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  • From: abb7@Lehigh.EDU
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] minor paw paw seed experiment
  • Date: Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:03:54 -0400

Hello,

Typical advice for germinating acorns and nuts includes the tip to put them in a bucket of water, and throw away those that float, because they are inviable. I wanted to see if this same test was useful for paw paw seeds.

Last fall I saved ~50 paw paw seeds. I cleaned them and put them in a moist paper towel in the fridge as soon as I ate them. Later I put them all through the float test, almost half of them were floaters, but saved them anyway, in a separate bag.

In late January, I took 5 floaters and 5 sinkers, put them in ziploc bags with a wet paper towel. In 1 to 2 months, all 10 seeds germinated. The first floater germinated a day or two after the first sinker, the last of each also germinated within a couple days of one another.

Anyhow, maybe the paw paw gurus already knew this, but I thought I'd share with the list: don't throw away floating paw paw seeds!

Alex

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