Germinating seed

• Ensure the seed is fresh, mature, and insect- and disease-free.
  
• Pre-treat the seed if neccessary. For example, with Acacia species, pour near-boiling water over the seed and allow the water to cool. The seeds are then ready for sowing. Discard any floating seeds.
  
• Sprinkle a small amount of seed on the surface of a freedraining seed mix (equal parts course river sand and vermiculite is suitable) in a punnet. Cover lightly with sifted sand so that the seed is buried to a depth about equal to its thickness.
  
• Water the punnet carefully and place it on a capillary bed in a warm spot. Do not allow the mixture to dry out. A good way to automatically water the punnets is shown in Figure 1.
  
• Prick out the seedlings once germination has occurred and the cotyledons (seed leaves) are large enough to hold, the seedlings can be pricked out into small pots containing a suitable potting mix.
Semi-automatic watering device for seed punnets. The inverted bottle will replace water lost by evaporation from the tray. The light globe is optional but provides a source of bottom heat which tends to increase speed of germination. The depth of the seed punnets in the sand medium may be varied to obtain the required moisture level in the punnet.

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