It is well known that Old Man Saltbush seed has a very low and erratic germination rate and the young sprouts are very delicate. Many hopeful graziers have tried to sow Old Man Saltbush seed directly into the paddock but results are far too unreliable and this is a very frustrating and expensive exercise.

For the time being, the best establishment results are gained when Old Man Saltbush is planted out as seedlings. A “good quality seedling” is the key phrase in this document and this can be very debated at times.

The owners of this particular nursery have been seriously involved in establishing Old Man Saltbush and revegetation trees in western NSW for over ten years. We have found personal experience is always the best education. On our own property near Wee Waa, we planted well over 10 000 trees with excellent survival rates and have contract planted many thousands more trees and saltbush in consultation with our customers and they too have had wonderful establishment rates. Sometimes this has even occurred in less than ideal conditions but this is never recommended.

It is this nursery’s intent to provide our customers with the very best quality and actively growing ‘de Kock’ Old Man Saltbush seedlings. We are also committed to give our customers honest and sound advice in relation to caring for these seedlings under all conditions.

Firstly, site preparation and good post planting care will make all the difference to the survival rates of the seedlings. We cannot stress enough just how important these processes are to each seedling. Any nursery may send their best seedlings to a farm but if either of these processes is neglected, seedling survival rates will significantly decline and disappointment is unavoidable.

Old Man Saltbush seedlings are living organisms and like any young plant or animal they require constant care until they are able to support themselves. Once established the plant will thrive even in the harshest and driest conditions but the quality of its start is most important to each plant’s resilience down the track and ultimately the commercial success of an Old Man Saltbush stand.

Seedling variation is a botanical term that is very relevant to Old Man Saltbush, (Atriplex nummularia), seedlings. When any nursery grows plants from seed, each plant is a product of its own genetics. Some Old Man Saltbush plants are short, some are tall, some grow fast and some grow slow, therefore uniformity of seedlings is not a feature of an Old Man Saltbush delivery. This nursery (Inland Botanics) goes to the extra effort of inspecting and grading seedlings for quality control purposes but perfect uniformity of seedlings in an order is quite an unrealistic expectation. Uniformity is gained by tissue culture or cuttings, these processes are available in Australia today but the cost of production would be prohibitive. Seedlings with their inherent variation are quite adequate and the most affordable was to establish a commercial Old Man Saltbush Plantation.

A great Old Man Saltbush seedling DOES NOT have a specified stem length. A specified stem length has absolutely no direct bearing on survival rates in the paddock. In fact, an excessively tall seedling has more above soil exposure to drying winds and it will be much more likely to suffer added transplant shock. Whilst we ensure that stem length has reached a reasonable height customers may be certain that our nursery will not send any of our customers seedlings that will not cope with paddock conditions if adequate water is applied post planting.

A great Old Man Saltbush seedling will definitely have a healthy root system. At Inland Botanics we believe this is the principle feature of a good seedling. Our seedlings are grown in specialised seedling trays with 30cc of soil media. Our nursery is committed to selling a sound and active root system. These roots will minimise the time the seedling is dependant on additional intensive support from the people involved with caring for the seedlings.

Beware of seedlings that are root bound! This seedling will initially seem tough and very, very woody in the stem. This state is a serious impediment to productive saltbush plantations as they mature, plants may easily suffer limiting maturing growth rates and plant survival in the long term is much reduced. Inland Botanics will not send our customers a root bound seedling.

At this nursery we live by the following statement “We would never send our customers seedlings that we would not plant ourselves” and this holds true today as it did over ten years ago when we first established this nursery.