Mamey Sapote Seed Experiment

[PersephonesChild]

I picked up 2 mamey sapote fruits this week from my local specialty grocer, and oh, boy! So. Delicious. But, I'm a plant nerd, and I can't bring myself to toss the seeds when I could grow them instead.

Anyway, I wound up with 5 seeds:
1 slightly split naturally inside fruit
4 totally sealed shut

After checking online, it appeared the seed coat needed to be split for proper germination. Recommend method was squashing the seed between a couple 2x4s. After doing that to two of them, and causing both to fracture badly enough for a piece of the shell to come off, I concluded that maybe I should try a different method of scarafication. So I sanded the edges off of the other 2 until the shell was thin enough that the pressure inside the seed caused a natural crack to form.

So now I had:
1 naturally cracked seed
2 manually cracked seeds
2 sanded seeds with natural cracks

Soaked all 5 for about an hour in a bowl of water. This caused the cracks to get bigger on all 5 seeds.

Planted the 2 manually cracked seeds in 1/2 gallon poly bags with a loose & draining but moisture-retentive soil.

Put the other 3 in wet paper towels in bags like was shown in several of the germination guides I saw online. This is how I sprout my mango seeds, so it seemed legit.

All 5 seeds did get a quick spray of an organic plant fungicide to deter mold.

Now we see what grows faster!

[Jaboticaba45]

Whenever I see mamey sapote at the store they are always unripe so they never taste good I remember when I bought mamey sapote that there was only 1 seed. I didn't know they had multiple seeds.

[PersephonesChild]

Whenever I see mamey sapote at the store they are always unripe so they never taste good I remember when I bought mamey sapote that there was only 1 seed. I didn't know they had multiple seeds.

I had to let them sit for about 5 days to ripen. They were rock-hard when I bought them, so I set them out at room temperature like I would an avocado and just checked until they were soft but not mushy.

One had 2 seeds, the other had 3. I'm no mamey expert, but as I understand it, they can have anywhere between 1 and 4 seeds.

[PersephonesChild]

Update:

The 3 "paper towel seeds" are all showing growth of root tips between a 3 and 6 millimeters long beginning to protrude from the cracked seed shell.

The 2 potted seeds in seed-starting mix have both sent down roots (I gently brushed the soil away with my finger). Length exceeds 1cm, but I didn't want to cause damage by digging deeper.

Both sets of seeds are being kept on the same shelf in my house, so light and temperature are equal. The paper-towel seeds are in higher humidity though on account of being sealed in their bags.

I'm curious to see which set is the first to send up a leafy stem.

[Jaboticaba45]

When I open mamey from the store they almost always already have a root growing. Good luck growing them.

[Plantinyum]

I have  tried to germinate mamey seeds with no luck, thought it was in winter and did not have very warm temps and lots of light... to mee they seem like a nasty seed to germinate, since all other plants I have tried from seed did jerminate and grew .

[BenjaminJohnson]

One year old mamey seedling in my greenhouse. Out of ignorance, I tried the fruit before it ripened and was disappointed. However, i heard its good if ripened on the tree, so i grew the seed.

[Plantinyum]

I have eaten only store bought mameys, and thought the store fruit guality is generally very poor ,I really liked it ,a unique taste, very sweet .i'd imagine a tree ripened mamey to be heavenly ...

[Jaboticaba45]

I have eaten only store bought mameys, and thought the store fruit guality is generally very poor ,I really liked it ,a unique taste, very sweet .i'd imagine a tree ripened mamey to be heavenly ...

If they are picked before they are ripe, they will never reach full flavor.

[MangoCountry]

I don’t think you had mamey, they always have only one seed. Post a pic of the seeds

[Plantinyum]

I have eaten only store bought mameys, and thought the store fruit guality is generally very poor ,I really liked it ,a unique taste, very sweet .i'd imagine a tree ripened mamey to be heavenly ...

If they are picked before they are ripe, they will never reach full flavor.

they for sure were picked very under ripe , in the process of me waiting them to ripen, they just grew mold in the flesh and were not eatable . Thought I remember one fruit who was just right, proly was picked at the right time , and was very sweet and rich...

I don’t think you had mamey, they always have only one seed. Post a pic of the seeds

mameys do not always have only one seed, thise that I have eaten had one ,or two big seeds, thought I have heard and seen picks on mameys with up to five seeds ....

[NewGen]

OP,
Did you buy them from Vallarta's? I got some from there as well,  a few times in the past.  They never ripened correctly,  and all had mold inside. I had a chance to eat several while visiting Miami,  and they were so delicious.  Good luck with your seeds.

[fruitlovers]

They won't ripen if picked unripe. You can tell when ripe by scratching skin. If orange color underneath, then ripe, if green, then unripe. They can have from 1-4 seeds inside, although most only have one large seed. It's not necessary to crack the shell for them to germinate, though they probably will germinate faster if cracked. A lot of times the seed will be already germinating inside the fruit.