Growing Pittosporums

• 1). Begin by acquiring Pittosporum seed cases. Dried seed cases should be available through seed catalogs or in well stocked garden stores. The most common of the Pittosporums and most ornamental is the Japanese species called Wheeler’s Dwarf. If possible, buy this kind, though the care of any other species is exactly the same.
  
  
• 2). Place the seed cases in a pot of warm water for about six hours to hydrate the seeds thoroughly before planting. This will increase their chances of successfully sprouting.
  
  
• 3). Plan where you wish to place the shrubs in your yard and dig a hole where you wish to place each one. Each hole should be about a foot deep by a foot in diameter. Make sure the holes are in an area which receive no less than six hours of direct sunlight a day.
  
  
• 4). Fill the holes with a good generic potting soil. Pittosporums like the heat and sunlight in sub-tropical regions, but not the typical high soil acidity of those regions. It’s best to place them in a low acidity potting soil when they are starting out.
  
  
• 5). Put one seed case about half a foot deep into the potting soil of each hole. Do not water or bother them for at least a week. After that, water the soil twice a week, but only so much as to dampen the soil. The hedges should sprout in about a month.
  
  
• 6). Continue to water them at the same rate and use 15-15-15 NPK Fertilizer every two months. This means you need a fertilizer that is 15% nitrogen, 15% phosphorous and 15% potassium. The hedge should be about a foot high after one year and reach its full height of six feet after five years. This hedge is naturally very orderly and should not be trimmed or pruned until it is at least 18 months old.