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Temperate Fruit Discussion / Re: Asiminaholics Anonymous
« on: February 03, 2018, 12:53:37 PM »
2017 was a discouraging year for my pawpaws. My huge crop of seeds from fall 2016 had abysmal germination rates. 8-10 successful germinations out of at least 200 seeds. I suspect this was because I left the seeds in the fridge too long, spending 5-6 months in the refrigerator while I went to Spain last winter. And during the fall this year, those few trees that grew were cut down by a hungry squirrel who was looking for nuts among my baby pecan trees. I was left with a single surviving pawpaw seedling, which I have used as a guinea pig for an experiment.
I took my lone survivor inside and grew him on the windowsill away from any savage squirrels for the remainder of the 2017 growing season. When his leaves fell off, I put him in the refrigerator for 6 weeks in order to simulate winter and achieve the 1000 chill hours required to break dormancy in deciduous trees. The lone survivor went into hibernation in mid November and on Christmas evening I took him out. For a month, nothing happened despite his pampered existence sandwiched between bright growing lights and a toasty heating mat. I thought his stint in the fridge might have killed him after two weeks of nothing, but I soon saw an encouraging glimmer of green life underneath the thick pubescence of his terminal bud. Now that bud has finally broken, giving proof that the last pawpaw of 2016 still lives. This fridge-induced hypersleep cut the seedling's dormancy down to about a third of its normal duration, giving him a 2-3 month head start on the 2018 growing season over the wild pawpaws here. This was a resounding success and I'm going to have to try it with all of my fruit and nut trees.
https://i.imgur.com/j8Jb9bw.jpg
My 2017 seed have finished stratifying, and so far their germination rates are very encouraging. I'm already seeing 40% germination on my first batch of pawpaw seeds. Looking forward to a much better year for pawpaws in 2018.
I took my lone survivor inside and grew him on the windowsill away from any savage squirrels for the remainder of the 2017 growing season. When his leaves fell off, I put him in the refrigerator for 6 weeks in order to simulate winter and achieve the 1000 chill hours required to break dormancy in deciduous trees. The lone survivor went into hibernation in mid November and on Christmas evening I took him out. For a month, nothing happened despite his pampered existence sandwiched between bright growing lights and a toasty heating mat. I thought his stint in the fridge might have killed him after two weeks of nothing, but I soon saw an encouraging glimmer of green life underneath the thick pubescence of his terminal bud. Now that bud has finally broken, giving proof that the last pawpaw of 2016 still lives. This fridge-induced hypersleep cut the seedling's dormancy down to about a third of its normal duration, giving him a 2-3 month head start on the 2018 growing season over the wild pawpaws here. This was a resounding success and I'm going to have to try it with all of my fruit and nut trees.
https://i.imgur.com/j8Jb9bw.jpg
My 2017 seed have finished stratifying, and so far their germination rates are very encouraging. I'm already seeing 40% germination on my first batch of pawpaw seeds. Looking forward to a much better year for pawpaws in 2018.