willy1der

I was wondering what your different methods of germinating this seed are.I am told every way and the opposite and am confused to what will work!!!!

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D_&_T

All I know is they are reported to be very hard to sprout.

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Bob

After having read how difficult it can be to germinate bananas I have found 2 things you should at least be aware of and try. First of all I have soaked all my seeds in warm water ,changing the water daily to remove any possible natural inhibitors that may be present for about a week. Also 1) a lucky accident I found that after potting the seeds in a sterile seed starting mix that letting them dry once in a while followed by watering can induce sprouting. 2) Varying temperatures ,high during day followed by cooler night time temperatures is reputed to help with Musa sikkimensis seedlings. This worked with my Darjeeling Giants. No luck yet with the other 2 sikkimensis strains. Let us know your results. If you have enough seeds I would try experimenting with different methods to see what may be best. I assume yours are the Musella lasiocarpa so they may respond to the fluctuating temperature method since they are on of the "cold hardy" varieties.

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willy1der

When soaking these seeds are they sopposed to sink or float,is it a myth if they float they are no good!!!

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Bananaman88

I got some seeds from my M. lasiocarpa recently and just put them straight into a pot with fresh potting mix. I can't even remember for sure if I scarified them, though I think I did. We'll see what happens.

Bob

All of the seeds that I've planted sunk immediately or just after being placed in the water. I would guess if they didn't sink after a while that they had no or a rotten embryo and the resulting air inside is keeping them afloat.

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Chironex

I have read the same thing about floating seeds. Right now I have separated the floaters from the sinkers to test this. I will plant them in separate pots to see if any of the floaters will germinate. If they don't, I will crack them open to see what is going on inside. Does anyone know how long one should allow for them to sink? I am considering them to be floaters if they haven't sunk in 3 days.

Would it be unreasonable to return floaters to the seed sellers for replacement? Recently, I got about 15 seeds and 8 of them were floaters!
I guess it depends some on what was paid for them, but I wouldn't think it was too much to ask for expensive seeds, that the seller check them in water and send only sinkers, right??? Obviously, if it is a huge seed selling operation there should be more Q.C. They usually state something like "Germination tested 90%" I am considering asking each seller to place the seeds in water and send only those that sink. Especially the seeds sold on eBay!

Brent, I hope that you didn't scarify them and put them into normal potting soil. The microbes will eat them alive. All of the research I have read on scarification indicates the use of sterile soil-less mix following seed surface sterilization and then scarification. As i recall there was 0% germination of scarified seeds in normal soil. Perhaps if you didn't nick them too deeply, you might get lucky, I hope.

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Scot

Bob

Good post Scott,all interesting points. You've had more experience with banana seeds I'm sure but, I would be shocked if any of your floaters actually germinate. If it's not the air in the ridges of the exterior of the seed it must be air inside. This would kill the embryo if it is even present wouldn't it. Let us know how it comes out.

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Gabe15

If the inside is rotten or hollow (sometimes due to malformed seeds), then they will float, but good seeds will still float too sometimes, so it is not always a reliable testing method.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Hawaii and Washington since 2004.

Chironex

I hope that holds true, I just put a bunch of seeds into a jar to soak and nearly all of them floated. The Ensete glaucum seeds floated initially, but then sank after a few hours. Hoping the rest will sink overnight.

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Scot

gadget

I purchased some seeds off of eBay last year, 5 different types of bananas, 10 seeds each. On arrival I plant 5 of each kind; I got 3 M. lasiocarpa and 1 zimbrina. I planted the other half A little over a month ago and have 1 Lasiocarpa up and nothing else.

I did no soaking on any seeds, not good results on the others.
But maybe not soaking the lasiocarpa is helpful.

Best of luck

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willy1der

The seeds I planted in sept-nov havn't come up yet but I purchased some more seeds from someone different and they have sprouted in only two weeks.These were all seeds that sunk when soaked.Will post some pics soon!!!!

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MediaHound

Thread moved to the seed germination forum. Cheers

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Apologies in advance if I am slow to reply to your PM. I suggest posting in the forums for support if you need something urgent.