The hardest thing I have found about germinating many tropical seeds is actually getting fresh ones. Most seeds I have tried to order from various places come in dried out a dead. The only places I have had pretty good luck with are Fruitlovers in Hawaii, and Montoso in PR. If I were you I would just go to Pine Islands website and accept that you are going to be paying off your CC bills for a LONG time. That's what I did at least. I could send you an Abiu seedling in the spring if you're interested as long as you cover the shipping. That is one of the few that I ended up going with seedlings instead of a larger plant because they grow so fast and the trees are insanely expensive for some reason.

Wow,thank you so much! I would most definitely cover shipping, thank you! I think I will just give up, Ive already sprouted so many different things that I just need to go ahead and do that, truthfully I know I have to wait until the spring to purchase them and I simply just cant wait :) I think I went a little "grow from seed" crazy lol. Thats not the first time Montoso Gardens was mentioned to me as a good supplier of tropicals, I cant wait to buy now, thanks again for sharing with me :) I LOVE GARDEN WEB!!!!!!!!

No problem. Just remind me in a few months and I'll send one out.

Why didnt all those Annona seeds sprout? Were they from fresh fruit?

All those other seeds should sprout pretty easily. The Barbados cherry also grows very easily from cuttings.

The tamarind I would recommend getting a grafted tree of a sweet variety though.

The star apple would not be worth growing in NC because even the grafted trees have to get very large to fruit.

What else are you growing?

Thanks Murahilin, I guess the starfruit is out the window lol.Maybe thats why it wouldnt work for me. I do have alot of guava and pineapple guava seedlings growing great. I also have almost all the passiflora/granadilla varities growing great (some even bloomed) I have dwarf banana trees (in the house for the winter but they are happy) Ive got a babaco papaya seedling(12") thanks to an awesome trader in the plant exchange and a few citrus. Kiwano melon,pepino, Ive got two kinds of mangosteen varieties (not original) growing,even a kiwi,several kinds of tomatoes and peppers,caribbean herbs,italian artichoke, a dwarf fig tree, two dwarf apricot and plum trees and several kinds of plants,flowers and unlabeled seedlings.
To answer your question on the annona seeds, the company that they came from say that they were fresh but not 1 seed made it, Im just going to go ahead and get the plant/tree itself and end the torture of waiting :)

Hi amandapanda920,

It's interesting that you are growing tropical plants in NC. It's kinda the opposite for me. I live in Florida growing tropical plants but I will move to NC later this year - and I am taking as many of my tropical fruits and nuts plants with me (luckily mostly are still growing in pots). I have grown most of my plants from seeds too, mostly from PR and Brazil. I guess I have been lucky because rarely the seeds are not germinating for me. Perhaps the soil is not warm enough for some tropical seeds to germinate.

Tomas

Hi Tomas,
Good luck on your move later this year! I hope you like it here :) What kind of plants did you grow, please share some advice and info. I am trying to learn as much as possible about experiences with tropical fruit before I go ahead and buy the established plant, any tips?

Hi amandapanda920,

I probably have less experience than most people here so I am not sure if I can give you qualified advice. But one thing I can say is that the toughest part of growing plants here in south Florida is the battle against all pests. It's not fun. At least I found out that neem spray works pretty good. Here is my plant list:

Ambarella (dwarf)
Banana
Cacao
Cambuca
Cape Gooseberry
Cherry Mangosteen
Citronelle lemon
Macadamia
Mango
Meyer lemon
Mountain papaya
Neem
Orange berry
Orinoco nut
Pataua palm
Pineapple
Passion fruit
Ramon
Starfruit
Strawberry Guava
Sweetsop
Tamarind
Yellow Jaboticaba

Bye now,

Tomas

I have sprouted Sugar Apple and Atemoya seeds. These are a bit tough sometimes. What I do is get a nail clipper and clip some of the outer shell of the seed to help the moisture reach the embrio end get things started. Otherwise, it takes a long time to work.

After that, I get some Peat Moss and damp it with water then squeeze the water out so it won't be to wet otherwise it will rot the seed. Put the Peat Moss in a baggie, plant the seeds in it and close the baggie. Set it in a warm location to provide some heat. In 3 weeks to a month, they should germinate. This is best done in warm weather (Spring).

Good Luck

I would go ahead and keep going with the seeds but I would buy larger plants too. I grow many rare things form seed that are difficult to impossible to buy but buy larger plants when I can. Many of the tropical fruit can take a few to many years to get large enough to bear fruit in subtropical/tropicals areas where they grow all years, in northern regions it can take considerably longer. And, while it is very rewarding to get something from seed to a bearable size, with many fruit you do not know what quality the fruit will be; many times seed grown can be substandard. With a larger plant you can go ahead and get a grafted/layered plant of a known, high quality fruit.

David, Fl

Thanks Racor, how are the seedlings doing now, and how fast did they grow once out of the shell?
Youre absolutely right David,it wont hurt anyone if I have them both, right, why not? Thanks for the tip on the "grafted/layered" alternative, thats very true, I will read up some more on it,thanks again
Amanda

Hello ,
Read that someone might have yellow Jaboticaba seed and wonder If you would consider parting with a few seeds
Ursula
culejools@yahoo.ca