I am totally anti peat pellets. No real reason why though. I just prefer a soiless mix comprised mostly of peat. Works pretty good for me.

Soak em all for a little before you plant. Seems to help. My soursops all germinated without a presoak though.

Cool, thanks Murahilin.

I use the pellets only because they don't make a mess when soaking them. But I'll give the soilless peat mix a try though.

Tim

I'm El Cheapo, I place my seeds in a moist paper towel inside a zip top bag. Once the seeds sprout, I plant them into 16oz plastic cups that have holes poked in them. By using the zip bag, I can keep humidity high, control any mold and know which seeds have sprouted and which are duds. Also, make sure you keep your seeds warm.

Have patience with the annona and rollinia seeds they take awhile to sprout.

good luck,
-Ethan

Ethan,
I don't think that idea merits the El Cheapo title. If anything, that's a clever way of germinating seeds.
Now if we want to talk about El Cheapo, check out my mini-greenhouse :)
That cup in the middle there is seed from a store bought Ambarella.

Tim

{{gwi:1334489}}

and what is the aveeno for? (joking)

Nice recycling job Tim. Do the pepino dulce fruit you get have any taste to them? I've only had them once before and was underwhelmed.

-Ethan

Abayomi:
ItâÂÂs Baby Aveeno shampoo :)

Ethan:
Funny you asked that.
I made some mistakes in trying my first pepino.
First being that we tried it on full stomachs.
Second, it was eaten right after having some golden honeydew melon.
It was night & day in comparison and a big let down.
ItâÂÂs like eating an extremely juicy & ripened cucumber without a hint of sweetness.
ThatâÂÂs probably because of the honeydew.
But like you said, very under whelmed.

I've always believed that any accurate taste testing is done on an empty stomach & clean palate (cleaning your tongue before sampling other fruits).
So I'll give it another go with the remaining pepinos.
I will also try some lime juice and chili powder to see if any enhancement in flavor.

Tim

What I find works best for me, especially with seeds that have a hard coating, is to soak the seed for a week in a weak solution of hydrogen peroxide and water, to prevent fungus, then plant the seed in a sterile potting mix. With seeds like pepper, tomato, etc., I only soak overnight. I have had cashew, cherimoya, soursop germinate in a week for me with this method, after many previous failures.

that station you have set up there seems perfect

On October 1st I germinated Cherimoya seeds by snipping the tip of the seed with a cuticle nipper or scissor to open the husk and then soaked them in a warm area for 2 days in water. I filled those red 16 ounce drink cups and a few of the extra large sized cups from Dunkin Donuts (they are very tall- makes room for good tap root growth)
I put one seed in each and they germinated in record speed with 100% of them sprouting. It is just under two months now. They are 4-6 inches tall and have 4 leaves on them and are working on the next. I am going to repot them this weekend to larger/taller pots. My next experiment will be pomegranate seeds.