A little bit of dampness in storage/stratifying…helps. Seed bone dry, even if properly stratified don’t come up at a high percentage. Such is my experience. And, also,
if your garden spot that you planted these seeds in is in FULL SUN…that is the reason they haven’t and probably won’t germinate.
Also, it can take more than 6 weeks even if you’ve done everything properly before you see the curvature of the stem trying to get through the soil!
I put my seeds in with damp Promix. They were stratified for at least 3 months. I planted them in root makers and set 2 of them inside of bulb crates and 1 of them inside a produce crate. I lined all three crates with about 4 inches of wood mulch on the bottom and sides. I also put wood mulch on top of two of them. I put them all inside an unheated greenhouse as soon as I planted them (I think it was late April) and covered the top with a jiffy greenhouse top. I took them outside and put them in my prop bed (which is terribly overgrown with basket willows at the moment… but that means that it’s very shady). The one that didn’t have wood mulch that was planted inside of a bulb crate did the best:
Also wanted to share this photo. I planted a seedling that I bought from my local soil and water conservation in spring of 2021 and I thought it had died, well, the root obviously didn’t. I started to regrow (I have another one on the property that did the same thing).
Bumping this thread to share a photo – did I plant my paw paw seeds upside down? I see what I think is a tap root emerging.
What you are seeing is normal and not the tap root. They may even pull the seed out of the soil but just let them do their thing and shed it naturally if it happens.
That is the stage that is sometimes referred to as" in the crook" in many planted crops. Absolutely normal in many plants. It takes a little while for the stem to get strong enough to pull the seed through the soil and straighten up.
Keep it slightly damp and in the shade…and check it again in a month!
(This isn’t a plant for those needing ‘instant graftification’. 
mine have all done that- I call it elbowing out. they get their elbow up and use it to pull the seed out of the dirt, then the seed casing sits like a “hand” a long time. eventually it pops off leaving a stem, then they start working on leaves.
