Building a species collection of plants in order to experiment with propagation means a variety of procedures are needed to side-step the limitations imposed by the plant’s natural environment to which it has adapted.
There are pathogens prevalent in the environment that play a limiting role to the regeneration and growth of species. While some long-associated pathogens are more-or-less in balance, others have arrived relatively recently and can be a big problem.
Naturally, for experimentation purposes, the availability of seed or clonal material of critically endangered Proteaceae is limited and germination or rooting is often of a “one chance” event. Legal procedures and permissions to collect material in the wild can be laborious.
The maintenance of ex situ mother plants is a key aspect for experimentation and further growth of a collection. My aim has been to develop a few viable, healthy mother plants (grafted or on their own roots) ex situ, propagate from these and record observations and trials to establish protocols for multiplication that can be used in the future to mitigate against approaching climate changes, population growth and the possible loss of knowledge and skills due to natural staff turnover in botanical gardens.