Re: Soaking seeds getting moldy
I agree there is so many different openions and contradictions. It drove me crazy in the beginning also. And I have had some sprout after filing them. I've found the best way most of the time is the natural way. I'm religious and believe God made them the that way for a reason. The dead outer layer protects the embryo from all the outside bad stuff until it is ready to sprout. From a non religious point you could say evolution perfected them over many many years for the same reason.
However I love to experiment and try different ways of doing thing and keeping track of the results to compare.
My experience with banana seeds shows this is the best way I have found:
I soak the seeds for 2-3 days if fresh. If not fresh or I'm unsure I will soak for 5-7 days always changing the water daily. (Normal tap water)
Then I use dry 100% peat moss (I find it helps vs fungus and mould). I wet it to the point where there is no water not absorbed. (I will hold the moss in and turn upside down. No water should drain. The moss has absorbed it all).
I use a Rubbermaid or similar (leftover food) type. The kind that seal good. I have also used plastic wrap to seal the top or press and seal works great. You want very high humidity.
I place the seeds on top of the peat moss and just gently press them. About 1/3 of the seed into the moss or so. Rest of the seed is above the soil level. Then I sit the container on a heat mat arond 80-90F. On 24 hours. I don't start cycling heat cycles until a month or more later.
After the peat is moist I never water again. Every 5-7 days I will open it all up and check for fungus or mold and spray them with a water bottle. Just a mist to wet them. No extra water.
After your done with them (usually 3-4 months for me) I fill a pot with sand and bury the peat moss under about an inch of sand and label the pot. They will keep coming up outside for awhile. I have some from October 2015 that sprouted 3 more a couple weeks ago.
Fastest I have ever had a banana seed sprout is around 2 weeks. And those were my personal seeds I harvested so they were extremely fresh.
What all varieties of seeds do you have? Do you have other bananas already growing right now?
Good luck and let us know when you have one sprout. It's like Christmas morning when you see your first sprout haha.
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