I previously failed twice at growing Texas Persimmon from seed. The second time was mostly because of neglect. If you try germinating this plant be sure to read this paper first. I’m using petri dishes like they did in the study, but this is just for fun 😛

2024 March 1

I put 1 seed in each of 10 54mm petri dishes. Except that one dish I put 2 seeds in because I didn’t have 11 dishes. Each seed had a 54mm coffee filter paper above and below and I added 2.5ml of filtered (Brita) tap water.

I used a styrofoam ice chest with a heat mat and a thermostat as a “growth chamber”. The thermostat was set to 77F.

I set a reminder to check on these again in 2 weeks.

2024 March 7

I checked on these today and found that the paper was almost completely dry. So I started adding more water and then wrapping the petri dishes with grafting tape to hold in the moisture. I got part way through and decided that wrapping with grafting tape was silly. The remaining seeds I took out of their dish and put in a zip lock bag instead which is way faster and cheaper than using grafting tape. Hopefully I didn’t ruin the seeds by letting them dry out!

2024 March 8

I peaked in on these seeds and at least one of them has germinated already.

2024 March 17

The last seed germinated. I have been putting these in 4in x 4in x 12in tree pots filled with 100% cinder sand out side the front door as they germinate. Hopefully our recent cold weather in the 40s F doesn’t kill them.