Sprouting Pitaya Seeds (Dragon Fruit)

Today I discovered that my dragon fruit seeds I collected last fall started germinating! I actually tried sprouting them a couple times when I got them, but I didn't do it right (they kept drying out) so I set them aside for a few months and decided a couple weeks ago to try again.

Baby pitaya getting cozy in their new home!

So what did I do differently this time around? I used an empty salad container as a mini-greenhouse! My boyfriend and I have been trying to eat more salads, which means buying more lettuce, but we're not ambitious enough to buy a head of romaine and cut it ourselves, so we buy the pre-washed stuff. Typically I'd feel bad about being wasteful, but since I'm using three of these containers to sprout seeds at the moment, I don't feel quite so bad.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of these little babies until after they sprouted, but I do have some of my starfruit (carambola) seeds I'm waiting on:

Carambola seeds in a mini-greenhouse for germination. 

For the starfruit I just used damp paper towels as a bed, spaced the seeds evenly, and put another layer of paper on top. Then I closed up the container, put it in the basement (it's out of the way but I also visit frequently to do laundry), and waited. Like I said, I'm still waiting on the starfruit, but the other day when I went to do laundry this is what I saw: 

Baby pitaya poking through a paper towel! 

I was so excited they finally sprouted! 

You may notice the paper towel for my dragon fruit is a lot darker than the one for star fruit. That's because there's actually some soil underneath. In my previous attempt to germinate the seeds, I mixed them in with potting soil. I didn't feel like trying to separate them from the dirt since that would take forever. I probably could have foregone the paper towel altogether since in the end it made repotting the babies a little difficult. But whatever, you live and you learn. 

I ended up using a pair of tweezers to transfer the seedlings into a proper pot, then put some cling wrap over top to keep it nice and humid. I can't wait to see how they do as time goes on! 

Until next time, 

Jess