randomness... thats looking great! looks like its growing fast. my acacia acuminata that i got going over 3 months ago now is still going quite slow - still only got juvenile phyllodes. my longissima and caroleae are also going quite slow too ... i wonder whether this is because I got them going in winter? just had 4 broad leaf acuminata sprout as well as 2 narrow leaf so it will be interesting to see how they compare to my acuminata up in NSW

Here's a few of my babies.
Broad phlyllode A. acuminata & A .neurophylla in the front row pic 1

Narrow phyllode A. acuminata & A. confusa in the front. pics 2 & 3

woops got the same pic twice, I meant to add this one.
A. simplicifolia

you the man hieronymous!

..hmm..that could be a tad slowish..the key to getting acacias to grow fast are:
1) loose, well drained, but not too dry, potting mix..i.e avoid wood chips..sand/vermiculite is good.
2) plenty of nitrogen, water and lots of light

with a repot they may start taking off faster..



..Randomness..absolutely top stuff! really warms my heart to see and hear of these UK-acuminatas..please keep us posted how they go..another 2-3 years and you should be blessed with many high content alkaloid phyllodes..
.

..and thank you Heironymous for the great pics..

really healthy looking beings..good set-up
you won't have need for spice before too long..

Lol you should have seen all the ones that died.

I planted a whole packet of seeds over a month. Some had bugs hatch out, some just did nothing, some I killed with ignorance. Eventually I got about 7 plants going. Five died off (two of those deaths were through me trying to put plants outside to soon). I have only got two left. The one in the previous picture seems happy and the other (below) has a much more squat appearance and is a lot darker green and smaller.

Looks almost like two different phenotypes.

They seem to be really fragile to start with but once they get past that stage and develop proper phyllodes they get a lot tougher. I like the way they move so much when they are young. In the morning the pinnate leaves would all be standing to attention trying to catch the sun rays. Then in the evening they just flop down like they have collapsed at the end of a tough day.

I like the way you can see the evolution from pinnate to phyllodes before your eyes like the plant is wearing its genetic history in its growth pattern.

Still got many years left before I could begin to contemplate harvesting anything but it is a nice plant to have around so I am not to bothered I am in no hurry.

I think the knowledge we could gain over the next five or so years could be invaluable. With members growing these acacias around the world when they reach harvestable maturity we could get a real perspective on what works where and how reliable these different species are outside of there natural habitat.

Smaller acuminata pictured below.

Randomness wrote: ..well said and thank you for your valuable contribution in this field..

i might also add that a number of tryptamine species i've grown in their native land can be very sensitive when very small/newly sprouted..like 70% death rate..that they make it to large trees in the harsh wild often astounds me..

hopefully, in this new environment for them Randomness, the deaths were a case of natural selection..
.

I'm not sure if it has been mentioned yet, but Acacia Podalyriifolia has a pretty decent
DMT content too IIRC. You might want to add that to your list, but then again I don't
know how fast it grows or how cold hardy it is.
Also IIRC the DMT content of the leaves is high; Much more sustainable and fastgrowing DMT source.
I think(hope) that most of us are starting to realise how devastating & insustainable the ever growing
demand for MHRB is.... So no more rootbarks or barks at all. Why even would we, when plenty of DMT rich
fast-growing, often shedding foliage grows on many Acacia species?

This is great information on Acacias to grow worldwide(even in the colder northern-hemisphere zones).
The information gathered in this topic could be organised into a PDF text & image-guide to growing
DMT rich Acacias both outdoors and, when outside of Acacia's natural habitat, in greenhouses.

it has been mentioned SKA, though the claim is dubious and the finding was never duplicated... further tests found that it did not contain dmt. a few nexians have tested it to no avail - I wonder whether the original finding of "DMT" may have been somebody getting excited over a product they pulled that looked like DMT but maybe didn't end up being so upon bioassay - or maybe it was just a one off finding as has been the case with a few species

From what I've seen, there are A. burkittii and A. acuminata var. narrow phyllode floating around Sharetheseeds.

wap

Seeing these are the TOP 8 ACACIAS to grow, we should have a propagation/cultivation section for each of these.

Should we start and store these growing guides under the wiki for each species, or in the forums? (and link them on the front post of this thread)

A few quick tips with germinating/growing A. acuminata

1) When germinating from seed, pre-treat with the boiling water method (ie place seeds in bowl, pour in a jug of boiled water and let sit for 12-24 hours). I wouldn't bother with scratching or nicking the shell with knife/sandpaper. I have found no substantial increase in success of germinating seeds, and in fact is more risky to damaging the seeds than it's worth IMO. Also, if seeds haven't sprouted after at least 10 days, place seeds in boiling water again until water has cooled (only need 10-20 mins), and then place back in germination trays. I had 3 out of 8 sprout after a 2nd treatment within 2 days

2) The single tap root grows down VERY QUICKLY, so it is important to have them in deeper pots. Checkout the root structure after just two weeks of growth. (pic attached below)

3) Light - I am using 2 x 20w fluorescent lights. When young, they do not like being under strong direct sunlight (or strong grow lights), they prefer plenty of light in a shady spot.

^..thank you for that --Shadow...look forward to growth updates..

and they don't like their roots drying out at all when young..is fatal..
really they are quite delicate at this stage..
acacias only become drought tolerant once established in the ground (or large tubs)


..it is good i would suggest for people to trial a few varieties of A. acuminata/burkittii as they may have differing climate tolerances, though generally a very hardy species..the faster growing species in the list is A. floribunda (A. maidenii is fast too) but may vary more..

growing guides could be in the forum and linked to the wiki..

experimenting with soil mix is also worthwhile...moist sandy is usually ideal, but various mixes work..
pearlite base can be good..
.

What lights are people using for Acuminata's specifically during the early stage?

I've been turning them throughout the day to try an simulate a moving sun, because even with just 2 x 20w florescent's, they seem to look healthy in the morning hours of light, but then as the day gets on, they start looking sad like they want to get away from the light. I might try moving them out of the direct light for a couple of hours midday and see if they respond well.

Other than that, its exactly 3 weeks from pre-treating the first batch of acuminata (broadleaf/typical var) seeds, and they look weak and healthy if that makes sense. Nice and green and look like they are progressively growing, but man, how on earth in the wild do these guys manage to stand on their own feet? I've started to pack soil up around the base for support as the single toothpick wasn't looking sufficient.

The pic of that one with the exposed root (previous post) is doing well (2nd last pic). I made sure I was quick getting my photo, and didn't let it dry out. Plant it with extreme care not to damage the root, and then regular watering with the mister spray bottle.

I planted an Acuminata (narrow leaf) seed 8 days ago, and it about 1.5 cm high (see last pic below)

For soil, I'm using a mixture of:
2 part River sand
1 part vermiculite
1 part seed raising mix
Ph is measuring around 6.8

Nutrients, I am using Osmocote. I might go bush walking this weekend for some Rhyzobium bacteria if I get time...

In the meantime, I'm doing a boiled water soak on 12 x A. Oxycedrus seeds, I'll see how many pop in a week. Until then...

So I'm looking at getting an LED grow light for my acacia's.

Concerning the light spectrums needed, is it better to:

1) Get a "blue\vegetative" light spectrum light for at least the first 12 months, and flick to "red\flowering" during the plants typical flowering period.

OR

2) Get a "full spectrum" light for the whole period?

I'm wondering if there are any techniques or tricks that can be applied with lights (in combination with drought technique) to increase alkaloid yields. I guess we would need to understand exactly how the alkaloids are being processed such as how they respond to influx of water (if we assume they are being further processed into plant growth hormones during growing periods following water intake)...

...I need to get around to reading "the secret life of alkaloids"

Nice job germinating them.

They look like need to be stressed a bit to toughen them up. In an outdoor environment they'd naturally be getting stressed by wind which toughens the stems up & helps them grow into stronger plants. Maybe if you could get a fan on them for a few hours a day that would toughen them up a bit. Just make sure the fan doesn't dry out the soil mix though.

They love a humid environment until they start putting out bi-pinnate foliage, but after that they will grow into tougher plants in a drier environment.

I get them into almost full sun at that stage (filtered through an opaque plastic or a greenhouse/mini greenhouse is perfect) but that might not be an option for you. High output fluorescents or HID lights will work for a while (I've never tried Acacias under LED's) but indoor acuminatas no matter what light you chose could turn into an expensive exercise as you don't really get anything off them for at least a few years.

I'd just go for a balanced grow spectrum and keep them on a grow cycle. There's not much potential to harvest seed for the first few years (3-5) years and the seed setting potential doesn't really kick in until a year or so after the tree has been planted in the ground and established a few large feeder roots.

I'm not sure how acuminata's grow in the wild, but mine all pretty much need staking for support. The narrow phyllode do a bit better, probably due to less weight on the foliage and being a slower grower.

Should my large phyllode acuminata need to be pruned yet? Is this growth rate normal? (6-8 months old). Is everyone 'staking' theirs with support?

My acuminata stayed that size for about 6 months...maybe more.
Then I planted then in the ground, and a few months later, they took off. One is about my height and is really growing fast...keen to see how it looks in a year or so.

@--Shadow
Just looked up 'the secret life of alkaloids' and found Alkaloids - Secrets of Life, Alkaloid Chemistry, Biological Significance, Applications and Ecological Role by Tadeusz Aniszewski. I've never heard of this before, looks very cool.
How did you come to find it? (it appears to be referenced on the Nexus Wiki)

It was very easy to find on google, but I'll just leave the pdf here for archive purposes.