Dear Luriel,

I’m so sorry to hear about your misfortunes, but seeds mane life, and have a way of keeping us in the present it seems.  And keeping us looking towards the future as well.

But mice, and creatures who eat out seedlings !  They are discouraging it’s true !  I’m sorry that they are causing you so many problems outdoors !

If I am reading your post correctly, you said that you planted your seeds on July 24th.  My assumption is that these seeds were gathered last fall, and were quite dry when you planted them.  To get dry seeds to sprout in 30 days is really quite remarkable !   It’s true : Some people seed their fresh seeds sprout almost as soon as they collect them, but I don’t think anyone has figured out why this happens sometimes.  I’ve never had it happen for me, so I imagine there must be some set of special circumstances that causes this to happen.  But does anyone know what they are ??

Right now I am starting fresh seeds here at my house.   I am starting some dried seeds from last year as well.  I’ll be interested in comparing the outcomes as time passes.   I’ll be soaking the dry seeds until they finally sink.

I did cut some fresh seeds open.  They are moist and fleshy inside.   I cut some dry seeds open as well, and they were much harder and more waxy inside.   I was able to locate the small embryo inside of the fresh seeds, but the dry seeds were hard to cut open, so I was not able to see what the embryo looked like in them.

As time passes I hope to cut more seeds open, and track how the seeds develop inside with time.

Bob Johnson