Here in Australia there are relatives to the Rudraksha Tree, for example Elaeocarpus grandis which is commonly known in these parts as Blue Quandong or Blue Fig. It is a rainforest tree that I have personally grown from seed and planted out for the purpose of rainforest reafforestation.
This tree grows like and mimics almost identically the Rudraksha tree (Elaeocarpus ganitrus).
I have germinated seeds of the Australian tree many times and was taught early on that to get better germination results there was a simple trick that anyone could master.
Seedpods contains a number of seeds. each seed needs to break free of the seedpod to contact earth to successfully germinate, however, as the seedpods are very hard many seeds simply do not manage the necessary step.
To manually help the process along, place a seed on a hard surface, take a 3 inch steel nail and place the pointed tip into the large hole of the seed and with a hammer give the nail a sharp tap. Strike it hard enough to fracture the seedpod but not enough to cause the seedpod to fly apart in separate pieces. This "cracking" of the seedpod will grant the seeds inside the chance they need to get to the soil. If you look at the cracked seedpod you should be able to spot the various sees still within. After the cracking is done simply plant the seed as suggested previously and in no time you will have seedlings pushing up into the sunlight. Prick out individual seedlings and repot them, again,as per previous instructions.
