Germinating Coffee Seeds at home

My latest project has been to plant my coffee seeds that ripened over the winter.

Here's what I did that worked: 

1. Harvest when the coffee cherries have turned a dark, magenta red.  For some, I waited until the red skin started to dry, others I took while the skin was still shiny.  As long as the cherry is dark red, it may not matter.
2. Pinch the cherry to squeeze the seeds out of the skin.  Don't worry, you won't hurt them.  Coffee seeds have a hard shell.  Scrub and wash the thin layer of fruit off the seeds.
3. Put them on a paper towel to dry.  It won't hurt them to stay on the paper towel for a few weeks.
4. When you are ready to plant, float the seeds in a glass of water (or a bucket if you have that many seeds).  The seeds that have been drying the longest will probably float.  Some of the recently harvested seeds may sink immediately.  Sinking is good, but it may take 24 hours or more for the dried seeds to sink.  Change the water every day.  Not all of your seeds will sink.  I did not plant seeds that were still floating after a couple of days.
5. Find as many pots as you have seeds that sank.  I reuse flat sided (not shaped) 2 liter soft drink bottles.  I cut the top off down to the flat sided part and punch or drill holes in the bottom for drainage.
6. Fill the pots with your choice of commercial potting mix.  I used Miracle-Gro, but other brands may work just as well.  Use a fine sprayer to thoroughly wet the potting mix until some of the water runs out the bottom of the pots.
7. Plant the seeds flat side down and cover with 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) of potting mix.  Spray gently with water to wet the potting mix over your seeds.
8. I loosely covered my pots with aluminum foil to keep them from drying out and in the dark.
9. Put your pots in a warm place.  80 or 90 degrees F (25 - 33 C) during the day is fine.  It won't hurt if it gets down to the upper 60's F (low 20's C) at night.
10. Check on your seeds every day or two.  Add moisture as needed to keep the potting mix moist, but not soggy.
11. It takes at least a month for coffee seeds to sprout.  It could take two months.  When the seeds break the soil surface, take away the aluminum foil.  It will take a few weeks more for the cotyledons to appear.  These first leaves are crinkled and have an odd shape.  Not to worry, true leaves appear later.

I had 100% success in germinating the seeds I treated this way.  I had little success when I tried to start seeds in moist sand.

The seeds growing above were planted when freshly skinned and scrubbed.  Before I planted them, they were the first to sink in a glass of water.  The seeds below floated for several hours before sinking.  These previously dried seeds appear to have germinated slightly sooner than the fresher seeds above.

Ripening Coffee Cherries!

Well, this sure is fun.  After several years of raising Coffee trees, I have finally been rewarded with some ripening cherries.

While several of my other Coffee trees have cherries growing on them, the berries on this plant are the only ones beginning to ripen so far.  This is a caturra variety (Coffea arabica var. caturra).  The cherries on my other two caturras and all my Konas are still bright green.

This beautiful red color is why they call them cherries.  My camera is not doing the actual hue justice.

One I'd hoped for...

I had been hoping for a long time for my Allspice tree (Pimenta dioica) to bloom.  It finally has!

I thought the flowers in yesterday's post were all I had to show off.  Today I discovered this on my Surinam Cherry (Eugenia uniflora).  It's less than a half inch (12mm) across and very fragile.  That's a second flower bud center left.

Scientists who study the human eye say we can't perceive both red and green at the same time.  They say the cones that determine color in the eye see red and green on the same sliding scale.  So if the eye sees red, it sees "not green" at the same time.  If it sees green, it sees "not red".  Both together are supposed to result in a muddy brown.  Yet I see both red and green mixed together in young Surinam Cherry leaves.  How about you?  Is the young leaf both red and green or just brown to you?  Maybe the colors don't translate well onto the computer screen....

I don't allow insects (other than a few spiders) to survive very long in my sunroom.  I don't see many (any) pollinators left.  If anyone has a suggestion on how to hand pollinate these flowers, please post.  I'm going to try using a cotton swab on this one.  Wish me luck.

I raised this plant from the only healthy Surinam Cherry seed I found in Hawaii, well up in the western mountains of Maui.  There are both red-fruited and black-fruited cultivars.  The reds are supposed to be more tart, the blacks more sweet.  This came from a red fruit, but that's all I know.

If you want to bring seeds from Hawaii to the mainland, you need a box that can be taped shut, a roll of tape, and I'd suggest, plastic bags.  Gently scrub all the fruit/pulp off your seeds and let them dry.  Make sure no bugs or worms have bored into your seeds.  Put your seeds in the plastic bags and seal them.  Write on the bag the species of plant seeds it contains.  Before you fly home, drop by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture office to have them inspected.  It's cost free.  They will inspect your seeds, put them in the box, seal it, and put their official stamp on the outside. 

Once it's inspected, you can either mail it home or take it with you.  If you mail it, consider the temperature of the places it must travel to the destination.  Many tropical seeds can't stand cold, much less frost.  If you take the box with you, you will have to present the box separately at the airport to have it X-rayed.  (Most of my seeds survived the trip through the nuclear chamber just fine.)  Keep the box sealed until you get home.

If you want to bring home live plants, the easiest way is to buy them from a licensed greenhouse and arrange to have them shipped home after you fly out.  The second easiest is to buy one of the pre-packaged, pre-inspected plants from one of the many kiosks on every island (well, every island we visited, anyway).  These get X-rayed at the airport, too.  Leave them sealed in the plastic with the Hawaii Department of Agriculture stamp intact until you get home.

2013 Winter update

My Hawaiian Ti has bloomed again. I keep pouring coffee on it and it keeps blooming. I think there is a relationship here.

This is my Kahili Ginger (Hedychium gardnerainum) going to seed.

Here's a close-up of that lower stalk showing the pods in detail.

Latest Surinam Cherry leaves

This is my Surinam Cherry (Eugenia uniflora).  Similar to my Cinnamon, below, its leaves start growing as bright red and the green chlorophyll develops later.  Unlike the Cinnamon, Surinam Cherry grows continuously, not in sudden flushes.  This growth spurt is unusual.

Here is a wide view of the Surinam Cherry on the left and the Cinnamon on the right.  The earlier bright red leaves on the Cinnamon have all turned lime green.  There are very few leaves with any red remaining.  The Surinam Cherry has several growing stems, all with a few red leaves.  Any stem with active growth will always have some red leaves.

The Weather Channel has predicted overnight low temperatures in the upper 30 degree F. range early next week.  This means I need to bring in my most cold sensitive plants before Sunday.  I've already brought in seven of the largest plants.  I sure am glad I mounted them on three inch casters!

[EDIT:] Oops! Somehow I mislabeled my Surinam Cherry as an Acerola. I have corrected my mistake above.

I had to show off the latest flush of growth on my Cinnamon tree (Cinnamomum verum).






It has also flowered for the first time, but you can barely see the flower. It is tiny, white, and superimposed over the yellow leaf in the center of the photo.