The monkey tree (botanical Araucaria) has developed into a popular conifer in our latitudes. This is ensured by the striking shape and the triangular needles, which are significantly longer than those of native conifers. You can grow cuttings yourself from seeds.
How do you grow a monkey tree cutting from seed?
To grow a monkey tree offshoot from seeds, you should buy fresh seeds and sow them in early autumn. The seeds are lightly covered with soil and kept moist. When grown in pots, the cuttings should be placed frost-free at around 15 degrees in winter. Germination takes about four months.
Use seeds from trees grown in Germany
You can get seeds for the monkey tree from specialist retailers (€6.00 on Amazon). Harvesting seeds from your own monkey tree is difficult because the tree only flowers after 30 years and then develops germinable seeds in the cones.
Most varieties of Araucaria can hardly tolerate frost. Therefore, only buy seeds from trees grown in Germany. These are rather winter hardy. The Chilean Araucaria in particular is considered to have good frost resistance when it is a little older.
You should sow non-hardy varieties straight away in the pot so that you can overwinter the offshoots later without frost.
Grow cuttings from seeds
In order for the monkey tree seeds to germinate, they must be as fresh as possible. If you can't sow it straight away, you can store it in a freezer bag in the fridge for a few weeks if necessary.
You can sow directly outdoors at the desired location. However, it is even better to initially grow the offshoots in small pots. The best time for sowing is early autumn.
How to sow a monkey tree
- Prepare the location well
- resp. Fill cultivation pots with substrate
- Put out seeds
- cover lightly with soil
- keep moist but not wet
- cover in winter
If the cutting is grown outdoors at the desired location, make sure that the soil is well drained. The Araucaria cannot tolerate waterlogging at all. If necessary, mix sand and gravel into the ground.
In winter, place cuttings grown in pots in a bright, frost-free place at around 15 degrees.
It takes about four months for the seeds to germinate. As soon as the monkey trees are large enough, you can transplant potted offshoots or place them in larger containers.
Tip
Young monkey trees are only very hardy to a limited extent. Protect the young trees from frost with a thick layer of mulch and in very cold areas cover them with fleece or jute.
