Germination: This page will focus on my experience with germinating seeds to grow some of the fruits from the list. This website has more detailed and great information on many different fruits, as well as recipes and growing information. https://www.fruitsinfo.com/full-list-of-fruits.html
SPECIAL NOTE: In this guide, I show how to germinate seeds from a variety of different plants and trees. However, take in mind that for many plants and trees, growing them from seed is not always the most optimal way to get delicious fruits and vegetables. Also, growing from seeds may take months or even years longer and produce vegetables and fruits that taste nothing like the original vegetable or fruit. Seeds by nature are similar to a genetic lottery in which we do not know the end result until the plant or tree is mature. In many cases, growing plants and trees from clones will produce plants and trees that are in most cases a match of the original plant and tree. Although my guide shows how to grow these fruits and vegetables from seeds, I would highly suggest researching the plant and tree and look for options of cloning the mother plant. In some cases, plants and trees may have a male and female version of the plant and tree, so growing a plant or tree from seed may produce a male tree that does not even bare fruit. However, in the cases of grating, growing plants and trees from seeds may be a highly efficient way to grow root stocks, so our cloned plants and trees can be grafted onto those root stocks.
For seeds from companies that focus on growing seeds, in most cases, these seeds come from hybrid parent plants that have been crossbred to produce a specific variety of fruits or vegetables. Taking the seeds from those hybrid fruits and vegetables and germinating those seeds will produce new plants and trees that could be based on any of the original parent's genes and not so much on the current fruit or vegetable. Although dominant and recessive genes are well beyond the scope of this website, I would suggest learning at least the basics. For example, one tomato plant may produce tomatoes that last longer, larger, and are bitter, and another tomato plant produces tomatoes that are colorful, sweet, and small. A producer may crossbreed the two and get a tomato plant that is colorful, sweet, and larger. However, if we take the seeds from that tomato and grow a new tomato plant, we could easily end up with a tomato that was bitter, small, and lasts longer.
Although I did not try this method, I am not against new information or information that is different than my own. [Seed germination] If you want to try and incorporate that method, by all means, have fun. Also, during my testing, there were times where seeds took over two weeks to germinate. This may be due to poor germination conditions like the weather or poor seed health. Generally speaking, most "healthy" (not undeveloped, dried, decomposed, or saturated with water) seeds under "good" (for Southeast Asia, good conditions are temperatures suitable for us seem to be suitable for the seed germination. As a general rule, if the weather is hot for you, then the weather is hot for the seeds. If the weather is cooler for you, then the weather may be too cool for the seeds. You want the seeds to be warm around 80-89 degrees Fahrenheit) conditions seems to have germinated within two weeks, and many germinated within a week.
For growing specific fruit and vegetables, I would recommend searching on Youtube. There are plenty of videos of people from around the world showing us how to grow a huge variety of fruits and vegetables. Also, Wikipedia has great information on various fruits and vegetables too. Also, even more crucial than the methods to germinate seeds are making sure we use the best mature seeds. Unripe fruit is most likely going to produce immature and unfertilized seeds that will probably not germinate. There are times that I bought fruit, and let the fruit get beyond ripe to the point that the fruit started to decompose before harvesting the seeds. There are a bunch of videos showing the time lapse of various plants and trees started from seeds. There are plenty of times I watched these videos to get an idea of how big my plant or tree should be at a given date. Here is a video of someone growing a Carolina Reaper Chili plant. [Video]
This information will be divided into one section for fruits and one section for vegetables. A few of the items will be paired together because some fruits and some vegetables are similar; therefore, the technique to germinate them may be similar. Some fruits and vegetables I did not get a chance to grow, but we can assume that their growing technique would be similar. For example, I tried growing Hass avocado, but we can assume that growing Peterson and Russell avocado would be similar and can apply the same techniques. Although, I would always recommend researching online first.
This page will make the assumption that you have read the Grow Guide Intro page.
Terminology:
Embryo - This term will refer to the white part of the inside of seeds including the cotyledon and endosperm.
Hard coat - This will refer to the harder or thicker outer layer of seeds that may commonly be known as shells. Seeds such as nuts have the more familiar hard coat that we are all familiar with that we need to break open to get the the nut (seed).
Hydrogen Peroxide Mix (HPM) - This method is diluting hydrogen peroxide in water with about a 1:10 ratio of 1 part hydrogen peroxide and 10 parts water. This HPM is usually used for soaking seeds and killing bacteria and mold.
PT and PB - Refers to the paper towel and plastic bag method. This method was used almost exclusively for all seed germination. The PT and PB method involves prepping the seed in some method, placing the seed inside a paper towel, watering and folding the paper towel around the seed, then placing that seed inside a clear plastic bag, to allow the seed to receive sunlight to warm up, be protected from direct sunlight, create a humid environment, and individually control each seed environment.
Seed coat - A thin paper like coat that surrounds the seed partially or entirely. Take in mind that seed coats usually allow water to permeate through the seed coat easily to the embryo; therefore, seeds are more susceptible to water rot and turning to mush. Seeds with seed coats are best to keep moist, but not saturated in water.
This webpage is split into two sections. Section 1 is information on the fruit trees that I regrew from the seeds of fruits that I bought and ate. Section 2 is information on the plants that I regrew from vegetables that I bought from local markets.
Apple - Apple Pear and Fuji Apple. Both seeds have a hard coat that surrounds the entire seed. Scarring the seeds to allow water and oxygen to enter the seed had the best results. Since the hard coat is thick and surrounds the whole seed, soaking the seeds had no effect. I was able to germinate seeds within 7 to 10 days scarring the seeds, then using the PT and PB method.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Scarring, PT and PB
Germination: 7 to 10 days
Avocado - Hass. I used the method of submerging half of the avocado in water. Generally, the pointier side is the top and the more larger rounded side is the bottom. After 17 days, the seed split open from about the middle to the bottom with the top remaining intact. 10 days after that, a root started to appear. Unfortunately, the seed was left out in the sun too long and burnt on the top, then the bottom of the seed got mold, and then the rest of the seed molded. The major issue with germinating avocado seeds is the amount of time needed to germinate the seeds. I would recommend submerging half of the avocado seed with a hydrogen peroxide mixture to reduce the chance of mold, changing the water as needed to stay clear and clean, and keeping the seed indoors near a window that allows sunlight to enter, but not direct sunlight on the seed. I would recommend keeping the seed warm.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Intermediate
Methods: Half submerge in water with pointier side facing up
Germination: 17 days
Cantaloupe. Easy to regrow from seeds. I removed the seeds from the fruit, ate the delicious fruit, washed the pulp from the seeds, placed seeds in a small bowl, submerged the seeds in water for over 24 hours, removed the water and placed a wet paper towel over the small bowl, and placed the bowl in a warm area. I checked on the paper towel to make sure the towel was still wet. A lot of seeds germinated.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Paper towel, small bowl, warm area
Germination: 5-7 days days
Cashew. This was extremely easy to grow a cashew tree from cashew seeds that have fallen off of the tree. Take in mind that cashew bought from stores are processed because raw cashews are poisonous. That means that the cashews from stores are most likely cooked and will no longer germinate. As for the cashew seeds from the tree, simply place the two points facing down half submerged in to soil (no need to bury the seed in soil), water every other day, and I had roots emerging from the middle in 5 days. I continued to water about every other day, and beautiful healthy trees emerged with practically no effort besides watering.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Two points facing down half submerged in soil
Germination: 5 days
Cherry. Cherry seeds have a seed coat and an outer hard coat. The hard coat is pretty tough, and needs to be broken open to get to the seed inside. If the seeds are freshly opened, then using the PT and PB method worked. However, I have left seeds out, and the seeds shriveled and dried. I soaked the seeds in water, and the seeds got plump again and looked healthy. I was able to germinate seeds in 11 days.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Remove hard coat, PT and PB
Germination: 11 days
Citrus - lemon, lime, orange, pomelo, tangerine. All of these were put together because their seeds and growing technique were all the same. The seeds vary in size, but all look the same. The seeds have a seed coat and a thicker hard coat. The thicker hard coat is removed, then the seeds are germinated using the PT and PB method. I was able to germinate some seeds in as little as 2 days for tangerines and 10 days for oranges. The rest were usually within 2 to 10 days. Removing the thicker hard coat allowed the seeds to germinate faster, but the seed coat does allow the seeds to rot and turn to mush if soaked in water. Keep the PT moist, but not wet.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Remove hard coat, PT and PB
Germination: 2 to 10 days
Date - Yellow dates. The seeds have a hard coat that I did not remove. I soaked the seeds for 24 hours, then used the PT and PB method. The seeds germinated in 12 to 14 days. Interestingly, the seeds have a smooth side and a wrinkled side. The root emerges from the middle of the smooth side, so take in mind that the seed has a top and bottom if planting directly in soil. Take in mind, video2 below makes the argument that dates should not be grown from seed. A far superior method is using date pups which is taking a clone from the mother plant. The video3 shows people harvesting date pups.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Soak, PT and PB
Germination: 12 to 14 days
Dragon Fruit - Red and white interior. Spray the inside of the PB with water, take as many dragon fruit seeds from the fruit, and place the seeds inside the PB. The PT can be used or not used, but I found that using the PT was not as good. The reason is that the dragon fruit roots will dig into the PT making them harder to remove without damaging the roots. By placing the seeds directly into the PB, the roots have nothing to dig into; therefore, allowing us to take out and replant the germinated seeds with ease.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: PB
Germination: 2 to 6 days
Durian. Durian seeds have a seed coat. Unfortunately, durian seeds have one part of the seed that usually has part of the durian fruit fibers that will stick to the durian seed. The best method is to use a tool to slowly scrape and remove that fiber, so the durian seed only contains the seed coat. The reason we remove the fiber is that the fiber from the durian fruit will grow mold, spoil, and contaminate the water. Then, use a hydrogen peroxide mixture and half submerge the seed in water. I used at PB filled with water that kept the durian seeds half submerged. I was able to germinate seeds within 2 to 3 days.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Clean and scrape, half submerge in HPM water, PB
Germination: 2 to 3 days
Grape - Red globe. Out of around 60 seeds, 1 seed germinated by using the PT and PB method. The 60 seeds were split into groups where some seeds were soaked, scarred, or a combination of soaking, no soaking, scarring, and no scarring. The one seed that germinated was in the group of no soaking and no scarring. Since only one seed germinated, I still considered this easy. The reason was that the seeds may not have been mature, and the one seed was mature. If a full batch of mature grape seeds are used, I am sure that simply using the PT and PB method should work nicely. Because of the lower seed quality, the 19 day germination is not accurate and the real time to germinate is far less.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: PT and PB
Germination: 19 days
Guava. These seeds were germinated using the PT and PB method. The issue with this is that the guava plants are fragile. If placed in direct sunlight, the guava tree will wilt. Also, allowing rain to land on the small guava sprouts will destroy them. The best method is to allow the guava tree to grow in the shade, protected from rain, and keep soil moist.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: PT and PB
Germination: 17 days
Jackfruit. These seeds were germinated using the PT and PB method. Jackfruit seeds have two coats. One plastic like hard coat and the paper like seed coat. The plastic like hard coat should be removed because the root will bend inside the plastic coat and deform the root. However, having the plastic coat removed allows the seed coat to be more vulnerable to water rot and turning to mush. Keep PT moist, but not wet.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Remove hard coat, PT and PB
Germination: 4 to 6 days
[Jackfruit video] - In that video they removed the plastic like coat and the paper like seed coat. Removing the seed coat is not necessary.
Longan. Longan have a tough hard coat, but a small circular area on the hard coat is a little woody and organic. We can use scarification on that area to speed up germination by a day or two, but is not necessary. Then use the PT and PB method. I was able to germinate seeds within 4 to 8 days.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Scarring, PT and PB
Germination: 4 to 8 days
[Longan video] - In this video, the person goes straight to soil. Remember that depending on weather, month, and other factors, this is a method that nature has been using for millions of years. For convenience, some people place a bunch of seeds in a pot or in the ground and water occasionally, and this works fine for them.
Lychee. Lychee seed is similar to the longan seed. Both have a tough hard coat and a small circular area on the hard coat that is a little woody and organic. We can use scarification on that area to speed up germination by a day or two, but is not necessary. Then use the PT and PB method. I was able to germinate seeds within 4 to 8 days.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Scarring, PT and PB
Germination: 3 days
[Lychee video] - In this video, the person removed the hard coat entirely. For me, this was not necessary. We can simply scar the softer part.
Mango. Mangoes are one of the easiest fruit seeds to germinate. Mango seeds come in two forms, monoembryonic and polyembryonic seeds. Monoembryonic seeds will produce one tree that can produce any type of mango fruit in regards to sweetness, size, and shape. Polyembryonic seeds are exact clones of the original tree. If you like the fruit of a mango tree, look for polyembryonic seeds. If you do not like the fruit of that mango tree, then you can use monoembryonoc seeds and graft better mango trees on top of that root stock. For the seeds, remove the hard coat and the seed has a seed coat that partially covers the seed. The seed coat can be removed or left. Half submerge the seed inside a hydrogen peroxide mix. I was able to germinate seeds within 3 to 9 days.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Remove hard coat, PT and PB
Germination: 3 to 9 days
[Mango video] - Great video showing how to remove the hard coat and a polyembryonic mango seed with two roots and then two mango trees.
Mangosteen. - Mangosteens have a hard coat that is soft, gel like, slippery, and should be removed. Underneath that hard coat is the paper like seed coat. We can use PT and PB method to germinate seeds. I was able to germinate seeds in 6 days.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Remove hard coat, PT and PB
Germination: 6 days
[Mangosteen video] - Showing how to remove the hard coat that is a thick gel like outer layer.
Papaya. Papaya seeds have a hard coat that is a gelatinous layer that surrounds the entire seed. This should be removed to germinate the seeds. Then use the PT and PB method. I was able to germinate seeds in 6 days.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Remove hard coat, PT and PB
Germination: 6 days
Passion fruit. These seeds look similar to watermelon seeds, but have a harder shell and are slightly thicker in the middle. I extracted the seeds, washed them, and used the PT and PB method that worked fine.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: PT and PB
Germination: 13 to 14 days
[Passion fruit video] - Cleaning with a paper towel is not necessary. You can just put the passion fruit in your mouth, extract the pulp, and spit out the seeds. In my tests, having saliva on the seeds did not cause any damage to the seeds. Make sure to wash the seeds to reduce the chance of bacteria.
Rambutan. Rambutan seeds look almost like a furry almond. The seeds have a seed coat that may be left on the seed, then use the PT and PB method.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: PT and PB
Germination: 5 days
Salacca. Salacca seeds are hard and look almost like a half oval sphere. The roots come out of a little circle on one end of the seed. The seeds will germinate using the PT and PB method.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: PT and PB
Germination: 7 to 11 days
Santol. The seeds have a hard coat that is very slimy and slippery, and the structure of the hard coat resembles a small mango seed. For faster germination, remove the hard coat, but the seed coat can be left on the seed. I actually recommend leaving the seed coat on the seed because santol seeds may try and split in two. Leaving the seed coat on will most likely keep the two halves together. However, removing the hard coat is not necessary if going straight to soil. I was able to germinate santol seeds within 3 to 6 days with the hard coat removed. There are videos of people putting santol seeds with the hard coat into soil, and the germination is longer taking around two weeks.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Remove hard coat, PT and PB
Germination: 3 to 6 days
[Santol video] Trying to extract the seed by opening the hard coat with a knife is fairly dangerous. If possible, I would recommend leaving the hard coat on and planting directly in soil. If you want to remove the hard coat, I would recommend carefully using a serrated knife to cut and saw the seed all of the way around the middle and prying both sides apart.
Sugar Apple. The seeds look like a large teardrop like watermelon seeds and even share the similar coloration of light brown seeds to black seeds. Watermelon seeds that are black are more mature. The sugar apple seeds are similar; however, squeezing the sugar apple seeds will determine mature seeds (bad seeds can easily be squeezed together). The mature seeds are darker, firmer, and heavier. Scarring the seeds did not work. Simply remove the seeds from the sugar apple, wash, and place in PT and PB.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Remove floating seeds, remove reddish and brownish seeds, PT and PB
Germination: 19 days
Tamarind. Tamarind seeds are really easy to germinate. Clean the seeds, scar, soak for a day, then PT and PB.Tamarind trees grow really fast (like 6 inches in a few days, once sprouted), so planting tree directly into permanent location early is best.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Scarring, soak, PT and PB
Germination: 3 days
Watermelon. Growing watermelon is easy with the right techniques for selecting good seeds. The first step is to pick ripe watermelon. The Second step is to take the seeds and place in water. All of the seeds that float must be discarded. Then, look at the color of the seeds. All seeds that are reddish and brownish in color should be discarded. We want watermelon seeds that are black. Once we have good seeds (watermelons usually have over 50+ seeds), then using the PT and PB method works great.
Type: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Remove floating seeds, remove reddish and brownish seeds, PT and PB
Germination: 3 to 11 days
[Watermelon video] - In the video we can see that the watermelon was still a little early, and the seeds were a little reddish and brownish. Later in the video we see that many seeds did not germinate. This is because the person only removed the floating seeds and did not remove the reddish and brownish seeds.
[Watermelon ripeness] - Bonus video - Knowing when a watermelon is ready to harvest.
In most cases, the vegetables were regrown from vegetables bought locally. In a few other cases, I experimented with seeds bought in packages. In every case, while dealing with seeds from vegetables, I used the paper towel and paper bag method mentioned in the "grow guide intro" webpage. To summarize, the paper towel method is placing the seeds inside a paper towel and keeping the paper towel damp and moist, but not wet enough that we can squeeze out water. The paper bag method is done by placing the seeds that are wrapped in a paper towel inside of a plastic bag to create a humid environment inside the bag.
We will go over a bit of the terminology to help clarify the words in descriptions for each vegetable.
Type - refers to the type of base I started with to grow the vegetable. For example, if the type was seed, then I used seeds to start the plant. Seed will also be followed by either word "store" or "package." "Store" means that the seed gathered from buying the vegetable from a store and germinating the seeds from that vegetable. "Package" means that the seed came from seeds that were sold in packages from commercial manufacturers. If the type is listed as cutting, then the plant was grown from cutting a piece of the plant off and regrowing a plant from that cutting. Another type would be "plant" that means that the store bought vegetable could be replanted whole. For example, store bought celery can be placed in water up to the base of the celery stalk, and roots may grow.
Difficulty - refers to the level of difficulty in growing that particular vegetable based on the type. For example, if the level was "easy" and the type was "cutting", then growing the plant from a cutting was easy. That distinction must be made because the plant may have a higher level of difficulty if grown from seed, as opposed to a cutting. In almost every case, growing the plants or trees were easy, but in a few cases, the difficulty level was changed to intermediate because the plant may take months and months before the edible parts can be harvested.
Growth type - refers to whether the seed or cutting will grow into a plant or a tree.
Additional information - In every case, a plant can be grown from a seed, but in cases where the plant can be grown from cuttings, the cuttings are almost always the preferred choice. Part of the reasons for choosing cuttings are that cuttings allow the plant to grow faster, and the cutting is a clone of the original plant. Since, in most cases, we know the taste, texture, and health of the original plant, taking a cutting to make a new plant the same as the original plant is the desired course of action.
Adventitious roots - Some plants are comprised of a biology called "adventitious roots" that are plant roots that form from any non-root tissue. Adventitious roots are why plants such as the basil, balm, dill, mint, and water spinach varieties can grow roots along the stems and branches while soaked in water. For plants like gingers and potatoes, the potatoes and gingers can grow roots on different parts of the tubers and rhizomes. For sweet potato, the sweet potato itself does not have the ability to grow adventitious roots, but the slips (sprout growth) that come out from the adventitious roots can grow their own roots along the stems.
Basil (Thai and Lemon basil) - Regrowing basil from cuttings is a far superior method, as opposed to growing basil from seeds. The cuttings are clones of the original plant, grow faster, and produce leaves faster. Depending on the time of year, basil plants may start to flower. If basil tries to produce flowers, the plant focuses energy on those flowers. The best method is to cut the tips of branches that are starting to flower to force the plant to focus on growing more branches, stronger branches, and more leaves. Another benefit to stopping the plant from flowering is that by having no flowers, the plant will not produce any seeds. That will help control the growth of the plant to the main plant and not create so many additional plants. Also, branches that have begun to flower do not make good cuttings to try and regrow. I was easily able to grow a bunch of plants from cuttings and give them away to people.
Type: Cutting
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 7 days (to see root growth)
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Basil cutting
Video2: Basil pruning
Technique: Take a basil plant, look for a branch that has two branches growing from the main branch, cut the branch preferably at least 9 inches below the two branches, remove all of the branches and leaves below the two branches, cut the tip of the main branch (can see a branch with the tip cut in video2), and place the long branch into a water bottle. The reason why I prefer to have a long branch that is around 9 inches is that the roots will begin to grow on the parts of the branch that are submerged in water. By having a nice long branch with a bunch of roots, when we transfer that branch into a pot, we have a nice long branch with a lot of beautiful healthy roots to fuel our basil cutting into a nice huge basil plant. The longer the branch means more roots which means more nutrients being sent to the growth of the plant. Plant in shade with some morning or evening light, and no direct midday light or high heat.
Bell Pepper (Any color variety) - Bought bell peppers from local store and removed the seeds from the inside. Fairly easy to regrow from the seeds because each bell pepper has a bunch of seeds inside.
Type: Seed (store)
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 14 to 21 days
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Bell pepper
Technique: For best results, allow bell pepper to over ripen, remove seeds from inside, and germinate seeds. In most bell pepper grow videos, they put the seeds directly into soil. I preferred to use the paper towel and paper bag method mentioned at the top of this webpage. Bell pepper plant likes sunlight, but do not place in direct midday sunlight with high heat.
Bitter Bean - Bitter bean seeds are about the size of an average coin. Because of the larger size, the seeds are a bit easier to germinate, as opposed to smaller seeds with harder coats. Thicker harder coats around seeds protect the seeds embryo, but also make germination of the seed a bit more difficult.
Type: Seed (store)
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 10 to 12 days
Growth type: Tree
Video1: Parkia Speciosa
Technique: The bitter bean has the main pod that needs to be peeled to expose the bitter bean seeds inside. After exposing the seeds, the seeds have a softer inner coat that needs to be removed. Then, the paper towel and plastic bag method can be used to germinate the seed. In the video, the seeds were soaked, but I did not feel the need to soak the seeds. You can experiment between soaking the seeds or the paper towel method and check for differences. Take in mind that, since the seed had the inner and outer coat removed, the seed is exposed. If placed in a paper towel, make sure that the paper towel is lightly damp and stays damp, but not wet or soaked with water; otherwise, the seed will turn to mush. To know if the paper towel is too wet, if you can squeeze any water out of the paper towel, then the paper towel is too wet. Also, bitter bean seeds can be germinated and allowed to sprout to make bitter bean sprouts similar to mung bean sprouts and then consumed. Plant in shade with some morning or evening light, and no direct midday light or high heat.
Bitter Melon (Chinese and Indian) - The seeds are a little smaller than an almond, but are easy enough to germinate.
Type: Seed (store)
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 7 to 10 days
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Bitter melon
Technique: For best results, allow bitter melon to over ripen, then harvest the seeds. The seeds may have a softer outer layer from the bitter melon that must be removed. Soaking the seeds in water for up to 24 hours helps increase the germination rate and reduces the germination time. The bitter melon seed can be germinated using the paper towel and paper bag method. I was easily able to grow a number of plants and give these plants away to people. Plant in shade with some morning or evening light, and no direct midday light or high heat.
Celery - The entire celery stalk can be regrown and even have the seeds harvested to grow more celery.
Type: Plant
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 7 to 10 days
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Celery stalk
Technique: Select the celery stalk with the base intact. That base can be placed in water, but be careful not to submerge the celery base with too much water. For best results, submerge the base with about a half inch of water. Eventually, roots will emerge from the celery base. In the video1, the celery is cut and only the base is left, while also peeling the outer layers to expose more of the base. After 5 to 6 roots have grown with some roots close to a half inch in length, we can transfer the celery to soil. Plant in shade with some morning or evening light, and no direct midday light or high heat.
Chili - Most chili has a bunch of seeds inside the pods. Because of the high number of seeds, germinating chili seeds and growing chili plants are easy.
Type: Seed (store)
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 9 days
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Carolina Reaper
Technique: Bought chili from the local store, allowed the chili to dry out, harvested the seeds, and placed in a paper towel and plastic bag to germinate seeds. The chili plant likes sunlight, but not too much direct sunlight on hot days.
Cilantro (Coriander) - Cilantro seeds called coriander were one of the easiest to grow from store bought packaged seeds.
Type: Seed (package)
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 7 days
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Cilantro
Video2: Cilantro
Technique: Found some location under a short tree that provided a good amount of shade under the tree, branches and leaves of the tree were a couple feet off the ground, sprinkled and buried a bunch of seeds randomly on the soil, and watered daily. Ended up with lots of cilantro plants. The reason I added video2 was to show the amount of detail some people go into when growing plants. Plant in shade with some morning or evening light, and no direct midday light or high heat.
Culantro - Local stores sold culantro with the roots. I am not sure about the different varieties of culantro, but the store bought ones I found would be susceptible to the root turning to mush if over watered. Because of that, I would dampen the soil early on by lightly watering every could of days until the plant grew larger and had stronger roots. After that, I was able to be more generous with the watering.
Type: Plant
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 7 days
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Culantro
Video2: Culantro
Technique: Bought culantro with roots from store, submerged 20-30% of the roots in water, changed water every few days, allowed new shoots to grow, and then transferred to soil. If the soil has too much water, the root will turn into mush, so water sparingly every other day initially with enough water to keep the soil damp. After about a week, or at least until plant grows larger and has thicker larger roots, we can water a bit more generously. Video2 shows how to allow the culantro to flower, gather the seeds, and replant the seeds for new culantro plants. From my own experiments, I was able to harvest some of the leaves from the culantro before planting in soil. That allowed me to eat some of the leaves, while allowing the plant to regrow new leaves. I was able to regrow a bunch of culantro and give away a bunch of plants to people. Plant in shade with some morning or evening light, and no direct midday light or high heat.
Dill - Local store sold dill with the roots. The roots for those particular dill plants had roots that were extremely sensitive to water. If there was too much water in the soil, the roots would turn to mush.
Type: Plant (can also be regrown from cuttings)
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 2 to 4 weeks
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Dill cutting
Technique: Bought dill with roots from store and planted in soil. If the soil has too much water, the root will turn into mush, so water sparingly every other day initially with enough water to keep the soil damp. After about 2-4 weeks, or at least until plant grows larger and has thicker larger roots, we can water a bit more generously. Depending on the size of the dill plant, I liked cutting parts of the dill to reduce the size of the plant. Generally, I had better luck regrowing plants with pruned leaves and stem, while keeping larger roots. Keep enough leaves for the plant to go through photosynthesis and roots to provide water and nutrients to the plant. Although I did not try, in video1, dill can be regrown from cuttings like basil plants. Plant in shade with some morning or evening light, and no direct midday light or high heat.
Gai Lan - I usually ate gai lan every week, so acquiring a bunch of gai lan from local stores was easy. I was easily able to keep buying, cutting the leaves and eating, regrowing the bases into new plants, giving away the plants to people.
Type: Plant
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 2 to 4 weeks
Growth type: Plant
Technique: Bought gai lan from local stores, cut off most of the leaves for consumption, placed the base in about a half inch to an inch of water, replaced water as needed, allowed roots to grow, then planted the gai lan in soil. Plant in shade with some morning or evening light, and no direct midday light or high heat.
Garlic - Garlic is easy to grow, but garlic takes about 9 months to grow new bulbs. The process for garlic is that the garlic clove grows a shoot, the garlic clove gets converted into growing the garlic plant, and the plant then regrows the garlic bulb.
Type: Clove
Difficulty: Intermediate (Intermediate because of how long garlic needs to grow before harvesting. The process is easy, but the length of time needed to keep the plant alive makes regrowing garlic more difficult.)
Time estimate: 9 months
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Garlic clove
Video2: Garlic information
Technique: Find the largest cloves, place half of the clove in water, change water as needed, and a sprout will emerge from the clove. After 10-15 roots longer than 1-2 inches grow, transplant the clove in soil. In video1, the person used toothpicks and grew the roots for longer, but I had better results by placing the garlic into soil far sooner to allow the roots to get water and nutrients from the soil. In video1, the clove is only getting water from the roots. In video2, the person goes over a lot of great additional information for growing garlic. Plant in shade with some morning or evening light, and no direct midday light or high heat.
Ginger - Growing ginger is similar to growing garlic in the sense that both are easy to grow, but the length of time needed to care for the plant is long. Because of that, the difficulty is raised from easy to intermediate.
Type: Rhizome cutting
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time estimate: 9 months
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Ginger
Technique: Place ginger in water, allow shoots and roots to grow, and then transfer to soil. If the ginger is large, we can break the ginger into 4-5 inch pieces, wait 3-5 days and let the ginger heal and callous up, then place the ginger in water, allow for roots and sprout to grow, and transfer to soil. Plant in shade with some morning or evening light, and no direct midday light or high heat.
Lemon Balm - Similar to basil, lemon balm can be regrown from cuttings. In my experiment, I grew lemon balm from store bought packaged seeds. Depending on the time of year, lemon balm plants may start to flower. If lemon balm tries to produce flowers, the plant focuses energy on those flowers. The best method is to cut the tips of branches that are starting to flower to force the plant to focus on growing more branches, stronger branches, and more leaves. Another benefit to stopping the plant from flowering is that by having no flowers, the plant will not produce any seeds. That will help control the growth of the plant to the main plant and not create so many additional plants. Also, branches that have begun to flower do not make good cuttings to try and regrow. I was easily able to grow a bunch of plants from cuttings and give them away to people.
Type: Seed (can also be grown from cuttings)
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 5 days
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Lemon balm cutting
Video2: Lemon balm seed
Video3: Lemon balm time lapse
Technique: From seed, video2 does a great job of showing the process. We take a pot with soil or find a place on the ground in a shaded area, plant a bunch of seeds and water. For cuttings like in video2, the process is the same as regrowing plants from basil cuttings. We cut a branch that is about 9 inches long, cut the top so the side two branches grow, cut all of the leaves below the two branches we want to grow, submerge the branch in water, allow roots to grow, change water as needed, and then transfer the cutting to soil. Plant in shade with some morning or evening light, and no direct midday light or high heat.
Lemon Grass - Probably one of the easiest plants to regrow, but the difficulty is raised to intermediate because of the time the plant needs to grow before lemon grass can be harvested again.
Type: Plant
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time estimate: 3 to 4 months
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Lemon grass
Technique: Lemon grass can be placed in about an inch of water, while changing the water as needed. Roots will begin to appear. After about an inch of root length, the lemon grass can be transferred to soil. After 3 to 4 months, new lemon grass shoots can be harvested or replanted. For the best optimal technique, in video1, the person goes over a technique of harvesting lemon grass, separating the roots from the shoots, using the shoots for consumption, and replanting the bases with the roots into soil. Lemon grass like some morning or evening sunlight, but not direct midday sunlight and high heat.
Mung Bean Sprout - Bought a huge bag of mung bean sprout seeds. Growing them is really easy.
Type: Seed (package)
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 5 to 6 days
Growth type: Sprout or Microgreen
Video1: Mung Bean microgreens
Technique: Soak mung bean sprouts for 24 hours. Spread seeds in a tray, place wet paper towel over seeds, place tray in a dark place, wash seeds everyday, add more water to paper towel or replace as needed, harvest mung bean sprouts after 5-6 inches of sprout growth. The reason for growing mung bean sprouts in darkness is to get longer sprouts. Since there is no light, the sprouts grow longer in search of light. In video1, the person allows the sprouts to continue growing and grow leaves which turns the mung bean sprouts into mung bean microgreens.
Parsley - Bought parsley with roots from local store. Fairly easy to grow. We must be careful not to over water or keep the roots saturated with water, or the roots will turn to mush. A healthy parsley plant was growing about one stem and leaves every week.
Type: Plant
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 2 weeks
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Parsley seed
Video2: Parsley information
Technique: Trim parsley to one stem and a few leaves, submerge root in about half inch of water, and check for health. If plant looks healthy after 3-4 days, transfer plant to soil, lightly water the soil every few days, but do not over water the soil. If the soil remains wet, the roots will turn to mush. While planting in soil, leave a little bit of the top of the root above soil for a week, then add soil up to the plant base, but do not cover the plant base. If covered, the plant base will get water rot. Plant in shade with some morning or evening light, and no direct midday light or high heat.
Peppermint - Peppermint is another plant that grows similar to basil. However, peppermint and other mints seem to grow faster, root faster, and be bushier with more leaves. Peppermint is extremely easy to grow, but the mint plant should be grown in pots, monitored because the mint plants propagate fast, and can get out of control. Depending on the time of year, mint plants may start to flower. If the mint plant tries to produce flowers, the plant focuses energy on those flowers. The best method is to cut the tips of branches that are starting to flower to force the plant to focus on growing more branches, stronger branches, and more leaves. Another benefit to stopping the plant from flowering is that by having no flowers, the plant will not produce any seeds. That will help control the growth of the plant to the main plant and not create so many additional plants. Also, branches that have begun to flower do not make good cuttings to try and regrow. I was easily able to grow a bunch of plants from cuttings and give them away to people.
Type: Cutting
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 4 days (to see root growth)
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Peppermint cutting
Technique: Take a peppermint plant, look for a branch that has two branches growing from the main branch, cut the branch preferably at least 9 inches below the two branches, remove all of the branches and leaves below the two branches, cut the tip of the main branch (can see a branch with the tip cut in the basil video2), and place the long branch into a water bottle. The reason why I prefer to have a long branch that is around 9 inches is that the roots will begin to grow on the parts of the branch that are submerged in water. By having a nice long branch with a bunch of roots, when we transfer that branch into a pot, we have a nice long branch with a lot of beautiful healthy roots to fuel our basil cutting into a nice huge basil plant. The longer the branch means more roots which means more nutrients being sent to the growth of the plant. Plant in shade with some morning or evening light, and no direct midday light or high heat.
Potato - Growing potatoes are easy, but the duration to harvest is long (approximately 3 to 4 months), so the difficulty is raised to intermediate. Potatoes can be planted in soil, or the potato can be allowed to sit, grow shoots, and then placed in soil. Make sure that the soil is not over watered
Type: Tuber (Potato)
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time estimate: 4 to 5 months
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Potato tower
Video2: Potato time lapse
Technique: Dip the potatoes in water everyday and place them in a shaded area.
After seeing some sprout growth, we can cut the potatoes in halves or quarters depending on the size of the potatoes. Leave the cut pieces out a day or two to dry and callous, and then bury the cut pieces into soil. For smaller potatoes, we can place the entire potato into soil once we see sprout growth.
Roselle - Extremely easy to grow from store bought packaged seeds. I was able to grow a bunch and give away so many. In most cases, since some vegetables take a long time to grow, the difficulty is raised to intermediate because those plants take a good amount of work, water, and care for months. However, in the case of the roselle plant, caring for the plant was still easy.
Type: Seed (Package)
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 4 to 6 months
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Roselle information
Technique: Soak roselle seeds in water for 24 hours, take seeds that have germinated and place in soil. Roselle likes sunlight. Because growing roselle is so easy, the video1 focuses on additional information.
Scallion - Fun and easy staple to keep in any garden. The cut tops of scallions are called chives which are a great addition to many dishes. Scallions are simple to grow, take care, and harvest.
Type: Cutting (Base)
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 8 to 9 days
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Scallion comparison
Technique: Store bought scallion comes with the base and roots. Cut off the top of the scallion (chive) and leave about 2 to 3 inches from the base. Place directly in soil and water accordingly.
Sweet Potato - Sweet potato is an interesting plant because the sweet potato produces "slips" which are growths that come from the sweet potato that can be removed and planted to make more sweet potato plants. I was able to take one sweet potato, grow a bunch of slips, and those slips would easily grow an abundance of new sweet potatoes. Once a sweet potato starts to produce slips, caring for and keeping the plant is easy, but the difficulty is raised to intermediate because planting slips and keeping the new plants alive for months until harvest time raises the difficulty.
Type: Tuber (Sweet Potato)
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time estimate: 3 to 4 months
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Sweet Potato slips
Technique: Submerge entire sweet potato in water everyday for a about 5 to 10 seconds, place in shade, and allow for new growth or roots to appear. Once new growth or roots appear, and place sweet potato half-buried in soil. Water the soil around the sweet potato, but not on the sweet potato because the sweet potato can get water rot, bacteria growth, or fungi growth. Once new growth (slips) are over 8 inches, cut slips at the base near the sweet potato, cut the bottom leaves and only leave the top leaves, submerge the slip in water, allow for root growth along the stem of the slip, then transfer to soil.
Tomato - Tomato plants come in two forms called determinate and indeterminate plants. Indeterminate tomato plants grow all year long and need to be pruned because the "suckers" take away nutrients from the plant. Determinate tomato plants grow for a season, so the new growth will grow flowers. Pollinated flowers will turn into tomatoes.
Type: Seed (Store)
Difficulty: Intermediate
Time estimate: 7 to 9 days
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Tomato time lapse
Technique: Allow the tomato to over ripen and then harvest the seeds. Clean seeds thoroughly because tomato seeds have a coating that protects the seed from being germinated. Place seeds in a paper towel and plastic bag. Once roots appear, transplant seed to soil. Most tomato varieties have a bunch of seeds inside, so germinating seeds is not an issue. The issue is the quality of seeds based on time of harvest of seeds. In video1, the slice of tomato is placed in soil. That may work, but cleaning the seeds and using the paper towel and plastic bag method germinated seeds faster. We need to remember that nature does not do all of the things we do to germinate seeds, but nature is not always trying to germinate seeds in the shortest amount of time.
Water Spinach - The water spinach is really easy to grow because of the adventitious roots that allow roots to grow from different parts of the stem. Any part of the stem that touches soil or water will start to grow roots, and that part that grows roots will begin to grow a new sprout. That sprout with root can be cut and replanted to grow another water spinach plant. Because of that adventitious root design, propagating water spinach is easy.
Type: Plant
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 2 to 4 weeks
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Water Spinach cutting
Video2: Water Spinach harvesting
Technique: Plant the water spinach in soil, but instead of planting the first plant vertically, bury the base in soil while the plant is laid horizontally along the soil. Add soil to cover the nodes (spot on stem where new growth appears) as seen in video1. This will stimulate root growth along the stem and create far more water spinach plants from the original plant. Take those new roots and sprout growths and plant them in other locations, or bend the new growth toward the ground to allow another root and sprout system to grow.
Winged Bean - Growing winged beans is easy, even though the duration from seed to harvest is about 2 to 3 months.
Type: Seed (Package)
Difficulty: Easy
Time estimate: 2 to 3 months
Growth type: Plant
Video1: Winged Bean
Video2: Winged Bean information
Technique: Soak winged bean seeds in water for 24 hours. After soaking, plant seeds in soil. The winged bean is a vine plant, so we need to add a support structure that allows the winged bean to grow up that structure. An easy way to utilize a structure is to plant winged bean at the base of a tree, we can use nails or anything that allows the us to wrap parts of the vine around to control the direction of the vine upward, and allow the winged bean to grow up the tree. Another easy method is to find a tree with low branches and lean bamboos against the tree branch while allowing the winged bean vine to grow up the bamboo.
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