I hope someone comes up with an idea because I am in the same boat. I planted seeds in the ground covered with a warm shelter "box" and also in tree pots in the greenhouse. Nothing.

I'm thinking I will take some of my leftover seeds and give them the paper towel/plastic bag treatment. At least then I can see that nothing is happening instead of just suspecting it.

CF, Steve,

Last year I started 15 persimmons seeds, rinsed with 1/10th bleach solution, wrapped in moist paper towel and putted them into a sandwich zip lock bog. I then placed them by a warm window. I checked on them every 3-4 days until i seen roots then potted them or planted them into the ground. They did real well.

Tony

Thanks, Tony. I should have done that from the get go. Fortunately I have a lot of seeds left so I did them and a group of pawpaw seeds as well. Hopefully I've got some viable seeds in there somewhere!

Floyd - I grew pawpaw seeds, which are from the same general area as your persimmon (if the seeds are the american specie).

My paw paw seeds didnt come up until JULY. Even with warm temps, inside, outside, shade or sun, they all came up in july, even after 120 days of stratification. They tend to be understory trees, which would mean theyd prefer shade when young, so germinating in the middle of summer when the canopy is fullest would be best for them (This is true for pawpaw, is it true of persimmon as well?)

If you arent sure, I would take half the seed, resoak them for a day and resow, exposing them to the spring warm cool temps. That should break dormancy (think maples).

Possibly a gib. acid soak?

Yipee!! This morning I noticed one persimmon seed starting to push its way to the surface in a tree pot that I had in the greenhouse. It was planted on March 4 after stratification, so a little more than a month, even with the daytime warmth (ambient night temperature). I really hope at least one I planted in the ground at the same time will emerge. I'd rather not have to transplant.

Later that same day I started this thread I re-seeded all those pots with seeds that had been in the fridge that much longer, and I realized there was one seedling just starting to push up through the soil surface, so hopefully some of the others will follow soon, but having dug some of the seeds back up I know for sure that some are doing absolutely nothing. The main reason I'm starting persimmons in pots is so I can control humidity and temperature and light to some degree after grafting, but if I can get my grafts onto outdoor seedlings to take better then I've already got all the seedlings I could want.

I've grown lots of American persimmons from seed. Sometimes they take a long time to germinate, but they almost always do. Be patient. Some seeds will sprout faster than others. I have had seeds take 3 months to sprout before. Pawpaws take even longer