Planting

Clearing the dense bush and stifling ground cover plants has provided us with plenty of space for planting seedlings of specimens (mainly Proteaceae) already growing here at Mattaponi.
Due to the absence of fire for so many years and little maintenance until recently, many of the Proteas at Mattaponi had reached the end of their lifespan without producing seedlings.

We have been very successful recently in propagating seedlings from seeds extracted from proteas including Protea cynaroides and P.neriifolia.
Protea seed production and germination is closely linked with fire and therefore, to break the seed dormancy we used smoke. More specifically we used a Smoke Primer which is absorbent paper that is impregnated with fynbos-smoke-saturated water.

The seeds are germinated in seed trays with overhead mist irrigation and then transferred to polythene bag pots and raised in a shade house. In May 2009 we planted our first batch of over 100 seedlings which we hope will establish over the winter