Marula Germination

[LycheeLust]

I got 1/6 of my marula seeds to germinate so far. Does anyone have experience growing this tree?

[cmichael258]

I bought seeds from forum member Stuartdaly88 and had pretty good success following his instructions:

"Soak with water for 24hours before planting. I haven't germinated the other two yet the seeds have long dormancy. I have some M.discolor at the moment in bag with cotton wool that have swollen a lot I think it's been a little over a month but I expect root tip any day now!
The marula I have germinated many times. It is the most erratic germinated ever. The thick shell means they take a few months to pop out the soil but I have had some take up to two years and germinated randomly after I had long ago reused the soil
 They have very distinctive fleshy leaves so I could recognized them easily. I have heard of some techniques for faster germination but I can't speak from experience as I just planted them in nicely draining but moisture retentive soil. I have heard a couple minutes in just boiled hot water can speed it up also scarification may help. I can't find the page but I read a post on garden Web the lady said there is a plug you can find in the seed and remove it with a knife my seed anatomy is not too good I couldn't really see a plug though.
They will germinate without any of this just at very random times obviously an adaptation so not all seeds sprouted in the same season in case of drought killing them.
GA3 500ppm 24hours soak on these three species has not had any difference from normal soak but higher Ga3 may help I'm experimenting so will tell you if I find a trick:)"

[LycheeLust]

I bought seeds from forum member Stuartdaly88 and had pretty good success following his instructions:

"Soak with water for 24hours before planting. I haven't germinated the other two yet the seeds have long dormancy. I have some M.discolor at the moment in bag with cotton wool that have swollen a lot I think it's been a little over a month but I expect root tip any day now!
The marula I have germinated many times. It is the most erratic germinated ever. The thick shell means they take a few months to pop out the soil but I have had some take up to two years and germinated randomly after I had long ago reused the soil
 They have very distinctive fleshy leaves so I could recognized them easily. I have heard of some techniques for faster germination but I can't speak from experience as I just planted them in nicely draining but moisture retentive soil. I have heard a couple minutes in just boiled hot water can speed it up also scarification may help. I can't find the page but I read a post on garden Web the lady said there is a plug you can find in the seed and remove it with a knife my seed anatomy is not too good I couldn't really see a plug though.
They will germinate without any of this just at very random times obviously an adaptation so not all seeds sprouted in the same season in case of drought killing them.
GA3 500ppm 24hours soak on these three species has not had any difference from normal soak but higher Ga3 may help I'm experimenting so will tell you if I find a trick:)"

The way I’m trying is using a seed starter kit from MicroClone. Yeah they do seem pretty random. I just randomly looked and it was sprouted yesterday. I hope the others ones do too lol

[Daintree]

I get almost 100%, super-fast germination (8 days max) on mine. I started some trees from a 6 year old batch of seeds from Stuart Daly. The ones I had previously, that had hit the ciling of my greenhouse, I didn't know if they were male or female, so I am trying the theory that if the seed has two eyes, the trees will be female. One or three eyes and they will be male. I have my seedlings marked.
I start mine by just carefully prying the eyes out of the seed. Sometimes you need to scrape the seed very well to find the eye.  I use a really sharp pocket knife to pry the eye out.  You have to be careful not to damage the "skin" under the eye. You can also tell, once the eye is out, if that eye will sprout or not.  If the skin at the bottom of the hole is all dried up and not intact, then it won't sprout.  Then I just put them in potting mix with the eye holes facing down. Germination in one week. Easy as pie.

Cheers, Carolyn

[shaneatwell]

I have 3 in my front yard also from Stuart many years ago. Biggest is 2.5" diameter and just passing my eaves. Female by eye count, but hasn't flowered yet.

[LycheeLust]

I have 3 in my front yard also from Stuart many years ago. Biggest is 2.5" diameter and just passing my eaves. Female by eye count, but hasn't flowered yet.

Is there a way to tell what gender after it sprouts?

[shaneatwell]

All i'm aware of is the eye count method and then flowering. I don't know of any in between indication.

[Daintree]

LycheeLust, just keep track of how many eyes each seed has, and which seedling came out of which seed. Looks like they are still in the little tubes?
I don't know if this has ANY validity at all, but my male trees seem more vigorous than the females, in that they are a bit bigger, and got bigger faster. They all sit in the same place and have received identical care.

Cheers, Carolyn

[LycheeLust]

LycheeLust, just keep track of how many eyes each seed has, and which seedling came out of which seed. Looks like they are still in the little tubes?
I don't know if this has ANY validity at all, but my male trees seem more vigorous than the females, in that they are a bit bigger, and got bigger faster. They all sit in the same place and have received identical care.

Cheers, Carolyn

Where on the seed do you see the dots? I didn’t know about this technique before

[shaneatwell]

http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=14218.0

[LycheeLust]

Can anyone tell us this marula is male or female?

[shaneatwell]

Looks like two or female to me. The other lids eventually fell off on my seeds.

[LycheeLust]

Can you show me what you’re looking at cause I can’t tell what I’m supposed to see lol

[Daintree]

So the trick is you have to check the WHOLE stone, so I wouldn't be able to guess, from a single angle, whether your seed is male or female.  I have found that sometimes you can scrape the stone to make the eyes easier to see.
Each eye has a darker center, a slightly paler edge, and then a fine line, which is where you would place a knife blade to pry the eye out.  The eyes are NOT perfectly round.  They may be roundish, or more oblong.   

Also, if you planted some in soil, and they have NOT germinated yet, just dig them up, scrape them off with a sharp pocket knife, then pry the lids off the eyes.  Then you will know for sure if they are make or female, and which eyes are "good". I planted some on July 12 of this year, and the trees are over a foot tall.  Will post shortly.

Hope this helps!

In this picture, you can three eyes. One on each point of the stone.


Here is another angle, where you can see two eyes.  You can also see the knife marks where I have cleaned the stone to find the eyes.


Another angle.


The last angle, where I discovered that this stone actually has FOUR eyes.  The fourth eye was very hard to see with my eyes, but it showed up on the photo. The eye on the left is more oblong, the eye on the right is more round, and the eyes are almost touching each other.

[Daintree]

I planted this seed on July 12. The trunk is about the thickness of a pencil now and it is over 12 inches tall.