In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
Recently an article suggested that pomegranate seeds were quite easy to
germinate. I have rescued some from a pomegranate to that end.

I wonder though how to treat them to obtain germination. They are very
fragile and soft which makes me wonder what animal was normally involved
in their seed distribution in habitat. Can't be anything with teeth as
the seeds are so easily crushed. Ants maybe?

Not that easily. If the seeds are very soft, they will be infertile
ones. They require a definite bite, and then get stuck in your
teeth. In nature, some wouldn't get crushed and pass through.

Any suggestions for the optimum conditions for growing them on?
With without the fleshy pith? Dried and rehydrated or fresh?
Any chance of fruiting one in the UK? Or purely ornamental?

I never got mine to flower, but the leaves are attractively bronzy.

And no. They require heat to fruit, and I don't mean a joke like
a few days at 30 Celsius. But they are serious drought-resistant;
mine got dessicated one summer when I was on holiday, lost all its
leaves, and simply grew new ones later. But DON'T plant them in any
soil that might waterlog, even temporarily.

The same applies to Strelitzia - they are both arid terrain plants.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.