Author Topic: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry  (Read 14224 times)

crea2k

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Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« on: June 11, 2017, 05:53:51 AM »
Hi, I have some Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry seeds and am having a nightmare trying to germinate them. I have bought 2 different lots of seeds off ebay from two different parts of the world. So far to try and get them to germinate I have tried :

Putting them in a damp piece of toilet roll, wrapping in plastic and putting in a heated propagator
Putting in the soil  in pots in a unheated propagator in a greenhouse
Putting them under a grow lamp in a unheated propagator in a room that is generally 20-25c most of the time with grow light on 247
Putting them in a pot just under the soil sat under a grow lamp turned on 247 in a room 20-24c

None of the above work, so im wondering whether dried seeds are even viable for Muntingia calabura ?. As everything I have read they seem to sow the fruit and seed directly into the soil for the best result. Getting hold of fresh fruit in the UK is impossible from what I have found though.

I have found plenty of places in Australia, USA that sell the live trees but dont ship internationally.

I have  fruiting mango tree, a lychee and a avocado in the same 20-24c grow light area and they are all growing just fine, and will be transplanted to a tropical greenhouse we are building on a farm with 7 metre head height. Its all going to be heated for free by the waste heat from my brothers wood chip heating / wood kiln business that runs 247 365 days a year, so heating isnt going to be a problem in the long run, it will be like the tropics in there.

I have successfully germinated several types of guava, key lime, sugar apple, cheramoya, melon etc but Muntingia calabura is a nightmare.

The issue I have is getting the damn things to germinate in the first place, once they are growing we will have a perfect home for it, but getting hold of a seedling or seeds that actually sprout is proving very difficult.

wonderfruit

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2017, 09:37:16 AM »
I found a delicious fruiting tree. I got more than 100 friuits. I plant them all in different containers. Not even one growed. I finally traded here seedlings I got a small healthy one and in 6 months it grew to 3 feet tall.
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

SonnyCrockett

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2017, 09:40:13 AM »
Ive not done it myself, but I did read about Muntingia recently.  Seems like I read that the few people who said Muntingia seeds are easy to grow kept them in very high humidity conditions.  I think one guy even used a plastic coke bottle like a mini humidity dome,  so it doesnt have to be a fancy setup.  I think most people have trouble because the seeds dry out very quickly.  Also, the medium you use should be very fine textured, so the tiny seeds dont slip down too far in the medium when you water.  I want to say they were using some type of fine sand instead of your typical seed starting mixture, which is far too course.  In the humid tropics, apparently they just smush a few berries into a watering can of water to disperse the seeds and water the ground with it.  Nature does the rest for them. 

crea2k

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #3 on: June 11, 2017, 10:08:13 AM »
Iv tried growing them wrapped in tissue paper then wrapped again in Saran Wrap / cling film and then put in a heated propagator and still nothing. I'm growing cheramoya and various other tropical trees so will have things to trade once they are a bit bigger.

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2017, 10:15:08 AM »
I had bought a tree from PIN
2 years later it was huge... a very fast grower.
last winter we had 1 day which froze. it got to 26F.
the Muntingia is coming back, but from the base of the trunk

i took several seeds and mushed them into some seedling trays, and a few spots in my yard.
i finally got 5 plants that came up.
i didnt even notice them until they were 2 to 3 inches tall. not sure how they even survived
im in New Orleans, which is very humid... maybe thats it ?

i have a couple of seedlings i can trade. PM me if interested...




joehewitt

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #5 on: June 11, 2017, 06:31:57 PM »
Last year I ordered Muntingia seeds from Fruitlovers. The seeds were so tiny I couldn't distinguish them from the vermiculite they were packed in. I just spread the whole mixture on top of the soil and kept it damp and warm. Germination was pretty fast and even.
« Last Edit: June 11, 2017, 08:39:40 PM by joehewitt »

crea2k

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #6 on: June 11, 2017, 06:37:42 PM »
Ah ok, so there are some seeds that will grow from dried seeds then, Iv got mine in about 4 different conditions to see if any of them actually work, so far nothing though.

achetadomestica

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2017, 12:33:12 AM »
I bought seeds from a seller on ebay from Thailand. The seeds arrived under 10 days and were in a small baggie
without any substrate. How did the seller remove the seeds so thoroughly from the fruit???
I planted on top of soil in several pots in filtered direct sunlight. No problem they germinated and looked like
chia growing. I wasn't sure what they were until they were about 3' tall. They looked like a weed not a tree.
I managed to get 6 of them to grow but I could have gotten 25+ if I knew they were muntingia.
This past year I got some yellow muntingia seeds that took 28 days to receive. They were very dry when I got them
and I did the same thing as the red seeds. I had 0 germination. Once the seeds are dry forget it. I have 2 large reds growing
and when the fruit falls on top of the ground the seeds germinate and small trees spring up. So My experience
1) fresh seeds
2) plant shallow
3)direct filtered sunlight (lanai)
4) I live in humid Florida
Of the two trees I have one is my seedling and the other I bought from Fruitscapes as a small plant grown from a cutting,
if you can get fresh cuttings you may be able to grow from cutting?
« Last Edit: June 12, 2017, 12:42:19 AM by achetadomestica »

fyliu

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2017, 01:24:01 PM »
I had problems germinating this before. I think it was a combination of not enough light and fungus gnats which will lay eggs and produce soil maggots to eat the tiny seedlings.

After a couple of experiments with fresh berries I was left with seeds dried on a piece of paper towel a few months old.

What worked was I laid half an inch of sphagnum peat in the bottom of a shallow container, laid pieces of paper towel on top with seeds facing up, sprinkled more peat on top barely covering some of the paper and exposing parts of paper. Mist to keep the top moist and cover the container completely to make sure gnats don't get in. The entire container didn't have any top or bottom drainage holes.

Now that I have a lot of sprouts I don't know how to make them grow bigger. I'm afraid to fertilize. Maybe they need more sun?

Cuttings root fine for me. I didn't know what I was doing so only one small piece rooted out of a whole branch I took.

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2017, 03:21:30 PM »
I had problems germinating this before. I think it was a combination of not enough light and fungus gnats which will lay eggs and produce soil maggots to eat the tiny seedlings.

After a couple of experiments with fresh berries I was left with seeds dried on a piece of paper towel a few months old.

What worked was I laid half an inch of sphagnum peat in the bottom of a shallow container, laid pieces of paper towel on top with seeds facing up, sprinkled more peat on top barely covering some of the paper and exposing parts of paper. Mist to keep the top moist and cover the container completely to make sure gnats don't get in. The entire container didn't have any top or bottom drainage holes.

Now that I have a lot of sprouts I don't know how to make them grow bigger. I'm afraid to fertilize. Maybe they need more sun?

Cuttings root fine for me. I didn't know what I was doing so only one small piece rooted out of a whole branch I took.

hmmm
i tried 4 or 5 cuttings, none took.
curious what you did and how large was the wood ?

i would suggest full sun for the seedling, thats what mine get,
and they are taking off fast.
but you may have to move them into it slowly, a bit every day.

fyliu

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #10 on: June 12, 2017, 04:35:13 PM »
I'm not sure if it's repeatable but here's what I did. I cut up the whole branch into sections hoping to figure out which part worked best. The one that took was a little less than pencil width with a smaller branch coming off of it. I just put several cuttings into a gallon pot with perlite/peat and put a grocery veggie bag over the whole thing and put it in the shade for a couple months. Most of them turned black and died.

HibachiDrama

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #11 on: June 12, 2017, 05:06:42 PM »
I have had success germinating fresh seeds on rockwool in a covered container at about 80*. It took between 2-3 weeks, from what I remember. I have some seeds I dried about 6 months ago, I'll start them this weekend, in the same manner, and follow up...

crea2k

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #12 on: June 12, 2017, 07:45:58 PM »
That would be interesting to see if your six month old ones germinate as that would rule out age if they do. I planted 3 batches last week so we'll see how they get on in 2 weeks or so as Iv got some in the greenhouse and others under 24 hour grow lights. Some are sat on the surface and others under it so hopefully something grows. Iv got one jujube sprouting, 3 cherimoyas, 5 key lime, loads of purple passion fruit, loads of papaya, and 4 ruby supreme guava , one Jack fruit and a million other tropicals, so growing stuff is ok, this seems to be my nemesis  ha ha.

achetadomestica

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #13 on: June 12, 2017, 10:41:56 PM »
That would be interesting to see if your six month old ones germinate as that would rule out age if they do. I planted 3 batches last week so we'll see how they get on in 2 weeks or so as Iv got some in the greenhouse and others under 24 hour grow lights. Some are sat on the surface and others under it so hopefully something grows. Iv got one jujube sprouting, 3 cherimoyas, 5 key lime, loads of purple passion fruit, loads of papaya, and 4 ruby supreme guava , one Jack fruit and a million other tropicals, so growing stuff is ok, this seems to be my nemesis  ha ha.

Just think, when you finally get viable seeds you will end up with too many. My nemesis is getting the yellow type. I have been trying for
more then two years. One dead end after another. One forum member had one but the deer ate it :-\ I heard it is more cold tolerant but
the one in California froze. I would be very interested if 6 month old seeds were viable. 

crea2k

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #14 on: June 13, 2017, 04:31:57 AM »
I can't even find anywhere selling the yellow type. Too many is fine, il have some for trading and eBay then, because tropicals are quite rare in the uk and restricted to tropical greenhouse growers you can get a decent price for a lot iOS things.

Sven

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #15 on: June 13, 2017, 10:14:20 AM »
I've always used the following peat pellets for planting small seeds:

https://www.amazon.com/Jiffy-Pellets-Starting-Starter-Seedlings/dp/B000E435YA

I just did a quick search and found that site at random so there are probably cheaper ones. 

They work great for anything with tiny seeds.

eyeckr

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #16 on: June 13, 2017, 10:45:30 PM »
I have a yellow/white muntingia tree that fruits almost year round and has a great flavor. I know it is pretty rare and I have been meaning to propagate it so just in case I loose mine someone will have a back up. I used to have a pink fruited one and a regular red one but I somehow managed to kill them. Tonight I took some yellow (I've called it white) fruit and planted some seeds. Hopefully I can have some starts soon to trade with you all.



unripe fruit


crea2k

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #17 on: June 18, 2017, 04:14:18 PM »
'well we have some success !, its been red hot here the last few weeks and the seed I had just sat in a tray in the greenhouse, with no cover over them etc have started to sprout. At the moment the leaves are only the size of pinheads, so not out of the woods yet, but at least they are growing now !. The ones I have in a propagator indoors and also the others I have in a propagator under a grow light have not germinated yet, so looks like the most successful method is just in a greenhouse in the blazing sun and nothing else.

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #18 on: September 07, 2018, 02:08:27 PM »
Has anyone perfected this process? I have not had luck with mine that I purchased from Mike. (Thanks mike!)
Would I be better off using straight peat moss? Peat moss and vermiculite? Perlite?
I recently mixed up some peat moss (70%)+vermiculite(20%) and some perlite (10%) for a seed starter as I'm going to be starting my fall vegetable garden and starting more seedlings+cuttings, would this work or would straight peat moss be best?
I keep my seeds in a dome with a heat mat around 70% humidity still with no success. I believe that the medium I am planting them in may be the issue.
I was using this potting mix with success on Jaboticabas, eugenias, sapodillas and peanut butter fruit but recently I have noticed some fungus gnats and treated with hydrogen peroxide+water mix and they're all gone now. https://www.naturescare.com/en-us/products/plant/natures-care-organic-natural-potting-mix-water-conserve

-Kris

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #19 on: September 08, 2018, 05:40:30 AM »
Yes the seeds can be dried and will still be viable. But the ones i sell are fresh out of the fruit, so i use moistened vermiculite. I think the "secret" to growing them is putting them under full sunlight. If you look under a mother tree there are hundreds of fallen fruit and not one single volunteer seedling. This is a pioneer species that establishes itself only in full sun clearings.
The other "secret" is to not let the tiny seeds percolate down through the medium. So either bottom water them, or use a fine mist. You can also put them on a moistened paper towel. If you do it right you will get hundreds of them to sprout. Then just carefully transplant into a pot.
Oscar

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #20 on: September 08, 2018, 07:44:20 AM »
That would be interesting to see if your six month old ones germinate as that would rule out age if they do. I planted 3 batches last week so we'll see how they get on in 2 weeks or so as Iv got some in the greenhouse and others under 24 hour grow lights. Some are sat on the surface and others under it so hopefully something grows. Iv got one jujube sprouting, 3 cherimoyas, 5 key lime, loads of purple passion fruit, loads of papaya, and 4 ruby supreme guava , one Jack fruit and a million other tropicals, so growing stuff is ok, this seems to be my nemesis  ha ha.

Just think, when you finally get viable seeds you will end up with too many. My nemesis is getting the yellow type. I have been trying for
more then two years. One dead end after another. One forum member had one but the deer ate it :-\ I heard it is more cold tolerant but
the one in California froze. I would be very interested if 6 month old seeds were viable.
The yellow type you shared with me has grown like a rocket it is 3 feet/1-1/2" diam and I've tipped it 3 times now in 3 months. Should see fruit within a year.

pineislander

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #21 on: September 08, 2018, 07:50:32 AM »
Hi, I have some Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry seeds and am having a nightmare trying to germinate them. I have bought 2 different lots of seeds off ebay from two different parts of the world. So far to try and get them to germinate I have tried :

Putting them in a damp piece of toilet roll, wrapping in plastic and putting in a heated propagator
Putting in the soil  in pots in a unheated propagator in a greenhouse
Putting them under a grow lamp in a unheated propagator in a room that is generally 20-25c most of the time with grow light on 247
Putting them in a pot just under the soil sat under a grow lamp turned on 247 in a room 20-24c

None of the above work, so im wondering whether dried seeds are even viable for Muntingia calabura ?. As everything I have read they seem to sow the fruit and seed directly into the soil for the best result. Getting hold of fresh fruit in the UK is impossible from what I have found though.

I have found plenty of places in Australia, USA that sell the live trees but dont ship internationally.

I have  fruiting mango tree, a lychee and a avocado in the same 20-24c grow light area and they are all growing just fine, and will be transplanted to a tropical greenhouse we are building on a farm with 7 metre head height. Its all going to be heated for free by the waste heat from my brothers wood chip heating / wood kiln business that runs 247 365 days a year, so heating isnt going to be a problem in the long run, it will be like the tropics in there.

I have successfully germinated several types of guava, key lime, sugar apple, cheramoya, melon etc but Muntingia calabura is a nightmare.

The issue I have is getting the damn things to germinate in the first place, once they are growing we will have a perfect home for it, but getting hold of a seedling or seeds that actually sprout is proving very difficult.
Have you ever actually eaten the fruit? If I had a tropical greenhouse this space hog wouldn't be my first choice. They get big and fruit is the size of a garden pea. Lots of fruit if the tree size is large but handfuls from a small tree.

fruitlovers

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #22 on: September 08, 2018, 05:27:39 PM »
Hi, I have some Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry seeds and am having a nightmare trying to germinate them. I have bought 2 different lots of seeds off ebay from two different parts of the world. So far to try and get them to germinate I have tried :

Putting them in a damp piece of toilet roll, wrapping in plastic and putting in a heated propagator
Putting in the soil  in pots in a unheated propagator in a greenhouse
Putting them under a grow lamp in a unheated propagator in a room that is generally 20-25c most of the time with grow light on 247
Putting them in a pot just under the soil sat under a grow lamp turned on 247 in a room 20-24c

None of the above work, so im wondering whether dried seeds are even viable for Muntingia calabura ?. As everything I have read they seem to sow the fruit and seed directly into the soil for the best result. Getting hold of fresh fruit in the UK is impossible from what I have found though.

I have found plenty of places in Australia, USA that sell the live trees but dont ship internationally.

I have  fruiting mango tree, a lychee and a avocado in the same 20-24c grow light area and they are all growing just fine, and will be transplanted to a tropical greenhouse we are building on a farm with 7 metre head height. Its all going to be heated for free by the waste heat from my brothers wood chip heating / wood kiln business that runs 247 365 days a year, so heating isnt going to be a problem in the long run, it will be like the tropics in there.

I have successfully germinated several types of guava, key lime, sugar apple, cheramoya, melon etc but Muntingia calabura is a nightmare.

The issue I have is getting the damn things to germinate in the first place, once they are growing we will have a perfect home for it, but getting hold of a seedling or seeds that actually sprout is proving very difficult.
Have you ever actually eaten the fruit? If I had a tropical greenhouse this space hog wouldn't be my first choice. They get big anda. fruit is the size of a garden pea Lots of fruit if the tree size is large but handfuls from a small tree.
Fruit size normally is much bigger than pea. More about the size of a penny.
Oscar

zephian

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #23 on: September 09, 2018, 12:11:21 PM »
Probably hard to see but I've been trying to get this to germinate for a while now... friday moved it to a window that gets full sun in the mornings instead of a window in my house that is tinted...and Bam! Germination!

-Kris

achetadomestica

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Re: Germinating Muntingia calabura / Jamaican Cherry
« Reply #24 on: September 09, 2018, 12:38:40 PM »
Probably hard to see but I've been trying to get this to germinate for a while now... friday moved it to a window that gets full sun in the mornings instead of a window in my house that is tinted...and Bam! Germination!


You couldn't get them to germinate, now your gonna have 10,000 :)