Dypsis "Mad Fox"

What a really reamarkable Palm Dean..

Thanks Pete - it has grown very well for me. No trouble getting it to flower - it does so profusely - but having a hard time getting seeds.

Amazing, as always! Dean, does the difficulty obtaining seed appear to be from abortion prior to maturity or from poor initial pollination (I thought Jeff M. mentioned something about asynchronous opening of the male and female flowers.)? Any theories as to why the difficulty?

Amazing, as always! Dean, does the difficulty obtaining seed appear to be from abortion prior to maturity or from poor initial pollination (I thought Jeff M. mentioned something about asynchronous opening of the male and female flowers.)? Any theories as to why the difficulty?

Mike,

I wish I knew for sure. May be a little of "all of the above." Sometimes it is obviously a pollination issue. Sometimes, like now, the seeds are big enough am should be ripening soon, but are splitting open before forming a "shell." And sometimes Jeff M. has told me a whole slew of seeds fell off during and after a big rain.

But Jeff seems to be having better luck with his bigger grouping. And I think now that mine is older it may hold onto the fruit longer. I may have some available in a few weeks. If you remind me i may be able to make a few available - so remind me.

But to answer your question - I have to give you a big "I don't know for sure."

Wow, Dean, thank you for the very informative, thoughtful and generous reply. It sounds like there are a lot of variables in place. I know Jeff has talked about "bloom feeding" his plants, including these guys. I'm asuming that is simply a very high phosphorous fertilizer. Besides his grouping leading to better pollination, I wonder if that could be a factor as well? It would seem reasonable that the extra phosphorous and other minerals could be a factor in the "shell" formation - I know if certainly is in bone formation. Maybe this is something you are already doing, in which case we are back to the "I don't know for sure." Thanks again!