Basics

This section will go over the basics to starting plants and trees. We will go over various techniques and principles. These techniques are based on the idea that the person growing these fruits and vegetables are using the fruits and vegetables found in Myanmar and Thailand, as well as their climate is similar to those countries. 

Also, these are methods to germinate seeds to grow plants and trees, but there are many other methods. In fact, in many cases, planting seeds directly into soil can produce good results. Planting seeds directly into soil can grow plants and trees and nature has been doing this for millions of years without our help. This website helps teach basic concepts, but the ways in which to accomplish the results may vary once we understand what these methods are meant to accomplish. The reason for the methodologies in this section are to educate, provide more reliable and consistent results, educate on repeatable tested methods, and discuss the benefits of each method. Planting seeds into the ground may produce results, but may not be the best, not the most efficient, not the most resourceful, not the best usage of equipment and time, and not a practical method in larger productions. 

Germination

All of the seeds that are germinated from these fruits and vegetables found in Myanmar and Thailand need warmth, oxygen, and water. These seeds need water to activate them to begin the chemical reaction in changing the seed into creating roots and sprouts. The temperature signals the seeds that the seeds are in the perfect temperature to grow a plant or a tree. If the weather is too cold, the seed remains as a seed and does not want to germinate. If the seed germinates in the cold weather, then the likelihood that the plant or tree will survive is far less. Therefore, many seeds remain dormant in cold weather. These seeds have gone through millions of years of evolution and design to optimize the best survival and success rates for themselves. 

The best success for germinating these seeds is to give them water, oxygen, and warmth. For all of the seeds, the amount of water is important. Too much water, and some of the seeds will become too saturated and turn to mush. Too little water, and the seeds may dry out and stop the germination process, or even worse, the seed will no longer produce a plant or tree. The amount of water depends on the type of seed. We will go over the various differences. 

For warmth, this depends on the weather. There are days where the sky is clear and the sun is bright and hot. There are days where the clouds cover the sky, wind blows, and the temperature is lower. Because of changing weather conditions, we need to come up with techniques that increase or decrease the temperature of the seeds. Some growers use heating mats to warm the pots, seedling trays, and soil for better germination rates. [heat mat1] [heat mat2] [heat mat3]

The other component that is needed for the chemical reaction and process for seed germination is oxygen. 

(Quick mention: This website does a great job in providing additional information and tutorials on composting for soil regeneration.) [RegenerationInternational.org]

We do not need to go into the exact anatomy of the seed overall. I will use generalized descriptive terms. The "embryo" is the inside of the seed that is the pale part, and in my terminology I will include the "endosperm" and "cotyledon" as the part of the "embryo". From the inside going outward, we have a seed coat. The seed coat is usually a paper like thin coating (I refer to as the "inner coat") that wraps the inside of the seed. Then, some seeds have a harder or thicker outer layer (I refer to as the "outer coat") that protects the seed, as well as keeps the seeds from germinating. 

There are various reasons that seeds are designed to not be germinated right away. For example, a seed that might be inside a fruit that animals eat. These seeds may have a harder outer layer to protect the seed from the tough stomach acids of the animals. Some seeds may have harder outer shells because the seeds need to be protected from the sun to keep from drying out. This way, the seed can fall to the ground, have leaves and other things slowly cover the seed, the outer shell can slowly break down, and then the water and moisture from the soil can help germinate the seed. There are seeds like coconuts that are extremely hard, protected from most animals, and can travel for thousands of miles on the ocean currents. There are other seeds that are protected from climates that experience different types of weather, so the seeds outer layer is designed to withstand and protect the seed from freezing temperatures or too much rainfall. Yet, be able to break down the outer shell in time for the next spring season to sprout a new plant or tree. 

As we learn to germinate different seeds, we will begin to understand the different types of seeds, then be able to understand which methods generally work best with each seed type. Let us begin to understand the most common methods to germinate seeds. These methods are in alphabetical order and not in any hierarchical order.

Coating removal

Seeds come in numerous forms. Coconut seeds have a thick fibrous outer husk (outer coat) and a hard inner shell (inner coat). Watermelon and papaya seeds have a gel outer coating that surround the seeds. Mango seeds have a hard outer shell (outer coat), but almost no inner seed coat (inner coat). Because some outer shells (outer coat) are thick and tough, we may remove those shells entirely. In some cases, the shells are tough enough to protect the embryo, and thin or permeable enough to allow water to pass through. In those cases, we may leave the outer shell. In the cases of citrus seeds like lemons, oranges, mandarins, and pomelos, removing the thicker outer layer will allow water to directly germinate the seeds for faster germination times. However, removing the thicker and harder outer layers exposes the seed to other factors like water, sunlight and bacteria. This is why maintaining the right amount of water is even more crucial. If we remove the protective harder and thicker outer coat, then the inside seed is more susceptible to absorbing too much water and turn to mush. If placed in the sun, the seed is more likely to get sunburn. In some cases, the seeds are more susceptible to bacteria and mold. 

Hydrogen Peroxide (HP)

Hydrogen peroxide is a disinfectant that kills bacteria and sanitizes seeds. This reduces the chances of bacteria and mold destroying our seeds. The usage of hydrogen peroxide is not necessary in most cases, but I did find that using hydrogen peroxide on mango seeds helped reduce the likelihood of black mold growing on the mango seeds. As for the other seeds, I did not seem to find any mold or anything I would consider harmful to the seed to need to sanitize all of the seeds with hydrogen peroxide solution. Another benefit of hydrogen peroxide is that, HP breaks down into water and oxygen which are the necessary components for germination.

Immature seed removal

Seeds go through various stages that help the seed develop into a mature seed. Unfortunately, not all seeds get fertilized or become mature. Because of this, we need to be able to identify these seeds and remove them from our mature seeds. This is not entirely necessary, but does make our system more efficient. In many cases, because of the total number of seeds, I did not always remove immature seeds. In other cases, I could not identify immature seeds. For example, watermelons produce seeds that range in color. The watermelon seeds that are fairly brownish and reddish have a low to no germination rate. Also, watermelon seeds that are placed in water and float are less likely to germinate. Therefore, removing floating watermelon seeds and seeds that are not black (mature color) will help remove seeds that are the most likely to not germinate. 

Paper Towel (PT)

The paper towel method is to wrap seeds in a piece of paper towel and making the PT wet and moist. This will provide seeds with a sufficient amount of water to germinate. Take in mind that too much water, and some seeds will become mushy and not germinate. If the seed is too dry, the seed will not germinate and may even never germinate again. The PT method allows us to not have to keep watering and checking on the seeds. We simply place the seeds in a PT, wet the PT, then let the seeds germinate. Depending on the weather, we may check up on the seeds from time to time to make sure the PT is still moist and wet. 

Plastic Bag (PB)

Placing seeds inside a plastic bag, closing the plastic bag, and placing the plastic bag in direct sunlight or exposed to sunlight is a method to create a hot and humid environment within the plastic bag and trap in moisture. This technique can be achieved through other means besides a plastic bag, but in my experiments, using plastic bags was easy, available, and cheap. There are other commercial options out there like seedling trays, heat mats, and humidity domes that warm and cover the seeds. The benefit of the plastic bag is that the total number of times we need to water the paper towel (PT) is far less. Having multiple plastic bags allowed me to have plastic bags for every type of seed I was growing, keep separate bags for each variety, and allowed me to increase, decrease, and customize my control over each bag of seeds. If we put seeds in a PT, place that PT in the PB, then we can leave that bag for 5-6 days. If we place seeds in a PT, leave the PT out in the sun, then the PT will dry out within an hour and the seeds will be ruined. 

However, if we put the seeds in a wet PT, place the PT in a PB, then we can leave the PB in the sun to get the heat from the sun, warm up the seeds, protect the seeds from direct sunlight, and keep the seeds wet and moist. As for the type of plastic bag, I generally used a PB that was fairly transparent, but not entirely clear. This allowed sunlight to get into the PB, but was not entirely clear so that 100% of the sunlight was not directly on the seeds. Direct sunlight is damaging to seeds. If you place a seed in direct sunlight or allow direct sunlight exposure, the seeds will become black from being sun burnt. Also, PB that are clear are more likely to grow green algae. Algae needs water and sunlight to grow. Having a plastic bag that was fairly transparent and not clear reduced the possibility of algae greatly. (Think of a plastic bag that if we put our hand inside, we can still see the color and shape of our hand, but we cannot see the hair on the back of our hand.) I did not try experimenting with different colored plastic bags. If you are interested, you are more than welcome to try. I am assuming that black plastic bags will help keep the seeds warmer, while adding more protection from sunlight.

The main reason for using the PB besides keeping the higher level of humidity inside of the PB was to increase the temperature of the seeds in the bag while protecting the seeds from direct sunlight. However, in cases in which I wanted to lower or keep the temperature low on hot days, I placed the bags in the shade. Also, I played around with different positioning of the bags depending on the day. Early in the morning during sunrise, I placed the seeds in sunlight because the angle of the sunlight was not directly on the seeds. During the hottest parts of the day, usually around 1-3 pm, I placed the bags in the shade. Then, depending on the weather and temperature later in the day, I may bring the bags back out into the sun. That level of control is highly dependent upon your available time.

Scarification

Scarring of seeds is a technique used to create an opening on seeds or reduce the thickness of the outer coat encasing the seed. One technique is to use a nail clipper to clip off some of the outer shell. By scarring the seed, this allows water and oxygen to get inside of the seed to the embryo and begin the germination process. Another method is to use a nail file or a file to slowly rub away the outer shell, to expose the inner embryo and making sure not to damage the embryo. I used nail clippers. I already had nail clippers, and most of the time, this worked without any issues. 

Soaking

Soaking refers to the soaking of seeds. There are seeds that germinate faster and more frequently by soaking them for a certain duration of time. From different videos and tutorials, some seeds are soaked for a length of different times. In my experience, soaking seeds approximately 24 hours worked fine. If you want to experiment with soaking different types of seeds for different lengths of time, this is obviously a great way to optimize the germination process. The main factor that helps in soaking seeds is constant direct contact of water to the seed in the hopes that water is able to penetrate through the seed coat or the seed coat absorbs water, the water gets to the embryo, and starts the germination process. Seeds with harder thicker outer shells do not really benefit from soaking because the coating does not let any water inside. Another benefit of soaking some seeds is to saturate and hydrate the shell with water, placing the seed in heat, and allowing a weathering process to create fissures within the seed to allow water to permeate through. In the early development of seeds, seeds contain an opening called the micropyle. This opening allows pollen to enter the seed to fertilize the seed, but this opening closes after fertilization.

Unnecessary

There were some techniques that I did experiment around with and found no effect in the improvement or actually reduced seed germination rates. 

Drying or aging seeds did not increase or decrease seed germination rates. I tried aging seeds a few times, but I did not find this was helpful in any way besides slowing down the germination rate time. If a seed takes 4-5 days to germinate, I let the seeds dry or age for 2-3 days, then my germination time was 4-5 days + 2-3 days making the overall germination time 6-8 days, as opposed to 4-5 days. 

Human saliva did not play a role in whether seeds germinated or not or time to germinate. For example, picking out guava seeds or eating guava and spitting out the seeds did not change germination rates. That means that if we eat the guava and spit out the seeds, there was no problem in germination rates from our saliva. Enjoy eating the fruits! However, in some cases, I did wash the seeds to reduce the chances of bacteria, but I did not notice any difference. I would recommend washing the seeds anyways.

Fermenting the seeds in water. This was a process in which the seeds were placed in water with parts of the fruit to allow the seeds to go through a fermentation process to weaken the outer harder shell. The idea was that by doing this, seeds like watermelon seeds would germinate faster and have a higher rate of germination because we simulated the seeds being eaten, going through a digestive fermentation process, weakening the outer shell, and allowing water and oxygen to permeate through. I used this technique once on watermelon seeds, but the seeds were from a watermelon that did not produce any mature seeds. I did not try the fermentation technique again. I would actually recommend washing the seeds and using the paper towel and plastic bag method instead. Similar to the aging technique, I think fermenting the seeds unnecessarily increases the overall germination time. Also, I think there are other better techniques that improve germination rates and times.

Another method is to place seeds straight into soil. In one instance, I found that placing seeds into soil germinated seeds faster, but that had to do more to the conditions of the soil than the soil. For example, placing seeds in a paper towel and then in a plastic bag, as opposed to straight to soil. The soil conditions produced a warmer environment because of the black pot, as opposed to the plastic bag that may not have received as much sunlight and had a reduced temperature. In most cases, planting seeds directly into soil produced slow and inconsistent results. In many cases, seeds did not germinate at all. Placing seeds directly into soil in a randomly sprinkled method would take up space for seeds that did not germinate and created plants that were unevenly spaced. Also, placing seeds directly into soil blocks our view of the seeds to see if the seeds are germinating or not, harder to verify the moisture level of water in soil, and harder to control temperature of the soil. If purchasing seeds with controlled germination rates, then placing those seeds in soil in groups and trimming the excess seeds that germinated could be a viable option. Having seeds in a PB requires us to transplant the germinated seeds, where as the seeds already in soil do not require any transplanting.

My recommendation is to use the plastic bag method or a method similar because the PB method allows us to see the seed, germination rate, water amount, germination time, and pick the germinated seeds to plant into soil. In the case of soil, placing a seed in soil does not allow us to monitor any of the seeds progress. We only know if a seed germinated in soil if the seed produces a sprout that emerges from the soil. A few reasons people use the straight to soil method is that these seeds are either store bought, or the seeds have clear and consistent germination rates. If we know that placing two seeds in a seedling tray will produce at least one germinated seed, then going to soil may make more sense. Also, placing seeds in soil allows those seeds to draw nutrients from the soil and increase the growth rate, where as seeds in a paper towel only receive water. The great news is that seeds come with enough vitamins and nutrients within the seed to help the seed get to at least the first true leaves. Although, I do recommend experimenting and finding which works best for your seeds and the type of seeds. Another benefit of planting seeds directly in soil is that some seed varieties do not handle transplant shock too well, and the germinated seeds may not continue to grow after being transferred to soil. In those cases, placing seeds directly in soil allows the seed to germinate and already be growing in soil. Then, the plant or tree that is already in soil can be moved to larger pots with additional soil, or different locations while the plant or tree is already encased in soil. 

Take in mind that during my experimentation and processes, I did not really take into account the percentage of germination of the seeds. This means that my processes were based on germinating seeds to grow plants and vegetables, but I did not pay much attention to how many of the seeds germinated in choosing techniques. I only cared about the germination of seeds. This means that my methods may not be the best or most efficient, but I chose them because they worked to produce plants and trees and germinate at least some seeds.

Plastic bag and paper towel method

I place seeds inside a paper towel, water and fold the paper towel, place the paper towel with seeds inside the plastic bag, put in a label that lets me know which type of seeds these are, inflate the plastic bag by tying the plastic bag handles together and leaving a small opening, blowing air inside that small opening to inflate the PB like a balloon, and closing the opening. Then, I will place the bags outside in direct sun or in shade depending on the temperature and time of day. Since the bags are fairly transparent, light is allowed to get inside the bag and heat up the bag and air inside to keep the seeds warm. Yet, the bag is opaque enough that direct sunlight does not get to the seeds and damage the seeds. Opaque means that less light gets inside. Transparent means that more light gets inside. The bag is transparent enough to allow in sunlight, but opaque enough that the light is slightly blocked and reducing the UV and light intensity. Also, once the water inside starts to evaporate, the water moisture coats the inside of the bag creating even more opacity and reducing the total amount of direct sunlight on the seeds. Take in mind that the seeds are wrapped in a paper towel too. Every few days or so, I check on the bags, check for germination, check for roots, check how much water is inside the bag (does the paper towel need more or less water), and then close the bag up. If the seeds have germinated and have roots, then I will transplant the seeds into soil. 

Growing

Those methods and techniques listed above are all the techniques I used to germinate all of the seeds from the regrow list. I go into a little more specifics about each fruit and vegetable in "Grow Guide (A-Z)", but knowing what these methods are now will make things easier to understand the data on each fruit and vegetable. For example, if I put the techniques for lemon as "coat start 2, coats end 1, PT, PB", then we can decipher that to mean that lemon seeds have two coats (harder thicker outside coat [coat 2] and a seed coat [coat 1]) there was only one coat left on the seed which was the inner most coat (the paper like seed coat remained and the harder thicker coat was removed), and I used the paper towel method inside a plastic bag. 

To simplify, the paper towel method and plastic bag was used almost extensively on the fruit and vegetable seeds. This method worked the best for me overall, so most of the time this method was used. There might be slight variations in preparing the seeds like removing coats, soaking, and scarring, but most of the time, the prepped seeds ended up in paper towels placed in plastic bags.

Grafting

Currently, I will not be going into great detail on soils. For fertilizer, we can go to the page titled "Agriculture Intro" However, we should learn about grafting. Grafting uses techniques to combine two different plants or trees together for various reasons. For example, if we have a cultivar of durian that is resistant to large amounts of rain, and we have a cultivar of durian that has large sweet fruit, then we can take the bottom of the rain resistant durian tree and combine that bottom with the top of the durian with the sweetest fruit. Our new tree with be resistant to a large amount of rain and grow the sweetest fruit. I will show a few videos on some different techniques used in grafting. 

In the above bonsai video, these styles may not be practical for full grown trees, but may be possible in hybrid systems. These hybrid systems keep trees smaller, but the trees are still allowed to grow large enough to fruit in larger quantities. I like the idea of the raft ("Ikadabuki") style to allow one mother plant to grow sideways and grow lots of smaller fruit bearing branches. This is actually a technique used in cannibus growing. Instead of the entire tree, the branches are bent to allow more branches to grow vertically from those bent branches which in turn creates more fruiting flowers. I can see practical uses for many of the styles listed. An even more aggressive idea not listed could be cutting and removing the mid section of tall trees and fusing the two halves back together. This may allow trees to be able to grow thicker and larger trunks, then cutting them to reduce their height.