Caper bushes in the US? Any source?

I've tried to grow capers from seed, and I will likely keep trying despite unmitigated failure to get germination. The seed isn't too hard to find: there are at least three US online sellers of Italian seeds that sell packets of it. Fresh caper seed is supposed to germinate readily, but any seed mature enough to make it into a seed packet, it seems, has gone dormant. I bought some gibberellic acid powder and will try that in addition to the soaking, cold-stratification, and other tricks that haven't worked for me yet.

On-line searches have turned up one place that offers plants in 3-inch pots for something like $50 a pop. Anybody know of more-reasonable sellers? Yeah, yeah, it's probably not the best season to look.

With the wet summers and dry winters here, and the multiple frosts every winter, it's not going to be a great climate for them, but I'd still like to try.

Have you tried to nick the seeds and then put them in H2O2 over night? Let me check a few things since I really no nothing about growing capers.

Look this over. http://newcrop.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/cropfactsheets/caper.html


I saw one that is native to Fla.

You need to do a liitle more reasearch on what exactly you'er after and then you can probably find it.

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15811742 Thats on germination. What I get from that is nick and soak. Seed germination forum might be the place to ask about that.

Hope this helps.

This message was edited Oct 28, 2008 12:28 AM

gooley, this was the only source I could find here in the states. I had looked for one for years without success. So when I received an e-mail from them I jumped at the chance to buy one. Expensive ($44.95 for a small branch in a 3" pot), but it was healthy when it arrived. I waited for almost a year, before they had some available and you're limited to one per person. Oh, and they have a minimum number of plants you must buy.
http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/capspinoza.htm

These might worth trying to grow for fun.