My experience ...

The seeds germinate fairly easily, but the new saplings are sensitive. I would plant them directly into a deep, at least 1 gallon pot at first to avoid the stress of moving them from a paper cup or smaller container. Do not treat with fertilizers or anything like that. Just make sure you give them good rich soil. The seeds will take a while to germinate, but they will eventually. Do not let the new saplings sit in direct sunlight or they will have trouble. Use a shade cloth so they get sunlight, but not full on.

Don't over water. Use a spray bottle for direct application and otherwise water off center. The saplings will grow very slowly at first, until they establish a good root base.

Jacaranda eventually get to be very wide shade trees and will need regular pruning from what I understand.

Keep a look out for whiteflies if they are a problem in your area.

My experience in Phoenix was rather like bearstate described above. Back then in Phoenix we often had frosts that would damage the Jacaranda and the seedlings were quite sensitive.

I can understand anybody's frustration with seed planting of tropicals as sometimes the instructions from the seed source seem the same for every package ...

{{gwi:245745}}

And maybe that's true ... basically the same thing applies to all of them, moist soil, 75 degrees or above, to about 85 degrees. But some of these seeds can be tricky as I have pointed out in my first response to this post.

The nice thing about the seeds I show above is that I have about 12 Jacaranda seeds and so can experiment a bit, saving some seeds for when I feel comfortable that I have it tacked. The packet of Tabebuia seeds has 16. I can work with that. My first packet of Tabebuia Chrysostricha seeds was planted all at once and nothing ever germinated. Will I get something later? I don't know. But I got some more seeds to try again under more controlled and experimental ( indoor ) setups.

Sometimes that is what you gotta do ... experiment. Look up on the web and find as much info as you can and then try to setup conditions to do the trick.

If you had a saltwater aquarium, you'd worry about temperature, Ph and Salinity, Ammonia concentrations, etc. etc. Well, some people germinating seeds get down to doing similar monitoring and adjusting. I don't think we as dumb dodo gardeners need to get so specific, but you may have to try and try again with a different tack until you succeed.

Try to think about how plants grow in their native habitat, starting under high canopies, shaded from the sun, perhaps drenched in water, sandy soils with lots of acids from decay products. Without sun they only get as tall as perhaps two to three feet, but if they are lucky and an old growth tree topples over and they aren't crushed, the sun will break through the canopy and away they go ... growing to fill the hole as new giant.

So seedlings often need to be shaded at first and given sun after they reach a certain maturity. They don't print that stuff on seed packets. You have put yourself there in your imagination after reading up a bit on the plant. Then recreate the temporality of that situation so that the plant starts out shaded and then gets that lucky break when you physically move it and put it out in the sun.

Is a Jacaranda a savanah type tree? No. Is it a dry climate tree? Perhaps. Dig into it. This is the fascinating part of growing tropicals. Don't let me spoil it for you by telling you the details. Discover them for yourself.

Good Luck and use some imagination to help you achieve your goal.

I see its been a few months, but see the thread for "winterizing a Jacaranda." On this thread there was a gardener who had started 10-12 seeds and had plants that were of good size. They will have some good advice for you. Good luck! I love my Jacaranda.

So how long after you pick the green pods off a Jacaranda tree are you supposed to open them? Or do you wait for them to open naturally on their own?

I have been growing trees from seeds for almost 2 years now , initially with mixed success, but now with a much higher percentage of success.

I have successfully grown and sold , Jacaranda,Giant Sequioa, Delonix Regia, oak, pecan, banana, neem and sandalwood (santalum album).

The key in my opinion is the type of stratification used.

Most of the tropical seeds can be easily hot stratified, boil water , put the seeds in, then slowly add cold water to bring the water to a warm level. Keep it like this for 45 mins and then plant the seeds.

I have had most success following the above method.

Even the very difficult Sandalwood seed germinated, but didnt survive due to other reasons.

The best way to grow the Jacaranda is to stratify then put them in a small pot cover with a bit of peat moss and very rich potting soil.

I disagree with the others about the direct sunlight, the tree's native habitat is very hot and bright so this shouldnt be a problem. I place them such that they get direct sunlight post noon and havent had any problems.

Jacarandas dont grow in their native habitat in thickets so they dont need older trees to fall for them to grow.