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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] minor paw paw seed experiment

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  • From: nottke1 <nottke1@earthlink.net>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] minor paw paw seed experiment
  • Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 08:36:27 -0400 (GMT-04:00)

Several years ago I separated pawpaw seed "floaters" from "sinkers". Curious
as to what a floater was like inside, I cut several open and found that each
had a cavity between the hull and seed on one side of the seed. I then cut
open several sinkers and found they had no such cavity.
I did not do a germination test.
Jim
z7 NC

-----Original Message-----
>From: abb7@Lehigh.EDU
>Sent: Apr 1, 2009 12:03 AM
>To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
>Subject: [NAFEX] minor paw paw seed experiment
>
>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


Jim Nottke
Pfafftown, NC




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