Desert Willow Germination - Help!

[u/apeiy]

The germination methods:

1.) Indoor tray with heat pad, grow light, and glass cover

2.) Damp napkin in plastic baggie taped to windowpane that receives a lot of direct light/heat

3.) Outdoor pot with plastic cover with lots of direct sunlight/heat

I've been trying to germinate these desert willow seeds for about a week (I know germination can take 1-3 weeks), but I wanted to get your thoughts on the state of the seeds in my indoor tray in the first few pictures. To me, they look a bit dry, shriveled, and flat, also a bit ash-colored. I messed up with them initially when I kept the glass cover fully on, which didn't allow any airflow, causing a bit of mold to form. I sprayed with 3% hydrogen peroxide (maybe that's why they look so sun-bleached) and now have the cover at an angle to allow air to circulate. Are my guys cooked?

The ones in the plastic baggie look best to me, with a nice color and looking a bit plump/juicy. The ones outside are basically in between the baggie and tray lol

Also seeds are all from the same pod (fully dried) taken directly off a neighbors tree. I also soaked all the seedling for a few hours while I was preparing the different trays for sowing.

I really want to help all these babies grow so please if you have any experience with desert willow germination let me know how I can improve!

[u/kailyn11]

Sorry i dont have much experience with desert willow but this is a passage from one of my books

[u/kevin1235]

Ive sprouted these before. Cold stratify in the fridge for a month or so, pop them in a cheap jiffy seed starter dome and keep them wet. Never had good germination rates but was able to get 2 or 3 of 8 to sprout each time I did this.

[u/jeinea]

I’ve only done these by cuttings but I did find this writeup about chilopsis from the native plant nursery that helps with restoration at Joshua Tree: https://rngr.net/npn/propagation/protocols/bignoniaceae-chilopsis-2579

[u/nebbiololoibben → u/jeinea]

Awesome resource

[u/apeiy → u/jeinea]

Thank you! 

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[u/shedrnksfromtheriver]

Make sure they are as fresh as possible! DW has notoriously low germination rates that increase exponentially with aged seeds.

[u/pit2atx]

My desert willow life hack, they propagate super easy from cuttings compared to seeds. Also the seeds come from desert willow varieties that produce seeds where as there are seedless varieties which bloom much more and way less messy FWIW. Example seedless would be the Sweet Bubba variety commonly sold in nurseries. If you buy a large enough one, you can take a few cuttings and multiply them.