Check this out from Johnny's http://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/greens/specialty-greens/red-malabar-spinach-specialty-green-seed-2437.html#q=Malabar&lang=en_US&start=1

You've had success with Johnny's Malabar spinach? There are many vendors for the stuff. My vendor, whose seeds were duds, is usually pretty respectable. I'm looking for vendors that have proven themselves with Malabar spinach. As in, I bought some from them, and they germinated fine.

Dan, I bought seed from Johnny's two years ago and got great germination.

Also, if you have Malabar Spinach growing, I found that when I lived in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas (Weslaco), it would overwinter. Most of the vine would be dead by February, but when it heated up in March it would start to regrow from the stems that had the least winter damage or from stems that had dropped to the ground. You might be able to take cuttings and overwinter them in central Texas with a bit of protection

Thank you! Johnny's works for me. (That's not where I got my present supply.) I order from them occasionally, and have had good experiences.

Yes, we sometimes get a winter with no freeze, but I'd rather not rely on that. That's a good point that maybe all one needs to do is protect an inch or two of stem at ground-level. Also, I understand they reseed themselves profusely, if left to flower.

Yes, they do produce a lot of seed in long-season areas, so you might try saving your own seed, too. Now that I live in the Texas panhandle, overwintering is out of the question and I rarely get mature seed.

Do you have some pointers for saving seed? How do you know they're ripe? Do you just wait for them to fall off the vine? I take it that after you harvest the seeds, you just dry them for a while. As in, just laying them out in a warm place?

Not really. I never harvested them. In the Valley, it overwintered to some degree and if I needed a new plant, I bought a seedling or two from a local nursery or transplanted one that came up when the weather got hot again in mid- late March.

Your comment about its prolific seeding made me think about how here it only begins to flower in late September when its going into rapid decline. The few seed capsules/fruit I've seen here have been green and immature when the plants finally gave it up.

Maybe somebody in a more tropical place can chime in.

Yes, the mature berries are dark purple and, when you soak the seeds, which are surrounded, I guess, by dried out berry, the water turns purple. I believe malabar spinach berries are a well known natural dye. Immature berries are edible and good, it is said. Mature berries are yucky.

I am impressed that, as far as I can tell, these things don't seem to have any natural pests or diseases.

This question is somewhat related. Do you have a pic of when your plants were seedlings? I direct sowed and something came up in that spot but I m not sure if it is Malabar spinach or a weed. I think my seeds were from Johnny's.

Well, you're in luck. I have three plants that are now 6-8 feet tall, and I decided to try for more. So I planted about five, and ONE came up. Sheesh. This guy went out a few days ago, and germinated about three weeks ago. That's a doubled toilet paper tube cutworm protector for scale. They grow slowly when small, and then kaboom! they take off. The mature ones look a lot like this, except with slightly larger leaves, and a long vine that meanders up a support and eventually branches.

Thank you for the pic, that's not what's growing for me. Guess I will try a few more seeds. I will follow this thread to see how yours progresses. Hopefully I will get one to sprout.

I'm done trying to sprout, this season. The few remaining seeds are in the trash. Never seen germination rate this low for anything.