How do you germinate your seeds?

[FloridaGreenMan]

How do you germinate your seeds? For years, I just stuck them in small pots with a good starter soil, watered them and hoped for the best. Germination rates ranged from 10% to 50% or more depending on the type of seed. For the past year, I started putting all my seeds in a ziplock bag with wet (not dripping) sphaghum moss and my germination rates have zoomed to over 90%. I don’t totally zip the bag but rather give them a tiny bit of air. For seeds like Cacao, it would also help to treat them with a fungicide like Caplan. What are you doing and what is your success rate?   

[amrkhalido]

i leave them in a cup filled wth water for several hours to a day ,, then i pot them in small pots ,, and then they rise to small seedlings ,,

really , i do have high percentage of seedlings doing that way ,, but they die later as i get lazy to water them ,, that why i install a timer and sprinklers on the ceiling of my greenhouse ,,

[fruitlovers]

Never treat the seeds i plant. Almost all are planted in pots and get usually 75% to 100% germination, depending on type of seed. Cacao is usually 100% germination. Don't see any advantage to using sphagnum moss in zip log bag method, unless you are doing very tiny amount of germination and don't want to bother with pots. I do use this zip lock bag method with super tiny seeds, as i find that overhead watering tiny seeds in a pot usually makes them percolate down through the soil and to not sprout. Sphagnum moss is very low pH, i think around 4.5, so might be useful for plants that like super low pH or seeds that mold very easily. The sphagnum moss acts like a fungicide due to it's very low pH. So there is no reason to use additional fungicide. For me the zip lock bag and moss method is more useful as a way to temporarily store recalcitrant seeds (ones that need to stay moist to stay alive) until they are ready to be mailed out. If you are traveling for long time and want to bring back recalcitrant seeds this is also a very good method. I usually carry some moss in my suitcase for this reason.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

certain species have their tricks, take for instance the miracle fruit.

If you are careful, you can completely remove the hull of the seed, ending up with just the embryo of the seed.

Plant this in an acid medium that eventually drains, and place a heat mat underneath (if in colder climate, under 78F) and this will boost germination rates, and shorten time it takes to sprout.

This trick seems to work well for canistel and lucuma for me as well.

Each plant seem to have its own trick

[Ethan]

I use a moist paper towel in a zip top bag and check/vent them every other day.  Once the root shows, I plant them in pots and keep them in a warm/humid area.  My environment is pretty dry and while sprouting sometimes the seed coat will dry out before the plant has a chance to shed it.  I also tend to "help" the sproutling shed the seed coat by gently prying it open.  It usually works.

I agree w/Adam some are best broken out of their shells, exposing the embryo.  In addition to his list I'll add, abiu, white sapote, and artocarpus (it is very thin).

cheers,
-Ethan

[Mike T]

Some great tips here I will have to remember because I just toss them in pots of potting mix and try to remember to water enough.Durian,mangosteen,rambai,burmese grapes,chempadak,jackfruit,rollinia,atemoya,sugar apple,ackee,jaboticaba,gramichama,rambutan,mobolo,matisia,longkong,duku and chilis like morugas and rocotos as well as many others have had amazing sprouting success lately with me and have thrived on neglect.

[Jackfruitwhisperer69]

Definitely agree, Some seeds will germinate much faster with the seed coat removed!

I have germinate some fruit tree seeds successfully by removing the seed coat!

*Canistel
*Ross sapote
*Lucuma
*White sapote
*Mango 
*Cherimoya(scarification)
*Citrus
*Plums
*Peaches
*Apricots