Requesting Germination Info for Surinam Cherry

[agroventuresperu]

A couple years ago, I went to the local nursery and saw they had a plant in the edibles section that they were calling cereza, which is the generic spanish name for cherry. I asked for a proper scientific name, and of course no one at the nursery knew. They just reiterated "cereza".
So, I decided to get one and see for myself, now that it has fruited it turns out it's a Surinam Cherry (Eugenia uniflora), and the fruits are actually pretty decent. We decided we want to grow more, so we planted 2 seeds per spot in four different spots near the house. That was over a month ago, and I was expecting to see some seedlings by now.

The oldest ones were only sitting around the house for about a week. The freshest were planted the same day we ate the fruit. How long do they typically take to germinate? We used some wood shavings from spent animal bedding, so we have some tomatoes, pink bananas and papayas that have sprouted from the spots, but I haven't noticed anything that looks like a Surinam Cherry seedling.

[agroventuresperu]

Nevermind, I just went out and looked at one spot and noticed a seedling. It already has its first true leaves. But wow the stem is extremely skinny!

[elouicious]

I was gonna say- I don't think they are recommended for direct sowing but they are quite easy to germinate

[Pokeweed]

I plant seeds from my fruit and have excellent germination. D

[Tropheus76]

Never had a problem with germinating Surinams here and I am the Black Death when it comes to seeds typically. I just dont like them enough to plant more than the two I already have in ground. I have well over a hundred various seeds currently in trays on heat pads and the only ones that have germinated for me are three Royal Poincianas(Flamboyan(SP?)) out of ten so far lol. Yay me!

[khachaturian]

Good you're seeing some positive results. I germinated some seeds in a pot in Dec last year. Germination was 9/11, with #1 popping up after two weeks and #9 after one month. Seeds might have been 3-4 weeks old when I planted them.

[agroventuresperu]

How big do they get when mature?

I really can't believe how skinny the stems are based on the size of the seeds.

I noticed a couple sprouts in one other spot today, but it looks like one of them was defoliated by grasshoppers. That's probably what happened to all the other ones. Oh well. I probably should've used some finished compost instead of the aged bedding that I covered the seeds with. The one I found yesterday seems pretty healthy though. There is also what looks like another healthy seedling that I came across while weedwacking a broadacre section of the property today, even though I don't remember sowing any there. I thought I had only planted avocado seeds in that area.

[ScottR]

My surinam cherry trees are about 8'-10' tall and all self seed from dropped fruit, I'm on ancient sand dune soil with 40 yrs of mulch and horse poop they are like weeds under my Chamba variety.

[Epicatt2]

Likewise, Peru, I have suriname cherries all along the fencerow in my back yard and one big one at the front of my house.  They all fruit and drop the fruit so I see dozens of seedlings that pop up shortly afterwards. (I just loophoe them all under.)  And yes, BTW, these new seedlings all have really skinny stems!

My yard is mostly Florida sand, the same in the front but with a layer of leaf mulch in the flower bed there.

OK — HTH

Paul M.
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[agroventuresperu]

Likewise, Peru, I have suriname cherries all along the fencerow in my back yard and one big one at the front of my house.  They all fruit and drop the fruit so I see dozens of seedlings that pop up shortly afterwards. (I just loophoe them all under.)  And yes, BTW, these new seedlings all have really skinny stems!

My yard is mostly Florida sand, the same in the front but with a layer of leaf mulch in the flower bed there.

OK — HTH

Paul M.
==

Must be some sort of spodosol. Good luck with that. Have you added a lot of inputs over the years?

[Epicatt2]

Must be some sort of spodosol. Good luck with that. Have you added a lot of inputs over the years?

I just rake the leaves up each spring from the several oaks (and the one elm tree in my back yard) and toss 'em into the flowerbeds to rot down as mulch.  (Why waste 'em?)  And that's also my source for rotted down humus which I incorporate into the potting mix that new tropical fruit seedlings get planted into.

The suriname cherries in the back yard along the fencelines are all volunteers, and from where originally, I do not know, but I keep routing them out to create space to plant other fruit trees.

Am doing nothing special or particular for those suriname charrries in the back –except routing out any new ones that pop up occasionally.

Paul M.
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