Wonderful discussion. I'm not as obsessive with this apple tree growing experiment(yet,)as I am with other things that I grow. Like as was mentioned, my son and I are just having fun planting something in winter and seeing what happens. Two Empire seeds germinated in the frig, and we planted them together in a 4" pot of Jiffy mix, and have them on a heating pad. If a couple more seeds germinate we might do the same thing with them also. We don't have a lot of room, and in all likelihood won't be living here 10 years from now. Bottom line.....we're just having fun. Hopefully we'll get something that we can plant outside, and like you say, point at it and say, "remember when...." That would be fun! Now if you want to talk serious, just get me talking about my tomatoes and blueberries.

Get them planted!! I use 1 litre deep pots 5.5" deep by 5" across with a gritty compost, 1 part each JI no3, peat, and cornish grit, filled nearly to the brim with 20-30 seeds per pot then topped off with quarter-half inch of cornish grit. I soak this from the base till the grit is wet then stand the pots in a deep tray drilled to leave half an inch of water in the base. (slugs cannot cross the water) They sit in this wet cold environment all winter and usually come up with 95% germination in the spring. I pot them on or plant them out when the first proper leaves have formed, the gritty open compost means that you can shake them out very easily and get a good 4" of root, make sure that the tip of the root is pointing down into your planting hole, (deeper pot 2L deep). Previous experiments with more than half an inch of water in the tray caused the seedlings to rot off after germination and without the constant moisture I would get only 30-50% germination, which would somethimes get devoured by a slug in a single meal. As regards open ground, I get quite a few seedlings at the base of their parents where I have not deadheaded, however I believe the mice can see these off once they get the flavour for them....it's worth protecting your seed trays/pots from mice if you can. I checked mine today and the first of this years 50 pots of seed are already germinating. Cheers Greenmaplants

Hello - I had some luck with germinating the Sugar Apple seeds. I had some dried seeds (someone gave me). First I tried the damp towel method but nothing after 5 weeks. Next I scored the remaining seeds (dry ones - not the damp towel ones) enough so that the protective coat was gone and I could see inside seed (it was white inside). I planted them in peat moss pellets in a starter greenhouse kit I got from home depot. I left it in the garage, sealed the sides with scotch tape and waited... About 2 weeks later I saw some seeds germinate. At one point I had over 20 seedlings, however all but 4 died due to fungus before the seedling fully emerged. I blame myself.. I should have removed the top lid by now (it happened in a matter of 2 days while I was away). I transferred the remaining 4 to a small 3 inch pot (used potting soil). I left it indoors the whole time near a window that got indirect sunlight as California summer was too hot (100+ on multiple days). Well one more seedling died in a few days. I decided to move the remaining 3 pots outdoor. 1 to side of house (gets 3-4 hours sunlight a day), 1 in full sunlight, and one in shade of another tree (the tree gets full sun). Well now (about 4 months later) only the one on the side of the house is alive. It is about 5-6 inch high. I am not sure if it is healthy though -- it seems to only have 2 leaves at a time. When a new set of leaves emerges, the old two fall off... I am not sure what to do now... Winter is getting too cold, so I am thinking about moving indoors and using grow lights...

Hi Maria! I am not sure which seedling it is. It was from ebay as mixed seeds so I'm not sure what they are. I got it after I killed all the one a member on here gave me. It was my first time germinating anything and I killed it by either over watering or under watering them. Even the ones I got from ebay they all died except for 1 so hopefully I don't kill it too. Adenium seeds - I got from the same person on ebay as mixed seeds too. I figure why not experiment and try to grow them. So far the adenium loves me they are growing except for a few that will eventually die. Thank you so much for offering me some seeds. I will PM you. Thank you, Ann