At the time of writing our last Climate Ready Revegetation blog, we were deep in the complex business of sourcing multi‑provenance seed for spring. Over the past month, the newly purchased collections from multiple suppliers have been arriving at the home of one of our wonderful volunteers, who carefully checks each delivery against the order — a quiet but essential step.
Now, with the seed safely in hand, we pick up the story at the next critical stage: germination testing. Volunteers are once again pivotal, checking whether each new seed collection germinates so that we can confidently distribute them to our nurseries and direct-seeding projects later in the year. This year we have around 150 new collections, so it is no mean task.
Seed from each new collection is placed in a soil-filled cell of a germination tray, kept indoors on a heat mat. Volunteers track each cell on a large reporting sheet that mirrors the layout of the tray, noting the species, supplier, provenance, date of sowing and date of germination. They also record whether germination is ‘poor’, ‘fine’ or ‘good’, helping us build a clearer picture of how different species and suppliers perform — and what our nurseries might expect.
We don’t give up easily. If seed from a new collection still doesn’t germinate after many weeks, it is over-sown to give it another chance, and will be tested again the following year if need be.
So far this year, our volunteers have reported that some collections have germinated very well. In the coming weeks, we will add the successful collections to our database and seed fridges, where it is kept for a few months before our big seed mixing day in early spring.
By Sonya Duus, Climate Ready Revegetation Project Officer
The Climate Ready Revegetation Project has been assisted by the NSW Government through its Environmental Trust. Landcare Australia Michael King grants enable us to purchase seed from diverse provenances.