Medlar seeds,help!

[haslamhulme]

Ok so I was walking back from the office the other day,my usual route,and although I know there's nothing worth foraging(only a Mirabelle growing out of the courtyard of a derelict factory which I can't get to and one solitary Apple hanging from the top of a seedling on some waste ground which I also can't get too-the joys of post industrial Birmingham) i had my foraging hat on and caught sight of something odd on a small sapling growing on a grassed area surrounding the unionist hall,there are a few other weak new fruit trees there as well,probably donations,a few pear,apple and plum.

Out of curiosity I went and picked it and realised it was a medlar,a single little medlar.Well pleased with that I took it home and bleated it,it did taste like rough apple sauce.,I think it would have been better hot?.

Anyway I now have 5 little medlar seeds and not a clue what to do with them.Ive grown Apple,pear,plum and nuts(hazel and sweet chestnut) from seeds but wasn'sure how to go about medlars? Anyone done it?,know how,anyone know how long I will need to wait to see if it was worth it?

[raymondo]

Since they're related to apples and pears, try the same methods you used for the apple seeds.

[haslamhulme]

Raymondo That was my first thought and then I thought ah crap,I only have 5 seeds so don't want to mess it up.its not like my Jazz Apple seedlings,can't just go and eat another one,I have yet to find a supermarket selling medlars in packs of 8

[khoomeizhi]

should be similar to apples/pears. stratify, etc.

[haslamhulme]

Cool,thanks guys will get those stashed away in the fridge where my wife wont find em!.If they are like apples and pears should be no problem

[richardw]

They are not as easy as apple or pear seeds,two years i sowed a heap medlar seeds are nothing came up, i treated them the same as apples or Pears too, so i dont know what the trick is, maybe cuttings are worth a go.

[philagardener]

Apparently medlar seeds have an extremely hard seed coat and require two cold distinct periods before they will germinate ( richardw watch that space this Spring!)

www.treeseedonline.com/store/p143/Medlar_%28mespilus_germanica%29.html

You also might try nicking the seed at the end with a knife or file. Commercial growers apparently pretreat with acid to soften the seed coat but it is said to be tricky and easy to overdo. Have lots of patience and let us know how you do, haslamhulme !

[mountaindweller]

Maybe it helps to first soaking the seeds in warm water, then leave the baggy in warm temperatures for some weeks and then put it in the fridge. It is hard to get the moisture of the sand right. (Because when the medlar ripens it is warm and then comes winter)

[haslamhulme]

Thanks for the link Philagardener ,52 weeks for the initial cold stage of stratification,looks like they will be in the fridge until next November then,back out for some household heat for 36 weeks and then back in the fridge for another 17 weeks,that's like 2 years to get germination,I'll have forgotten what the hell they are by then.

With requirements like that just to germinate it's a wonder Medlars can be bothered to grow at all!.And where exactly in the world do you get 52 weeks or winter followed by 36 of summer and then 17 of summer?,I bet Westeross must be littered with Medlar trees.Crazy Medlars you better be worth the wait,oh well,at least I am young,God willing I might actually one day have my own medlars to go alongside my own apples,pears and plums I am raising.

Will keep you folks posted because my wife certainly doesn't want to hear about my "bloody seeds"

[haslamhulme]

I will probably just try grafting one in the meantime,I'd love to get some cuttings from a tree at Westbury Court Gardens,if anyone is ever in the West of England it's well worth a visit,a restored walled garden including lots of very old fruit trees-https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westbury_Court_Garden

Lovely medlars here:https://m.flickr.com/#/photos/up70mm/9270071388/in/search_QM_q_IS_Westbury+court

[steev]

I wonder whether one might have any luck rooting cuttings in aspirin-water; maybe I'll try that.

[philagardener]

Of course, the seed coat is probably tough to pass through the digestive tract of a mammal, hence the use of an acid treatment by commercial growers. Hmmm . . . another option?

[steev]

You mean passing them through one's gut, their having been acid-treated in one's stomach?

I'd be more enthused about medlars if I'd ever gotten fruit larger than a big rose-hip.

[darrenabbey]

Nov 12, 2015 22:42:09 GMT -5 steev said:

I'd be more enthused about medlars if I'd ever gotten fruit larger than a big rose-hip.

There apparently are varieties with much larger fruit (forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1439258/to-medlar-connoisseurs), unless you're referring to rose-hips of unusually large size...

[haslamhulme]

Much to be said about the 'natural' method of helping the seeds on,I am also growing seedlings from a heritage variety of plum called Blaisdon Red which,dispite growing profusely in its locality and being perfectly fertile don't want to grow from seed,even though they fall in their thousands(it barely needs to reproduce sexually,it suckers so well).I tried everything short of cracking open the seed coating over the course of a year (I never had to bother with any other variety and thought of it as cheating)and then remembered seeing the Forest of Dean sheep munching away on them,grinding the shells between their teeth before spitting out the plum pits,no teeth here but a pair of pliers and a hammer,I now have seedlings.

I might have to dig out the hydrochloride acid(brick cleaner should double up for stomach acid), for the Medlars!,doesn't feel so much like cheating when you consider the bio-active variables,in other words,let your ruminants eat your medlars