I've recently had another go at growing acacia acuminata. I had planted quite a few some months ago, but only two out of 16 have survived, and neither seem particularly healthy (see below; the one on the right hasn't grown for a while and the left is seeing some leaf wilting). I've also had a few shots at growing them since, but I've had real problems with seed germination, with only a very small number of seeds germinating.

Around 4 days ago, I tried a small scale experiment (only 6 seeds), in which I covered the seeds in boiling water and soaked for 24 hours (as I normally do), and then made a small nick with a razor just at the edge of the seed. This was just enough to break off some seed coat, but not touch much else (I think I cut off too much with one seed, but I'll wait to see if this stops it from germinating). Out of the 6 seeds, 5 have germinated within 3 days, which is a result far better than most times I have tried growing these acacias so far. The one seed that didn't germinate was the one that was cut a bit too much, although whether this is related I'm not really sure and I'll update in a few days.

I nicked the seeds after the hot water treatment because I was worried that without protection from the seed coat the seed may be killed by boiling water, although I'll have to do some further tests to see if this is true. Either way, nicking the seed after certainly works well, as long as the seed is watered in thoroughly.



On a mostly unrelated note: I've also been trying to germinate 4 mimosa hostilis seeds. I also covered these in boiling water and let them soak for a day, then sowed as normal. 2 germinated fairly quickly and around the same time, but the other two haven't budged. When removing the seeds from their pots to check for germination, I noticed an extremely pungent smell from both seeds. This has struck me as a bit odd, and I wonder if the seeds have been infected by some kind of bacteria or fungus that causes this smell. Does anyone know if the seeds are pungent on their own, or am I looking at something else here?
Edit: I'm pretty sure it was a bacterial infection. Oh well