Saturday, March 12, 2011

Raising native trees for the Gully

On Sunday 6th March I went to Pukemokemoke reserve (down Whitikahu Road, Gordonton) with the Tamahere Nursery group to collect eco-sourced native seeds. This was a really good day lead by Wayne Bennett. The high light for both Wayne and me was to find that the Pokaka trees had had a really good seeding year and had a lot of fruit on the ground.
Just to fill you in on the Pokaka tree it is one of our target canopy trees for the wet gully floor along with the Kahikatea, Pukatea and Swamp Maire. The Pokaka is not common and very few have been planted. There are just three trees at Pukemokemoke. Click on this link to see the tree on Wayne’s website. http://tinyurl.com/4z7csv8
The other interesting find was Giant Sedge Gahnia xanthocarpa (see photo). This is also on our planting list.
If anyone would like to try their hand at raising native tree seed then please send me an email. I would be happy to supply you with enough seed to sow in an ice cream container of any or all of the following:
Pokaka, Giant Sedge, Kaikomako and cabbage tree

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