FIGS FROM SEED

[bingh]

Many years ago I tried everything but had no great success growing figs from seed. DPI, Forestry Dept, etc gave lots of advice - none good.
One day I was on playground duty and under a huge QSL fig I noticed flying fox droppings (from their mouths) so I collected some. I sprinkled the seeds on sand and put about 1mm of sand on top. Results were amazing. Will post an article on the Progression forum later

Brian

[Jamie]

that sounds interesting brian, i am in the process of trying to grow fig from seed myself.

it sounds like the seeds with the flying foxes needed to go through a gestation period of going through the fox. i am still waiting for my seedlings to pop i am hoping i get a lot of whips soon

jamie

[AndrewM]

I have brought about two dozen fig seeds of differant types from ebay and none of them have come up yet the fresh seeds i collect from trees all propergate within a couple of weeks. so much for the seller saying that the seed if fresh.

[dayne]

jamie if your seeds are from ebay i wouldnt hold my breath they allso sell grass tree seeds(black boys) and they grow at a rate of about 1-10 mm a year max the seeds also need to be pollinated i believe by a wasp so if you tree that the seeeds are of isnt then its a no go but i could be wrong ask a hort guy

[Bretts]

Some seeds are great from the ebay vendors some not so great, zelkova is one that I could never get to germinate from ebay vendors. I talked to one of the main players on the phone one day. Great guy talked forever. He was the one that told me fig seeds have to be fresh and with some thought he said the fig seeds I bought should be fresh. I think the time it took him to think about whether they where fresh or not said it all.

[craigw60]

I had a friend in Melb who grew a lot of pj figs seed. He used to soak the seed in water for a few days before sowing it and seemed to get a pretty high germination rate. He collected the seed fresh from a local tree.
Craig

[bingh]

Fruit bat saliva/gastric juices do the job better than soaking because of the chemicals

Brian

[Jamie]

Fruit bat saliva/gastric juices do the job better than soaking because of the chemicals

Brian

thats what i figured, they would help break down the coating of the seed to allow the seed to germinate easier, no all i need to do is go down to the local park with all the figs and fruit bats and look like a complete nut shovelling up bat poo and saliva

jamie

[pasquale]

I had a friend in Melb who grew a lot of pj figs seed. He used to soak the seed in water for a few days before sowing it and seemed to get a pretty high germination rate. He collected the seed fresh from a local tree.
Craig

I have done it that way with PJ, retusa and microcarpus with success. I don't know what the actual germination rate is because you get so many tiny seeds from a single fruit. There is a lot of fruit around in Sydney at the moment.