Unusual Germination Methods

[whitewind]

Hi,

I was just curious to see whether anyone had done strange things with seeds to see whether we can glean new ideas about how to germinate. What prompted this was seeing my lovely chestnuts (see pic) starting to germinate inside a plastic bag sitting on a very light bench, clearly they can germinate when still fresh and I suspect they lose viability very quickly.

The strangest germinations I have seen were dozens (almost all, in fact) of the seeds germinating while still inside a fresh tomato - how that happened I have no idea, but it doesn't happen normally so I wonder whether there were some special chemicals the grower used to increase growth or something.. I have seen it a couple of times in apples, too.

Once, I scrounged some lovely Davidson's plum fruits off the ground and took them home to make the most amazing jam. I saved the seeds, putting them in a sealed plastic container meaning to wash and dry them later - and they ended up in a dark cupboard for 9 months. Much to my amazement, when I discovered them what had remained of the flesh had turned into a substance rather like agar jelly and the seeds had germinated by about 50% - the roots and shoots all twisted up and around each other like crazy. I wish I had taken photos but I had no camera at the time, I teased them all apart and managed to save three plants - two of which subsequently died when they got mashed by frost in the Blue Mountains. Here is the survivor.

EDIT: Pics now up, not too exciting but at least we have some colour

Edited July 29, 2012 by whitewind

[quarterflesh]

iv left corn cobs on the back porch and they germinate rather easily on there own

[planthelper]

whitewind, there is a bug with uploading, http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=32819

castanea sativa, oh so yummy and nutrious! i planed to germ some (from the supermarket) this spring.

[waterboy 2.0]

Have placed sceletium seeds in a cut off section on nylon stocking, and tied with fishing line and tethered; and then placed into a small running stream.Left for 3 weeks, did a good job removing the germination inhibitors.

A couple started to germinate before removal and had excellent germination within a few days with the rest.

[whitewind]

Pics up now.

[Torsten]

leaving iboga pods rotting in sphagnum moss in a sealed bag is the best way to get reliable germination.

Entada seeds need to be nicked with a hack saw, or if you're doing lots then an angle grinder.

Have soaked recalcitrant seeds in various acids or passed through chickens.

Used to have a sandapaper jar to tumble tiny seeds in that need scarification.

Ensete seeds double their germ rate when soaked in dilute sea weed extract rather than plain water.

[chilli]

Great thread whitewind, haven't got much to add, but subscribed!

[Belching]

The strangest germinations I have seen were dozens (almost all, in fact) of the seeds germinating while still inside a fresh tomato - how that happened I have no idea, but it doesn't happen normally so I wonder whether there were some special chemicals the grower used to increase growth or something.. I have seen it a couple of times in apples, too.

 

I had a cactus fruit do the same. I burst open the fruit to sieve the seeds, and many of them had sprouted. I've also seen it in a pumpkin.

Dunno what causes it to happen, and I'd be interested to know.

[whitewind]

Yeah Planthelper chestnuts are awesome, I have been making loads of stuff with them this year, and the latest lot I got (the ones in the pic) are dark brown, shiny and very fat, much nicer than the others. I scrounged some from the Blue Mountains last year and they were quite ordinary, I'm guessing it depends on the tree as well as the season.

LOL at the Entada seeds Torsten, an angle grinder indeed! I haven't seen Entada seeds in the flesh before but they look amazing from the pics online. I would love to see a ripe pod, does it split open and chuck the seeds any distance or do they just drop into water to transport? I'm guessing they need a hard coat as they get smashed on rocks a bit.

Wanted to say thanks for the hints on how to germ. iboga seeds as PH is sending me a few in the post to play with, do you know if it's the same for other Apocynaceae, as I had trouble getting Tabernaemontana cerifera to germ after I dried them out - they were really fresh too, and I was going to do a trial on how many came up per month as I had heaps of seeds to play with, but got nothing!

Waterboy, I heard you can do something similar by putting your seeds in a bag in the toilet cistern, if you don't have access to a running stream. That's a great hint actually as my scelly seeds didn't germinate and that's probably why. Still have a few left so I'm going to sneak them into the toilet cistern tonight! I find Psychotria seeds sometimes benefit from rainfall washing through the pots too, so long as they don't get too wet.

[Torsten]

Entada seeds are designed for floating and the vines grow along rivers coasts and estuaries. It's one of my favourite seabeans because you can get perfect heart shapes and even perfect squares. And they polish up really nice too. In south africa they turn them into little amulet bottles.

I reckon a lot of the latexy tropical Apo seeds could benefit from the pod in moss method. or even just seed [with a bit of pulp] in moss. I must have harvested 100 pods before I got one of those cerifera to grow ;) The only other method I know for recalcitrant Apo seeds is 3 week cycling between dry and wet. This works well for older voacanga seed and dried iboga seed.

[space cadet swami]

negative dave tells me that planting by the full moon gets really good germination rates...

EDIT: actually this is my belief...just couldn't help myself

Edited August 2, 2012 by space cadet 101

[PositiveHAL]

negative dave tells me that planting by the full moon gets really good germination rates...

 

yeah he's such a hippie

[planthelper]

negative dave tells me that planting by the full moon gets really good germination rates...

EDIT: actually this is my belief...just couldn't help myself

 

but you seem to be cool if other people, don't believe in the moon influencing, seed germination.

i'm sure a person believing in it will get higher germ rates and more virgor, this way, because this believe might, lead to a better protocol, than usual planting.

the funniest accidental germination, was for me to cook popcorn on the beach in costa rica, and than suddenly having corn germinating in all of the cracks, of the wooden outdoor table.

the wierdest germination, i know of, is that man who went to the doc, with severe ear ache, yep a plant started growing in his ear channel!!!

but there are a few moon planting nazi's around (think soup nazi), specialy around byron bay, they will just simply never shut up about it, and give you a hard time, just because you don't follow the moon planting guide, hehehe.

[Sallubrious]

the wierdest germination, i know of, is that man who went to the doc, with severe ear ache, yep a plant started growing in his ear channel!!!

 

I saw something a while back where someone had something sprout in their lung.

[space cadet swami]

but you seem to be cool if other people, don't believe in the moon influencing, seed germination.

but there are a few moon planting nazi's around (think soup nazi), specialy around byron bay, they will just simply never shut up about it, and give you a hard time, just because you don't follow the moon planting guide, hehehe.

RIGHT...no soup for you

But seriously...I'm not that insecure about my beliefs that I need to force other people to take them on board.

Variety is the spice of life & diversity is what keeps forums like this fresh & alive.

And, if you choose to not plant by the moons phases then watch out, I might just choose to sabotage ur next planting...Ha-ha-ha

[Permatony]

I grow most of my veges in Aquaponics, and have always had pretty good results sowing directly into the growbeds.. I guess the cycling, washing motion of it draining & filling must help to wash a lot of inhibitors off..

[gtarman]

Pumpkins seem to have a mind of their own for sure. We used to throw the pumpkin scraps into a 'compost area' in the backyard of an old property, and from a few seeds literally just thrown on the ground with the other scraps, thriving pumpkin vines everywhere. If only most plants were so easy to grow haha.

[planthelper]

I grow most of my veges in Aquaponics, and have always had pretty good results sowing directly into the growbeds.. I guess the cycling, washing motion of it draining & filling must help to wash a lot of inhibitors off..

 

my buddy has aquaponics setup, and it's producing incredible results.

asparagus and rhubab go crazy in the beds, and the locals said it would not grow at our place...

i like aswell, the fishing (silver perch) in your own backyard thing.

[Darklight]

Tried a bucketload of weird & obscure shit referenced from scientific publications to no avail. Trouble is a few of these spp were recalcitrant to start with, and quite a few spp were of dubious viability anyhow so there was no baseline data and maybe nothing would have germinated anyhow

But to put it simply, so you can look it up later if you want:

 

• 0.2-2% KNO3 for various lengths of time ( didn't seem to reduce viability in that sp using TTZ to check the embryo along the way, but didn't get anything germinated )
• Aspetic co-culture with Trichoderma spp or Pleurotus. Pleurotus was actually gentler on the seed and embryo for the length of time used
  
• Sulphuric acid varying concentrations and lengths of time
  
• Ethylene generating compounds as a presoak ( Ethephon 720 )- different concentrations for different lengths of time
  
• Smoke water ( available commercially on filter paper )- different lengths of time
  

 

I've never had any luck with GA3 at different concentrations for different lengths of time either, thought I know others speak of it highly and have gotten good results

[poisonshroom]

Awesome thread! Iv seen opuntia growing out of fallen fruit on the beach before. The fruit didnt look too old either (it took months for 1 out of 6 opuntia seeds to sprout after soaking in GA-3 using the takeaway container method). The Sceletium seeds idea sounds really good too - might try that out tonight actually. The sea beans have that super hard coating because they float around in the ocean sometimes for years before they find land.

Iv heard of the plant growing from someone's lung before - I think it was a pine tree. Iv also heard of a polypore fungus of some kind colonising someone's leg i think it was - it was apparently because some spores got into a cut and somehow started growing.

Currently im trying an overnight soak in (dilute) potassium nitrate containing fertilizer on some Tabernaemontana orientalis seeds, but I might also give the sphagnum moss thing a go - I found some trees at a nearby beach, so I have access to more pods if I need. Would coir work the same?

[Heretic]

Smoke is said to be useful for germinating Oz natives . . although off topic - some years ago St . Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne were reported as to wanting to shave off the beards off patients . A " bikie " had been admitted after an accident , needing facial treatment . Allegedly , among items they found in his beard were cigarette butts , ring- pull tabs , etc , and 4 orange pips that had sprouted and started to grow !

[whitewind]

Chestnut update:

Had four germinations and decided to plant these in a bonsai pot, kept them on the table in my lounge for a while, the enormous nuts sitting on the surface of the soil making an interesting talking point. So they haven't been getting much light, just indirect light through a window and one of them started to elongate quite considerably. It went straight up, rather than towards the light source which I think is quite interesting because presumably the reaction is because of low light levels but the response is against gravity. Two of the plants had die-back because they dried out before I planted them up, and they resprouted from just above the cotyledons which I thought was impossible, so clearly I need to revisit my botany books. These plants are the same height now as the one which didn't but didn't go on a mad light-hunting expedition. The leaves on the crazy-tall plant are quite pale green and have all have brown tips, must be relying on all the nutrients in the seed.