Out of the many Cassia Fistula seeds (Golden Shower Tree) that I have planted, one has finally germinated!! (Well, actually two have germinated already.)

The seed has a very tough coating. And some literature that I have read on the net would actually have me scarify the seed.

The best way to germinate the seeds is to soak them in concentrated sulfuric acid... which is actually hard to get in our humane society. Unless you have contacts with industrial laboratories, you wouldn't get the chemical in our part of the country. So I substituted with another acid... which I wouldn't tell in this post (The secret stays with me... bwahahaha).

Next, I submerged the seed into some proteolytic enzyme for about 5 minutes, which was actually not found in literature but the crazy idea just crossed my mind. I would not tell the molecule too. Then I soaked it up in water.

I also nicked the seeds till some inside part of the seed was seen at the surface. I planted the seeds in soil-less medium using Enrico and prayed to God to make the seeds grow. Since soil-less medium is almost devoid of bacteria (I hope), I was not a bit worried about getting seed infection.

When I came home one evening, I saw this baby germinating. I think it's some sort of epigeal germination since the cotyledons sprouted up with the stem.

Well, direct sowing is practiced in my country. But then, it takes a long time for the seed to germinate. I'll update you when I transfer this plant to a pot. I hope this plant grows up to be a tree.

Recently acquired 58 seeds of Cassia Fistula. Read in literature that it would require scarification (acid scarification using sulfuric acid or mechanical scarification using sandpaper). I don't care, i just want these seeds to germinate! I have to have seed dormancy breakthrough!
I'm planning to go soil-less with these seeds using Homegrown Seed Starting mix. And I hope I acquire that hard-to-get sulfuric acid in no time.

I have previously posted that I planted a seed of jackfruit in soil several days ago. This is what it looks now: (Click here to read the previous post)










It has grown to almost 3 inches, and two true leaves are already showing. Some part of the larger leaf are cut though, possibly by ants? (Because I see a lot of them nearby).

I am going to transfer this to a larger pot this week. I hope it recovers well from transplant shock.

Recently, one of our nephrology doctors gave us a humongous jackfruit, or langka/nangka in Filipino. It certainly smells not good at first, but it tastes great. Does this fruit and durian (Durio sp.) belong to the same family?

Well anyway, on opening the giant fruit, we found seeds that have already started germination (even while it is still inside the fruit!)

I put it in soil, and it has started to come alive!


Once it has come up with true leaves, I will move it to a bigger pot.
The tree of this fruit is beautiful as well, as it would pass for an ornamental tree.

Will blog updates on this tree...