Growing The African Baobab (Adansonia digitata)

A little bit about my experience

I am fairly young at growing plants at only 21 but I have germinated and have grown the African Baobab off and on in Ohio for the past 6 years. I have no problem actually getting the trees to grow during the summer but I have had them die in the winter because they where forced to grow too much and would not go dormant.

Getting the seeds to germinate

As you may know like most plants the live in arid conditions the seed has a very hard thick coat that must be weakened in order for the tree to germinate. I do two things to break the seed coat and encourage the seed to germinate. First, I put the seeds to a grinding wheel and move the seed every which way I can to weaken the entire coat. Next, I soak it in hot water that is almost boiling till the seed swells. Then, I add a drop of superthrive to the water and let it soak for another twenty four hours.

I germinate the seeds by putting them in a clear sealed container that contains just barely moistened vermiculite or peat moss and after a week check and see if seeds have germinated or stated to rot..

After germination treatmentThough not necessary if you want a single caudex in your plant . After the seeds germinate, I let them be in the container with vermiculite till the start producing there first true leaf. Next, I cut the root off the plant leaving only a quarter inch of the root on it. Then, I stick the cut in into rooting hormone and stick it back into the container with the moist vermiculite, like a cutting. Doing this helps develop nice surface roots and not a big ugly single tap root

If you do not want to do that you can just pot the plants up individually into cactus mix or a very sandy to rocky, well drained soil medium.

How I handle watering

During the summer, I put the plants outside in full sun and fertigate them every day when its sunny with 1/8^th strength fertilizer with superthrive added. I do leach though once a week. During the fall I reduce the watering by letting the leaves start to wilt before I water again. After the leaves fall off the plant I totally quite watering till next spring. When the buds start swelling, I start to water the plant, just a quarter cup once a week to begin with then when it is in full leaf I start watering like normal for the summer.

Handling Dormancy

I handle dormancy by just bring the plant inside just before frost and reducing the water I stated above. I keep the tree in the pot in the winter but I have read of African growers that hang the tree up bare root to over winter it.

Why I have had trees dye

Two of the trees that I had died because I fertigated them twice a day during the growing season. The plants grew an amazing two foot tall in 5 months but they did not go dormant in the winter and died from lack of light.

I have herd that you can kill this tree with too much water but I have never experienced that problem then again when I really give them water there in their growing season and I grow them in almost pure gravel.

If you got any questions or comments email me at [email protected]