Mustang

garnetmoth

Musa Velutina, first time.

theyre living in an old yogurt container, holes punched in bottom, with a 1-L bottle humidity dome, with the lid screwed off.

2 babies poking up last night, YAY!

monkeypickle

I have not tried to germinate banana seeds, but I have germinated a very wide range of other seeds over the years. I have found that at the 1st sign of the little white mycelium cased by damp off fungi, if you will spray the surface of the soil and the bottom inch or so of the seedlings with 3 percent ydrogen peroxide, it kills the mycelium. but it doesn't harm the seedlings. I have treated thousands of seedlings in this way also just to prevent damp-off. It is very important not to keep your grow chamber too humid. If you see any or the mychorizia of scrophularium [damp off fungi] immediately, spray lightly with hydrogen peroxide mixed with a few drops of alcohol. then 'rough up' the surface of the media a little bit to help it to dry out a little at the surface. I use a toothpick for this operation. Be carefll not to till too deeply. 1 8th inch is usually quite sufficient. just kind of swirl the pick around in the surface. { any of you that grow fungi (edible mushrooms) can actually save a spawn batch by rinsing it with hydrogen peroxide 3 percent, then draining it. It will usually retard the growth of the invading bacteria or mycelium long enough for the good mycelia to outgrow the infection]Monkeypickles This remedy has not been tested by me on banana seedlings, but I don't see why it wouldn't work on them as well as on them as well as it does on seedling tomatoes, flowers, etc.

garnetmoth

Hey Monkeypickle, that is some neat info, ill have to try it with a few babies.

I have had a history of getting things to start, then losing them to damping off. I take the dome off a few hours, and try to put the fan on an hour or 2 every other day to stimulate stout growth and dry the surface of the containers.

Im about to pot up 10's of citrus seeds, I might just treat some of them with H202 dliuted.....

GAPEye

Nice

__________________
Glenn Christian LPI, CFI
Operations Director

COASTAL INVESTIGATIONS
105-B Owens Industrial Drive
Savannah, GA 31405

Office Telephone: (912) 232-8818

Company License: GA LIC # PDC002006

E-Mail: mail@coastal-investigations.com

Visit our web site at: www.coastal-investigations.com

monkeypickle

to Garnetmouth; just today, whilr rambling through ebay looking for COLD HARDY bananas, i ran across a site where some English nana grower recommended to start banana seeds in vermiculite bags. She said to mix a weak fertilizer solution using hydrogen peroxide as the h2o component, then to squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible, fluff up the vermiculite and plant your seeds right into a small zip lock bag. put the bag in a well lighted, warm, but not sunny position. when the seeds start to germinate they can be pricked out easily. She said that it is nigh onto impossible to start banana seed unless it is in a sterile environment because dampoff organisms kill the embryo as soon as it emerges from the seedcoat. Be sure that the peroxide does not exceed 3 percent. I intend to try it out. I ordered some seeds of velutina to practice on.

GAPEye

Monkey Pickle,

Keep us posted and let us know how that turns out!

__________________
Glenn Christian LPI, CFI
Operations Director

COASTAL INVESTIGATIONS
105-B Owens Industrial Drive
Savannah, GA 31405

Office Telephone: (912) 232-8818

Company License: GA LIC # PDC002006

E-Mail: mail@coastal-investigations.com

Visit our web site at: www.coastal-investigations.com

monkeypickle

I will. I just sent off my order for 2 seeds today. This is what i intend to do. I will soak one of the seeds in hydrogen peroxide for 1 hour befoe planting it in vermiculite wetted with distilled water [sterile] mixed with a small amount of rapidgro; one seed in vermiculite wetted with distilled water mixed with hydrogen peroxide to = 3 percent soloution + a small amount of rapidgro [to support growth of tht hoped for seedling; one seed in vermiculite with no hydrogen peroxide but utilising distilled water and rapidgro; one seed in vermiculite wetted with tap water, and one seed in rapidgro planting medium, no hydrogen peroxide. Ill test for time required for germination, and whether or not seedlings develop damp off. I'll give you my resulus as soon as possible.

monkeypickle

'scuse me! That is 5 seeds, not 2.lol

GAPEye

Good Luck !

__________________
Glenn Christian LPI, CFI
Operations Director

COASTAL INVESTIGATIONS
105-B Owens Industrial Drive
Savannah, GA 31405

Office Telephone: (912) 232-8818

Company License: GA LIC # PDC002006

E-Mail: mail@coastal-investigations.com

Visit our web site at: www.coastal-investigations.com

STEELVIPER

YES!!!!!!!! my Musa nagensium seeds are poking up! Bought 10 seeds from Ortanique. So far i have 4 sprouting as of today. I used mrbungalow's technique. Took 3 weeks.They only thing is that i keep the soil temps at 90F to 92F for 8 hours then at 80F for 4 hours. Then 70F at night.These are my first Musa seeds that i have ever tried to sprout.Ive always had good luck with Ensete seeds. Thanks guys for all the great info and advice.

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mrbungalow

Steelviper, I am glad the "bungalow-technique" worked out for you, although Tim Chapman who owned Gingerwoods Nursery in Louisiana deserves credit before me. He's the one who taught me about fluctuating temps! Too bad about hurricane Cathrina, I haven't heard from him since.

What exactly does ortaniques' nagensium-seeds look like? Smooth and large or irregular and whitish?

Erlend

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STEELVIPER

Mrbungalow,

The seeds that i got from ortaniques were i would say slightly smaller then a dime and very ruff or irregular. Most did have whitish coloring around the "eye" Some did not. But very ruff texture. Now i know that these may not be the "real" M.nagensium. They may be nagensium x or somthing of that matter. They guarantee their seed to be true to form,but what is a guarantee these days. So far i have 6 of 10 sprouting. I used a soil-less seed starting mixture with some fine sand added. I also did take them outside when the temps. were over 60F and put them in the sun.

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banana_fun

I'm waiting on 72 Sikkimensis seeds that I sowed december 5th. None of them have germinated using fluctuating temperatures on a heat mat. I placed 6 caster bean seeds (purchased from our good friend Taylor) in the seed flat and they germinated in 1 day. I do not think the seeds I purchased are viable. I cracked one of the seeds open and the inside was as dry as chalk. Do you think I should find another source for Sikkimensis seeds?

Taylor

Hey! I am glad they came up so fast! Congrats!

Tropicallvr

The white chalky substance is what you'll always find in musa and ensete seeds. I think your seeds are still good, and if you still have them spring maybe try sprouting them outside. Musa sikkimensis definatly are some of the toughest musa to germinate.

banana_fun

Thanks for the reassurance Tropicallr. I will not give up on them until the end of January. I just found a source last night for Sikkimensis seeds that are fresh from India. I am waiting to get a price. The supplier said they have just been harvested so I am looking forward to recieving fresh seed from the source.

mrbungalow

If I were you I would wait until the end of February, atleast. I have had seedlings pop up in numbers, after 3-4 months!

Erlend

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mrbungalow

OK, looking back at the smoke disks: I had 200 Musa Sikkimensis X "Darjeeling giant" seeds. 100 were laid in water for a week, the other 100 were left in water with a disk of "Smoky water" for a week.

I have also tested these smoke-disks on other species, palms etc. in a very non-scientific way.

Can't say I have seen much difference in germination results concerning bananas or other plants!

Erlend

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bigdog

Gabe, I've edited my original reply several times in the last couple of months (I love that feature!), because more seeds have sprouted for me! Recently, I've had:

Musa itinerans 'India Form' (3, 1 died)
Musa x sikkimensis 'Daj Giant' (1)
Musa formosana (1)

The M. formosana just came up today, alomst 3 1/2 months after sowing.

The M. itinerans 'India Form' look incredible, even as 5-leaf seedlings! The red midribs are becoming intense, and bleeding into the leaf just like the one in the pic on sunshine-seeds.com. If this one turns out to be as cold-hardy as I think it might be, it could easily replace M. basjoo as the most desireable banana to grow in cooler climates! Can't wait to see how it grows as it gets older.