Hi All.
A quick question. I have been experimenting with breeding. I have successfully turned female to male using colloidal silver. I have collected the pollen and fertilised the female. The first one produced seeds and when I harvested her some seeds dropped naturally and others were removed gently. I got 25 seeds and not one of them germinated! I have done this twice with no success at all…Not one germination! What am I doing wrong? Should I leave the female to die naturally and then collect? The parents seeds were purchased from a reputable source and all plants healthy.
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Why don’t you detail your germination practice?
FYI a lot of people across the country report slow start.
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Hi. 
I germinate the same as I always have and had great success. I drop a seed into water for 24 hrs then between paper towel keep in warm place (usually a heat pad in small clone tent) then into 1/3 coco/perlite/compost. When they pop up I grow as usual.
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So I might suggest you have a thick seed husk and need more time in solution before moving to media. Here are a couple of suggestions: first, add 1/2 tsp of peroxide to your water (distilled or R/O) and refresh that daily. Give the seed as long as 7 days. Second, an old-school germination trick is to drag the seed along a fingernail board to ‘scuff’ the husk and aid moisture getting into the kernel.
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Thank you.
As stated I have never had germination issues in the past, maybe not all grown to maturity but they have popped the case…None of these have even done that.
The longest I have left the seed in water is seven days, I read it’s not worth it after that)
Do seed banks do this to their seeds before we buy them, remove the husks?
Do home grown have harder husk? I would have thought after 25 attempts it may be something I am NOT doing - ie harvesting at the right time.
My other girls, which are sisters to the ones I have fertilised.
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How long after the harvest did you try to germinate the seeds? I’ve seen problems with trying to germinate seeds that are “too fresh”. They need some time to dry out and chill a bit before being at their best, can be helped along by spending a few days in the freezer before germinating.
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Hey thanks.
Yeah of course I tried to germinate straight away - I’m excited 
Will see how popping them in the freezer goes. Thanks again.
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Yeah I was excited the first time I made seeds, then tried to use them right away for the next grow and they just would not germinate. So I figured (before the internet existed) that maybe they need to go thru a winter first, so I put them in the freezer for a few days and tried again and that worked. Also after the seeds got a good drying and sat around for a while, they germinated fine as well.
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Appreciate that.
It makes so much sense to allow them to dry out. The joys of being impatient! 
I will let you guys know how I went a bit later down the track.
I so wish growing was quicker
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I use the freezer/refrigerator technique as well with the fruit trees that I grow from seed 
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It does make sense that in nature they have that dormancy period to keep them safe from a harsh winter. I have popped them in a small jar in the freezer so fingers crossed.
Thank you for everyone’s input
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