Eugenia with Long Germination Times

[elouicious]

Hey All,

Eugenia's are obviously one of the most collected and sought after species on this forum. They are great for container culture, generally do not have a long juvenile period, and seeds readily germinate.

Because of how quickly and easily this genus usually germinates, if I dont see sprouts pretty quickly I usually assume they are bunk and move on.

Lately I have had 2 exceptions- I thought it might be good to track this, so people don't waste seeds or erroneously start beef

Eugenia klotzschiana - 1 year to show above surface
Eugenia stipitata - 5 Months to germinate after sowing in 100% vermiculite
Eugenia victoriana - 4 Months to germinate after sowing in 100% vermiculite

Myrciaria vexator - 5 Months

Anyone else see similar things with these or other species?

cheers

[CeeJey]

Vexators. F'ing vexators (edit: yeah, I know, it's a myrciaria but same issue, most myrciaria pop fast for me). About five months average the last batch. I had ptsd after a first nonviable batch and nearly pitched the second try, but stuck it out.

Stipitata takes forever for me too, but I usually get a couple of little baby green shoots poking up within a month or two (I start them in pure peat since they seem to like the acid and don't mind the moisture, I have only had one mold) and then they stay like that for another 3-5 months. I had one that didn't put out real shoots for 8 months. Then it put on 8 inches in like a month.

Camu camu/myrciaria dubia acted the same as stipitata the one time I got some seeds, although none of those made it past the "tiny green shoots for six months" phase due to me having too high ph water for them. I'd probably try those again if I could get my hands on them.

Never managed the victoriana.

[brian]

I have some eugenia dysenterica seeds I got...4 months ago?  Just started putting up a shoot.

Still the most amazing for me is achachairu, I got a batch of seeds two years ago and put them in seed trays, and they are *still* sprouting randomly.  Nearly 100% germination but half of them took over a year to sprout

[brian]

On thing I have noticed with a lot of pre-germinated seeds, especially eugenias, is that the radicle root and shoot might be dried out and dead on arrival, but then they just put out new ones.  It is a roller coaster of emotions from "these seeds are no good!" to having healthy plant some time later.

Also have found a few of my eugenia seedlings randomly dying at 1yr old & 6-8" tall for no clear reason.  One of my patrissi seedlings that was doing great just up and died branch by branch, and another eugenia the same size seems to be on the same path.   

[elouicious]

I have some eugenia dysenterica seeds I got...4 months ago?  Just started putting up a shoot.

Still the most amazing for me is achachairu, I got a batch of seeds two years ago and put them in seed trays, and they are *still* sprouting randomly.  Nearly 100% germination but half of them took over a year to sprout

Seeds dont give a F about our time scales haha- Ben from SacredSucculents said he has seen some species come up after 4 years (Ilex vomitoria)

On thing I have noticed with a lot of pre-germinated seeds, especially eugenias, is that the radicle root and shoot might be dried out and dead on arrival, but then they just put out new ones.  It is a roller coaster of emotions from "these seeds are no good!" to having healthy plant some time later.

Also have found a few of my eugenia seedlings randomly dying at 1yr old & 6-8" tall for no clear reason.  One of my patrissi seedlings that was doing great just up and died branch by branch, and another eugenia the same size seems to be on the same path.   

I have this problem too, always assume it is something fungal or bacterial

[tru]

On thing I have noticed with a lot of pre-germinated seeds, especially eugenias, is that the radicle root and shoot might be dried out and dead on arrival, but then they just put out new ones.

same here but jabos!

[kittycatus]

I've had a klotzschiana take almost a year before sending up a shoot. I had checked what the seed was doing and it had grown a long taproot and just sat there, but I knew it was still alive.

[NateTheGreat]

Because of how quickly and easily this genus usually germinates, if I dont see sprouts pretty quickly I usually assume they are bunk and move on.

If you're talking about sprouting and not just germinating, my experience is very different. Eugenias tend to take months for me. I've had a few take over a year to come up. Not just rare ones. My low-confidence theory is the deeper the pot, the longer they take to emerge above the surface. That or they need warmer weather to emerge.

[elouicious]

Because of how quickly and easily this genus usually germinates, if I dont see sprouts pretty quickly I usually assume they are bunk and move on.

If you're talking about sprouting and not just germinating, my experience is very different. Eugenias tend to take months for me. I've had a few take over a year to come up. Not just rare ones. My low-confidence theory is the deeper the pot, the longer they take to emerge above the surface. That or they need warmer weather to emerge.

Ah semantics-

A fair point- I suppose in the case I mean sprouting by your definition as I (and I would assume most others) don't have a way to see into my pots for roots.

I would tend to agree about the pot size, but in this specific case everything is in relatively small seed sprouting trays-

I think plants tend to grow roots first, then the top- but this is completely anecdotal

[NateTheGreat]

I wasn't trying to nitpick. Some people leave their seeds in plastic bags w/ vermiculite until a root emerges, then plant in soil. That's how you could see. I thought you were one of those. Recently I've bought many Eugenia seeds that arrived germinated (a few of them sprouted too). E. beaurep. for example came mostly germinated with tiny root nubs, planted immediately, and no sprouts yet 7 months later. I accidentally dug one up around a month ago, fat healthy seed with nice big, healthy, branching roots. Still nothing above ground though. They're in 12 inch deep pots

[elouicious]

I wasn't trying to nitpick. Some people leave their seeds in plastic bags w/ vermiculite until a root emerges, then plant in soil. That's how you could see. I thought you were one of those. Recently I've bought many Eugenia seeds that arrived germinated (a few of them sprouted too). E. beaurep. for example came mostly germinated with tiny root nubs, planted immediately, and no sprouts yet 7 months later. I accidentally dug one up around a month ago, fat healthy seed with nice big, healthy, branching roots. Still nothing above ground though. They're in 12 inch deep pots

No its a fair point,  unfortuntately you are thinking of our dearly departed friend AndreasGia for the bag germinatino method

Seems whenever I get germinated seeds I manage to damp them off haha-

[digigarden]

cambuca=the seeds had roots but no plant so i thought they would die. many months later the plants have grown quite a bit.
the mulchi also took a long time.
e.rostrifolia=over a year.
another guavaberry=well over a year.
there's another that took a year forgot the name
had two guabiju sprout like after 10 months, one of them looked sickly and died but the other is doing fine.
the p.rivularis looked all dead when they arrived but 2 of them revived somehow.
same for one of the black COTRG seeds one of them germinated after a long time.

edit the e.dysenterica had an abnormality like a million stems but it could never push one normally. after a long time it only kept two and now it decided to die.