"Terry Collins" wrote in message
...
David Hare-Scott wrote:

...snip.....

I will attempt to get material that was drawn from the
district or nearby if I can.

I am not sure I really understand your question here in relation to
the
above sentence. If you want to ensure you are getting local
providence,
then either you do your own seed collecting and raise your own tube
stock, or you pay someone else to do it.

It looks that way, none of the suppliers of tubes or seed that I can
access who give the area of origin seem to collect in my area. I think
I will just have to settle for material from an area of similar
characteristics.


It might be more feasible for
you to collect the seed from local stuff and send it off to be
returned
as seed stock from a professional seed stock propagator. It really
sounds to me that you are not looking at local providence, but species
that occur locally (from any providence).


Whatever was "native" to the area is very hard to determine as there has
been 150 years of clearing, farming and introduction of species. I am
not so much trying to return it to how it was at some point in the dim
past but to select species and varieties/cultivars of those that will
succeed in the long term with the least amount of effort.

..snip....

If I start my own seeds and plant out the seedlings it is likely to
be
cheaper as tubes are about $1.50 each in bulk and seeds are about
$10 to
$25 per 25gms which is several hundred to many thousand seeds
depending
on species. If I can get sufficient viable seedlings starting from
seed
this approach looks like saving a couple of thousand dollars which
could
be put to good use!

Umm, how much do you value your time? Do you regularly raise seed
stock?
If not, then I would suggest it will cost you more to raise your own
seed stock.


In my "day" job I value my time very highly but for this I am prepared
to invest time to save cash, as a way of learning and also for something
constructive to do while waiting for various authorities to give
permission for other aspects of this project.


Using tube stock will give me a head start in time but how much
time?
In other words how old are good tube seedlings that are not
rootbound?
Time is an issue to some extent as I need to get up some wind breaks
and
nurse species ASAP

Why not consider doing it in stages over time, unless you really are
doing it in a big way and hiring big machinery. This would fit in with
raising your own and make it more fun.

Yes

You see a local species that you
like, collect seed, raise your seedlings, plant out and repeat. Any
surplus seed you collect, you can also broadcast in situ, and see if
it
comes up by itself.


I will try this as a supplement to other strategies.

This has the advantage that you don't suddenly invest in a large
amount
of one species that all die because this year is dry, or has big
winds.
This is the advantage of local providence - you know it has been
selected for your area.

My background is more DIY from collecting local seeds and raising a
few
plants for bush regeneration sites and the last year has seen a
significant number of plants in our mass plantings from the last five
years die off from drought. So can you also ensure that they are going
to get adeaquate watering to allow them to survive. (thinking of all
those road side plantings that never go anywhere).


I will be watering the seedlings (ute + tank + pump + river frontage) as
required for the first year or two, I am prepared to lose a few
specimens along the way just to ensure that the rows are not too neat
:-) but I want to avoid the wasted effort, money and space following
from a mass extinction caused by completely wrong choice of material.

Thanks for your ideas.

David