I have never done it but my understanding is you need to let the seeds get completely dry before trying to germinate. Clean them and give them a couple weeks of sitting out and see if you have better luck.

Scott

I dried them out completely the first time too. And I was very thorough in removing all the pulp. But they still molded. I broke some open to see if they had developed at all and the embryo was completely white so I would assume that to be a negative--they should be a little green if they were anywhere near sprouting, right? How long does it normally take a pomegranate to germinate?

You're working too hard at it.
Benign neglect works great.
I've thrown rotten poms out into the flowerbed and have clumps of seedlings here and there that I have to pull up and discard whenever the wife & kids decide to put in their spring annuals - and I never seem to get rid of them all - some pop right back up - either from seed that hadn't germinated, or from remnants of roots left behind.

jp07...

I agree with lucky p in that you may be trying to hard. I had seeds germinate readily in my worm bin (undried, unstratified seeds with the pulp still attached) a couple of years ago, and I kept one of the seedlings, which turned out to be a beautiful little plant.

If I remember correctly germination time was one or two weeks, but I would not necessarily expect any green until the shoot is visible. Based only on this worm bin experience I would guess that warmth and darkness might be worth shooting for to get some germination. Also, as you probably know, pomegranate is one of the easiest plants to propagate from hardwood cuttings, which also allows you to know it's exact type.

I started Golden Pomegranate in a milk jug...just put Miracle Grow in and sprinkled seeds from a trade on top and gently pressed them into the medium and bottom-watered.

I have pomegranate babies! Do not recall how many I planted or how many I have potted up, but I am happy to have them...now I wait 5 yrs or more to see if I get good fruit from my endeavor. : )

Peggy

I found a milk jug this afternoon that has LOTS of sprouting pomegranates from a store bought fruit. I soaked and tried to clean the seeds but finally gave up and planted them. Looks like I will have pomegranates babies to share.

Peggy

So you didnt clean the seeds at all Peggy? Do you just throw the seeds with pulp and all in the dirt? Doesn't it mold? What do you do about that?

Thanks for everyone's help.

I attempted to clean them but gave up...yes, there was some fuzzy growth for a short time. I just sat them in the sun and forgot about them...checked yesterday and I have lots of babies sprouted and others starting to sprout. From what I have read they are easy to sprout. I have seeds in the frig from our one pomegranate...hubby took one to work for a snack and saved the seeds...I just have not gotten around to planting them...not sure what I will do with all the babies. LOL

Peggy

I somehow cleaned the seeds a little, but I would say pomegranate is the easiest to grow from seeds. Sow them in the pots or flower bed in the spring or fall, leave them there for the winter (outside), and next spring you will have too many seedlings to handle.

For for me, the most wonderful result is: I got one 'Wonderful' offspring that is about to bloom, and the flowers are apparently white! The others bloomed last year (all reds), but haven't set flower buds yet.

Happy gardening

I have two 40 + year old pomegranate bushes I grew from seed from a fruit bought at the grocery. They have survived minus 17 degrees once here (Albuquerque) ... did die back but came up from the roots again & have given a bushel or more each year. They have the single red blossoms so guess they are the 'Wonderful" variety as I have a dwarf one (bought at a nursery) that has lovely red double blossoms but sets no fruit. I think I started those years ago just by planting the fresh seeds in a big pot of soil where they germinated & kept the seedlings in the house for a couple of years before transplanting them outdoors. Beautiful colorful bushes & have had no problem with disease or insects ever... but watch those thorny branches!!

I think I read there is a new variety (has anyone heard of the name?) that has more pinkish fruit but is less acid ..sweeter. When I harvest the fruit I pull the peel away under water in a big pail & let/pull the fruit (seeds) fall to the bottom where they can be retrieved easily from the pulp that seems to float & be discarded with little spatter of the juice.

Good luck with the germination of seed!