Dumb germination questions

[JohnAndSancho]

Once again the interwebs have given me conflicting info so eff it, let's ask y'all. 

 

I'm germinating papaya, mango, and white guava. What I've done, for the papayas (since their roots are so sensitive) and the mangos (since they're big) is put them in 1g pots with moist, not wet coir/perlite with maybe a handful of compost mixed in and covered them with baggies and put them on heat mats. There's pics in the Mississippi Squad thread and videos on my YouTube. 

Anyway, some of the papayas struggled when I dialed back the heat and cracked their baggies. I get that everything isn't gonna live, I get that - so I read to put the baggies back and put the heat back up. I don't care about grocery store papayas that I can get here, I spend $4 and get 100 seeds. 

But I noticed some of them flopped over and I'm thinking the weight of the baggie from the humidity fell on them? 

 

Anyway - tell me YOUR techniques. Am I doing it right? Do I just need to get something to prop the baggies up? When do I take the baggies off? Do I crack them when they have the baby leaves? I haven't had to water any of them since the humidity evaporates into the baggies and comes right back down into the soil. I don't care about stuff I can buy here, they're expendable and I already have another 100+ soaking (this time those are getting community pots and only the best one lives), but the stuff @WaianaeCrider has mailed me is kind of important to keep alive. 

This is new to me. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Addendum for mangos, since I just yeeted a couple black seeds into the yard. 

 

I've seen YouTube videos of people drying the husks out to make them easier to cut. I personally don't really want to smell rotting fruit pulp, so I eat them and throw the husk and all straight into a cup of water with peroxide just like I do palm seeds, and after a night I can usually crack it open with my snippers and then just caveman the husk apart and go from there. I do not like the paper towel method, roots stick to the damn things, I've heard coffee filters aren't as bad but whatever -

I get the seed out, and if I don't crack it, sometimes I've soaked it again and sometimes I've let it dry. Of course, because I'm a big believer in the scientific method, I absolutely haven't labelled what I've done what with. And I know the odds of me ever seeing fruit are slim to none, but if I can eat a fruit and sprout it and make enough to pay for one of my prescriptions I'm ok with that. I bought 5 more today. 

Anyway, between the papayas and the mangos I just freed up 8 pots off the mats. Maybe I need to spend more time on a tropical fruit forum and less time on Twitter. 

[WaianaeCrider]

some chop sticks in the pot or something like that could hold up the baggies.

 

[JohnAndSancho]

2 hours ago, WaianaeCrider said:

some chop sticks in the pot or something like that could hold up the baggies.

 

Not a terrible idea, and a great excuse to go to the hibachi place. I cut vent holes in the corners of everything last night. Well, that implies I did this neatly when the reality is I just went all hack and slash with a knife and cut holes randomly in everything in the stabbiest fashion...

[JohnAndSancho]

What if on the next batch, I just cover everything with a clear plastic storage bin with some vent holes drilled? Or if I really want to go ghetto I have some plastic drop cloth. I could line the table, then get some wood scraps or something to just build one giant tent and leave enough room for like a couple bottles of water or something for evaporation. That way a) I'm not wasting bags and b) if I use a tote I can repurpose it as a planter at some point or use it to haul stuff in and out when it warms up and transport stuff to farmers markets. Either way nothing is wasted. I don't know how much light either one would block. 

[JohnAndSancho]

On 11/19/2025 at 10:24 PM, JohnAndSancho said:

Addendum for mangos, since I just yeeted a couple black seeds into the yard. 

 

I've seen YouTube videos of people drying the husks out to make them easier to cut. I personally don't really want to smell rotting fruit pulp, so I eat them and throw the husk and all straight into a cup of water with peroxide just like I do palm seeds, and after a night I can usually crack it open with my snippers and then just caveman the husk apart and go from there. I do not like the paper towel method, roots stick to the damn things, I've heard coffee filters aren't as bad but whatever -

I get the seed out, and if I don't crack it, sometimes I've soaked it again and sometimes I've let it dry. Of course, because I'm a big believer in the scientific method, I absolutely haven't labelled what I've done what with. And I know the odds of me ever seeing fruit are slim to none, but if I can eat a fruit and sprout it and make enough to pay for one of my prescriptions I'm ok with that. I bought 5 more today. 

Anyway, between the papayas and the mangos I just freed up 8 pots off the mats. Maybe I need to spend more time on a tropical fruit forum and less time on Twitter. 

And why are my mango seeds rotting? Is it the excessive soaking? Is it the high heat/humidity seal with the baggies? I think I've killed 3 before they even sprouted, and that's not counting the ones I split in half opening the husks. I'm guessing this is it, because I had one that has turned fuzzy but was still firm. I've been laying them on their sides on top of the soil unless a root is showing, then I put the root side down since I've read/seen the seed actually photosynthesizes and turns green too. I pulled all the baggies off, the soil was plenty moist when I potted them up so I didn't need to water it. Same as always with coir, pick up a handful and squeeze it and plop it in. I've seen this done a thousand different ways and I think I've tried half of them.