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[Roze]

Hello friends!

Im very happy,  finally managed to germinate yerba mate seeds !!

After receiving fresh seeds from a beloved STS member, this was my germination method:
 

• I superficially scraped the outer shell of the seeds with sandpaper
• afterwards let them soak in warm water for 48 hours
• then sow in compost, about 5mm deep, and keep moist and  warm at 25°C

It seems easy and it really was, but in the end the real secret is fresh seeds 

Happy growing!

8 Likes cunningplatypus, MadPlanter, EIRN, Mangrove, plantlight and 3 more people like this.

[Mangrove]

Congratulations on successfully germinating them! I appreciate you sharing your notes with the community at large; if I may ask, which (if any) website did you get your cultivation/germination info from, or were you going off of past experience and blind experimentation? I'd love to know how many have sprouted/germinated so far (some state it can take 2-12 months for them to sprout), and how they're faring (as well as growing conditions, more pictures, germ rate ATM, etc.) for the time being alongside any other notes you may have on your quest to grow this terrific tea tree.

I do indeed support the idea that the fresher the seed, the better chance it'll have of germinating. When I harvested the yerba mate berries, I pulverized them in a pestle & mortar, put goop in strainer, ran tap water thru strainer to get gunk off, then threw a third in the oven around 100 centigrade for a few minutes, two thirds I wiped off with paper towels and let dry on my counter before half of those got refrigerated for a few days (before sending), the others merely sitting on my kitchen counter for a few days. I sent equal portions of all groups of seeds to you along with everybody else who participated in the giveaway (unfortunately my lazy touchis forgot to label which seeds had what treatment applied to them before sending... oh well... at least they were dry when bagged and shipped.)

I would like to hear back from the others to whom I sent mate seeds to as well. Germinating mate is quite a challenge, and i'd love to see how everyone else is progressing with respect to germinating their seeds.

Mazel Tov,
-Mangrove

[Roze]

I am not organized enough to record all the variations on the germination process.. I know that the germ rate is near  5 -10% and they start sprouting at 2-3 weeks. I left some seeds soaked on water near 72h without changing water, not sure if increase the germ process.

 To be honest I didnt put  to much effort on them because my expectations were practically nil  After so many failed attempts and reading everywhere that the germination of Mate was practically impossible, did not believe that this time would be different... but it was!


I didnt get any info from other sources, theres no info on the web about  germinating this beauties.. but if you google : "Ilex paraguariensis germination " this thread is the 2nd result! 

So it will be great to have more people reporting their experiences with these seeds, and perhaps this could be a way to attract more members to our forum.

1 Like Mangrove likes this.

[Mangrove]

[xoma]

Well done Roze! Hope all is well with you and your little one!? How is it's progress?

@Mangrove: If you ever got some more spare Illex p. seeds...I'd be keen to try to germinate and grow some!?

[Roze]

The biggest one already have a pair of true leaves 

6 Likes cunningplatypus, MadPlanter, EIRN, Mangrove, Athena and 1 more people like this.

[The Seedist]

I would like to hear back from the others to whom I sent mate seeds to as well. Germinating mate is quite a challenge, and i'd love to see how everyone else is progressing with respect to germinating their seeds.

No one of those ones of yours is germinated, germination rate is 0 for a month.

[Mangrove]

I harvested those seeds in the latter part of the fall when they were cherry red. I apologize if anyone had a bad germination rate. I plan to harvest a new batch of seeds from the yerba mate tree later in the fall; I will post pics of the parent plant when I resume my giveaway.

The Seedist,

I apologize if the seeds I sent you weren't very viable. I do not know whether or not it may be due to the slow-ish mail system in your country, or the fact that I sent these seeds during the dawn of winter, which may have killed them in transit, or that mate seems to be rather difficult to start from seed. irregardless, I can send you some for another try later this year once harvest time rolls around

Roze et. all,

Please keep me updated on everyone's mate growth, including pics of the plants at different stages of growth. The botanical gardens which contains the Mate tree has a quasi-dubious reputation, primarily due to the fact that their "Kava" patch is not actually Kava (according to Soulgrower). I'm excited to see if they are indeed Yerba Mate seeds. Please keep us updated!

All the best,
Mangrove

P.S. I will make sure to reserve some seeds for whomever PMs me in advance about it. Given the amount of seed it produces, a harvest should yield enough seed to give away to  ~10 to 20 members, so if you're bent on taking your chances with this precious plant, feel free to ask me to reserve some for you via PM.

1 Like Roze likes this.

[The Seedist]

It's okay, just let us know in time, thanks a lot.

[Roze]

A little updated on this one

After 3 years growing and thriving outdoors they have fruiting!

Very happy with this sucess

4 Likes nobody, Neebu, Pollinator and RatsboggleBiological like this.

[AirborneEngineer]

This is awesome! I joined the forum after seeing this thread. 

How is your yerba mate tree doing and how was your germination rate?

I had bought a cutting from a seller on Etsy and have had it growing for around 8 months.
It seemed like it needed a ton of humidity to stay alive, like 70-80% otherwise the leaves would go limp.

I am hoping to start a few more plants and I am very excited about your seed sprouting success, as the shipping for live plants to Canada is not cheap 

Do you have any tips for where to get fresh seeds? and on germinating them? You are right that this is one of the only results coming up on Google.