Pawpaw Project -- Part 3 Growing Seedlings
Channel: YttriumNitrate
Date: 2012-10-06

After the seeds spent a good long time in cold storage, they were planted in three types of containers to germinate. Some went into paper pots made from used shipping envelopes while others went into plastic cups duct taped together. A third set of seeds went into concentrically aligned pots that I hoped would allow for good tap root development. 

The paper pots did not hold moisture very well, and with Indiana going through a drought, the germination rates for the seeds in the paper pots was not very good. The seeds in the plastic pots did a bit better. 

Overall, around 100 seeds developed into trees and that works out to about a 30% success rate and a cost of about $0.35 per seedling. I had hoped the trees would grow large enough to be grafted over at the end of their first winter, but it looks like I'll have to wait at least another year.