at the right time of the year ,organic preferably ,using a long boom spray on the back of tractor .All you need is a 6 or 7 metre log from the main trunk before branching starts .Forestry Dept entomologists should be able to give the spray times .