barna

As I suppose many of you, I bought some of the rare Musa RPS' seeds?
Until now no a single germination ¡¡¡

I wonder if someone has sprouted or grown any of them?
Here is the list, it was really interesting one .... but only a dream
Musa bauensis
Musa beccarii var. beccarii
Musa borneensis (var. borneensis & flavida)
Musa campestris (var. campestris, lawasensis, limbangensis, miriensis & sarawakensis)
Musa hirta
Musa monticola
Musa muluensis
Musa peekelii
Musa sakaiana
Musa schizocarpa
Musa textilis (Borneo)
Musa voonii

Hope somebody had better luck than me ....

varig8

I purchased about half of the varieties you have listed over 8 months ago. I scored half of each type and not the other half, and had soaked them all in water with Superthrive for 24 hrs. NONE have germinated, and they are still in their trays hoping that just maybe some year something will show itself. Have a feeling they were too old.....not expecting too much after all this time. Dammit.

Clinton3666

Hi barna,
I am very sorry to hear you had frustustion waiting for seeds of musa species from rarepalmseeds.com - palm seeds, cycad seeds, banana seeds.
I imported seeds of musa voonii, musa campestris, musa beccarii var beccarii, musa hirta, this year and I sowed them on September, but no germination yet, but seeds of musa "Burmese Blue" had germinated very well. 2 years ago I imported 100 seeds of musa campestris limbangensis, and now I have ONE strong plant musa campestris as my hothouse had no heat and both musa violascsens & musa campestris died during this winter, left few strong musa violascens alive.

Now all seeds of musa species at rarepalmseeds.com are ALL STALE & DEAD.

If you want seeds of musa beccarii, try "heliconia society of Pureto Rico" and find name "Sherry Ballerest" in www.vivoeanones.com.
Use google.com.
My seeds of musa beccarii had germinated 2 years, I imported from viveanones.com, and I have a flowering musa beccarii var beccarii.

Hope this of help to you.
Forgive me for wrong wordspelling.

Cheers

Clinton.

bananimal

Let me offer my 2 cents here. Regarding germinating "tough" seeds.

Before I headed out to the SW carribean, on a cruise in Feb, I had a bunch of seeds of different plants that I wanted to see sprouted when I got home.

Did something that has worked for me for many years.

Planted the seeds, no scarification, in the surrounding soil of various potted plants. Well grown out plants but definitely not root bound. Have to have loose surface soil to stick the seeds in, right?

These pots were placed where the automatic irrigation system would take care of them while I was away.

My theory has always been you can't drown these guys in soil where there is a thriving plant that is using up the water. Wallah - no damping off!

Best example --- all my Imperial Star artichoke seeds germinated -- 10% failed to sprout. That's a way better yield than the supplier specified. Same for the Jolokia peppers, the Anchos and the Aji Dulces -- Venezolano and Puerto Rican -- better than 90% yield. When I got home I xpanted the 2-3 inch sprouts in seedling trays.

Bottom line-- living plants maintain an environment conducive to growth --- works for me!!!

So what do you guys think?

Dan

barna

Thank you all for your answers

I already purchased some seeds in the past from different sources including RPS and Vivero Anones (BTW a very good one, sending really fresh seeds¡¡) and some sprouted while other didn't.

I just realized there were not many posts regarding germination of these rare Musas, and I could not found a single plant of these Musas for sale in the net.
So I think very few of them sprouted and after reading your mails I am getting more convinced

Bananimal,
I am partially agree with your theory. After two year, I usually throw the non sprouted seeds, but I re-use the substrate for other plants. Two unexpected Musas grown outdoor in my garden, beside the planted plants. Just a problem.... no idea which ones



I will have to wait until they grow and flower... I will then post some pictures here asking for help

bananimal

Barna ----- Are these seeds hard shelled? Have you tried scarifying them? Cutting the seed coating is something I did a long time ago. Think it was Kiwi fruit seeds.

sunfish

I do not believe scarification is necessary in fact it causes problems.

Musa Velutina Experiment

Hard seed like Jubaea have germination pores for the moisture to enter.If seed are viable they just need the right environment to germinate.

ron_mcb

make your own decision about this company, but i will give my experience.. remember the banana seed i was giving away earlier?? this is where i got the seed. how many people were able to germinate anything?? i think tony said he got one seed to germinate. i distributed or planted hundreds of seed.

if so many people were using their own germination techniques and everyone had the same results you think there was a possibility the seed may have been no good??

i tried a few varieties nothing germinated.. i complained to cust service and only got ignored. this is why i probably wont order from these people again.. not because i got a few hundred bad seed ..happens sometimes (good idea to test what you sell) .. its because of how they handled the situation.

all i wanted to do was grow a few ornamental bananas.

__________________
naw mek smaddi ditate fi yuh. naw wan gwan a pawty yuh naggo.

jmoore

Agreed

Have you read this thread?

New banana species at RPS

oakshadows

Scarifying is not necessary but with somed seed it speeds up the process. Seed in the wild do not get this, they just germinate when conditions are right. Growing seed with a living plant makes sense to me and I will try it and hope for good results.

__________________
"What this country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds."

varig8

Scarification of the seed is not necessary, it simply hastens the germination process along. Seed in the wild is not scarified, you are correct. BUT, most of the time the fruit (and the seed) is usually eaten by either birds or animals. The acids in their digestive systems work in the same way to hasten the germination process of hard shelled seed. Scarifying seed, especially very hard shelled seed, (like some Musa or water Lotus for example), is in my opinion a very easy way to speed up the process of germination. An earlier post mentions 'I do not believe scarification is necessary in fact it causes problems'. Perhaps keeping the scarified seed in too wet soil conditions could promote some bacterial or fungal problems, but I wouldnt say 'in fact it causes problems'. Over the years I have probably germinated a few hundred Musa seed, I always scarify them. Most of the seed I have purchase online I scarify half only. NONE of the seed that I have bought online have ever germinated, so it doesnt seem those seed were viable, scarified or not. I also dont understand the reasoning behind germinating seed in with a live plant? Seeds aren't psychic, what possible difference could it make?

sunfish

sunfish

sunfish

sunfish

This explains it all

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...LSxelQ&cad=rja

varig8

Interesting.............although it conflicts with my personal experience with scarification of hard shelled seed. Always the scarified Musa seed has germinated within 2-3 weeks time---with VIABLE fresh seed. Some of the seed which was not scarified germinated months later when sown at the same time. I wonder why I have such a good percentage of quicker germinating seed when the information in that last link states that it makes no difference? PS I ALWAYS soak my seed for at least 2 days whether I file them or not. I think you could find conflicting information from many sources. I bought some dried lotus pods in a floral shop and removed the seed from the dry flower head. I nicked some seed and not others. The nicked seed germinated the next day. The ones I didnt nick never did sprout, I waited for about a month to 6 weeks and threw them away. I will continue nicking my seeds because it works for me. Maybe seed are psychic and they like me.

sunfish

I never nick seed and don't even soak them but that's because I'm lazy.

barna

Thank you all for your comments... but none of the suggested 'methods' seems to work with these seeds.

If they are no viable (maybe too old, maybe too dry...) there is no way to germinate them, (maybe embryo rescue..?). It is a pity no one has been able to sprout them, it will probably take a long time until we see them again in the market.

I posted this question because I was thinking to buy some again, and try an give a second chance to those species, somebody sprouted (although they have now lower viability than the first time)
What I learned from your information is that none of them worked better then other and the germinate rate was close to zero (only one M. campestris limbangensis from 100 ¡¡)

As said, really a pity

ron_mcb

what persuaded me into buying was probably the pictures on the website. the pictures are interesting . seems they devoted all of their resources into the website.. the seed they are selling are mostly not viable,and its not just my opinion. if someone in the united states could actually grow and propagate these by seed,or division i would buy them. the biggest problem is finding someone who is willing to part with something you are interested in growing. bottom line if i were you i would look elsewhere.

__________________
naw mek smaddi ditate fi yuh. naw wan gwan a pawty yuh naggo.

jmoore

Interesting read