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[Caium]

This is a place for the ones receiving a giveaway of the Mimosas tenuiflora, arenosa and ophthalmocentra to post growing questions.
I'll also post here curiosities, valued data and pictures of the mother plants when I find them.
Anyone with experience can help sharing info or pictures too.

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[Saros]

Has anyone else noticed that the first couple sets of leaves on Opthalmocentra appear hairless while Tenuiflora and Arenosa have tiny hairs?

It might just be that my O is having a difficult time getting established though. It seems a little weak compared to T & A.

I only got one of each to germinate successfully. My fault I'm sure.. First I failed to check the mail for a couple days and the seeds were in there and subjected to freezing temps for at least 24 hours. Also I may have nicked them too deep before soaking. Anyway, I'm happy that I got at least one of each. I think they'll all do just fine from here on out.

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[Caium]

Saros that is normal as you describe, make sure to give room for their root to grow, at least over 200ml of sand, and they'll handle the cold. If you like I would send you more seeds, thanks for growing!

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[PermieGing]

Ill be germing my mimosas in about 2 months, with many other seeds i have received.
Ive recently realized i can probably grow them in my current house, if i take them inside in the winter.

Thanks for starting this thread!

1 Like Caium likes this.

[Frog Pajamas]

How long can mimosa be grown in pots successfully? Is it possible to grow them in pots indefinitely if you keep repotting, or do they need to go in the ground to have enough room for roots? The hostilis I have started now are growing way faster than I anticipated, and I'm moving in mid-summer so am trying to figure out if I can move them with me or need to find a suitable permanent spot this spring.

Looking forward to starting the white and red jurema also. They really are such interesting plants. I repotted 1 of 3 the other day, and when I brought it back in with the other 2, they closed up even though they weren't disturbed or taken from under the light! Not sure if they were getting some kind of indication of stress from the 1 or if there was some other factor (maybe the pots were nudged or something), but I'm going to repot another tomorrow and see if it happens again.

[Greentoe]

I'm still looking forward to seeing some mimosa arenosa seedlings pop up.

Can arenosa also tolerate cold well? I'd really like to put some of these plants in the ground, but I'm not sure if they can all survive the winter here. I hear its possible to keep hostilis alive here if you cover it up when there's a hard freeze. How cold does it get where you harvested the seeds?

[Caium]

Frog Pajamas, the size of the plant is proportional to the size of the root. If you give little room for the root to grow, up to 2-5L, it'll stay like a mobile bonsai.[1] A bit more, up to 10-20l it'll become a bush. On the ground it will become a bushy tree. If you repot many times as it grows there's no problem, you can set a net in the pot under the sand, in a way that when you want to repot just push the net so all sand with the grown plant come out without harm.

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[Caium]

Greentoe the MA and MO can handle cold better than MT. They live up hills of 400-1000m, with a possible range of over 40°C day and under 20°C night. In a hard cold season the plant can loose all leaves and appear to be dead, but if the root is big enough underground it'll survive.

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[Frog Pajamas]

One of my newly sprouted seeds has not been able to shed the seed from around the cotyledons. It has been about 2 days, and I am worried that it won't be able to photosynthesize with without those baby leaves exposed to the light. Is that a legitimate concern, and is there any way to help the seed drop off? Thanks!

[Mandrake]

One of my newly sprouted seeds has not been able to shed the seed from around the cotyledons. It has been about 2 days, and I am worried that it won't be able to photosynthesize with without those baby leaves exposed to the light. Is that a legitimate concern, and is there any way to help the seed drop off? Thanks!

More often than not this type of problem solves by itself, but in some cases it may require intervention. The first time something similar happened to me, I messed with it using first a toothpick, and then tweezers, until the fabulous steady hand I've been given (not) beheaded the seedling. The second time, using more common sense, I misted the seedling to make the seed coat moist, then tried again. Better results, but not as satisfactory as the third time: I sucked my finger, applied a little drop of saliva to the seed coat, and let it sit there for a while in a humid, non-sunlit place. After an hour or so, the seed coat was surprisingly easy to remove. It might sound unorthodox, but worked for me. Nails might be more helpful than tweezers if you have a good surgeon hand. Disclaimer: this was not germinating mimosa seeds in particular, but if after another day or so there's no improvement, give it a go. In the meantime, keep the seedling humid.

Mandrake

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[Greentoe]

Do all three of these plants generally grow at about the same rate in their native habitat? I've noticed a definite trend with the ones I've been growing. MA grows fastest, followed by MO, then MT.

[Caium]

That's about the same in nature GT.