Tea and coffee shade. From the late nineteenth century onwards, G. robusta has been planted extensively as high shade for tea and coffee plantations, and this use continues in many countries. Silviculture Silvicultural characteristics. Grevillea robusta grows well in row plantings and as scattered trees over food and cash crops in warm temperate and subtropical climates. It tolerates repeated heavy pruning and pollarding, enabling farmers to regulate the degree of competition with adjacent crops.
Propagation is usually from seed.
No pretreatment is required for germination. Seedlings are pricked out when their second leaf-pair starts to develop, into tubes or plastic bags filled with a fertile loamy potting mix. As the species is usually planted in rows or small woodlots, or as scattered individual trees, mechanical site preparation is seldom used. This is normally achieved by several rounds of manual weeding. Some African farmers prune the surface roots of G. robusta by digging with a hoe at a distance of around 30 cm around the trunks of trees growing in and around fields, to reduce competition with adjacent crops.