I pulled the seed off an unknown palm. It was twice my height and the palm fronds came in big clumps straight up, no noticable trunk. The seeds looked like long stalks of blueberries arching up and out of the clumps. I cracked open a 'blueberry' and there was a little pea sized hazelnut looking seed. What do I do with it?
starting palm from seed
I'm trying to start Date Palms from seed myself this winter.
This is a good page:
http://www.palms.org/principes/1999/palmseeds.htm
And this one, as well:
http://www.personal.u-net.com/~treetops/germinat.html
My first Washingtonia filifera and Date palm from Israel sprouted few days ago, and I am very happu now:) Heheheh, my first palms from seeds:)
Thanks eje! Hopefully I will find time to read those later. lol :)
Ecobioangie,
Condensed version:
For date palms you soak the seeds for 24-48 hours, changing the water a couple times. Be sure there is no date flesh attached (it will mold). Then put them in a barely moist (not wet!) sterile medium (vermiculite or perlite) in the warmest place in your house. Wait. Fresh seeds may sprout in a few weeks, older seeds may take up to a year. After they sprout (roots will be first), move the seeds to potting mix in a warm place and wait for the first grass-like leaves. Move to sunny spot.
From what I can tell this method should work for most palm seeds, except probably coconuts.
;-)
My Black Abada date palm seeds just sprouted roots after about 3 weeks.
Hope this helps!
Edited to fix spelling.
This message was edited Dec 30, 2003 9:30 PM
I wonder if I can do the wet paper towel in a baggie method and then pot it up... Does it need to be dark? The warmest place in my house right now is under grow lights in front of a southern window, DEFINITELY not dark! lol
Thanks eje. :)
eco,
I don't think they have to be in the dark. Just consistently barely moist and warm. Mine were on top of the refrigerator in the sun.
It does not need to be dark... just warm and moist as said. Sounds like, from the color of the seed, you might have Livistona chinensis seed. Should germinate easily within a few weeks if ripe.
cool thanks. :)
Hmm...I don't know if it's Livistonia chinensis though. These are growing outside in a zone 7 botanical garden. Would they make it through the winters here?
This message was edited Dec 30, 2003 11:03 PM
That's pushing it... probably SAbal then... only Sabals are not usually blue... I guess blackish blue. Probably a Sabal minor. Those germinate well, too. here's a little photo of a particularly large one. Look similar?
That looks similar. Of course I'm not enough of a palm nut to notice the subtle differences.
These 'blueberries' did really look like blueberries. They were that dusty blackish blue color and about the same size. They looked like they had a pretty easy time multiplying as there was quite a nice stand of them.
I picked up a bunch of palm seeds year before last in Ft. Lauderdale. I soaked em, planted them, waited and waited and waited. I finally gave up and planted something else in the containers and what d'ya know? This summer these strange things came up between my imaptients and other things! They finally did come up-but it took a long while! Now they are inside and about a foot tall. I don't even have a clue which is what etc. But you can still see the nut-like seeds they grew from. Some of them I know were bottle palms, and some were fishtail palms, will be a while before I see a difference I think!
Good luck!
Thanks Jenks. I hope mine doesn't take that long. It will get chucked out back and in a couple of years I'll wonder how on earth a palm got back there! lol
Mexican fan palm sprouted four days ago:) I am good;):D
yes, yes you are. :)