Materials Need For Germination..

[Kris]

Some more stills...seeds courtesy brother M@x And the seeds were constantly trying to lift-up in the baggie bag,so i had to put them in a plastic bottle !

[Kris]

Germinating Licuala spinosa :-

I collected about 50-100 licuala spinosa seeds in Hilo a year ago in March. I kept them in a tupperware container in my fish tank incubator with bottom heat for nearly a year and not one sprouted. Nearly all the other seeds I collected on that trip had sprouted within the first couple months. The temp in there is 85-90 F.

A few months ago, I took all the good stuff out of there and turned off the bottom heat since I didn't have any new seeds to germinate. This tank is just sitting on a shelf in a dark place in my house, definitely NOT a warm spot. I looked today because I was going to get it going again for some new seeds, and well over half of the Licuala spinosa seeds have germinated, several with a full first leaf!? After more than a year, they nearliy all sprouted at the same time, and it seems to be timed with my turning off the bottom heat. I can imagine a sudden temperature increase making seeds germinate, but a sudden drop in temps? I'm baffled, but I guess I'm happy they germinated.

Has anyone else noticed anything like this before? Was I just keeping them too hot for the first year?

Matt

I've had the same experience with L spinosa. I thought, these things although they looked fertile must have been fooling me. So I sort of forgot about them, but I didn't throw them. Anyway I found some local D lutescens seeds and I threw them in the same container as the L spinosa. I forgot that's what they were. Anyway the D lutescens seeds were on there third leaf, so I put the whole container into a bigger pot and put them outside in my shadehouse. Anyway later on I found all these monofid things coming up, and I had to really rack my brain to think what I'd had in the container before. The L spinosa's had germinated almost all at once about a year after collection. Weird little things. They were trying to trick me.

So the lesson is, never throw away your Licuala seeds people. They are probably playing dead and trying to fool you. If the seed was good when you got them and you've kept them in moist conditions that would germinate other species easily, then they're just waiting for something to be right before they germinate.

Best regards

Tyrone

As for the Licuala Spinosa I guess its the same as all other Licualas--it may take up to 3 years to germinate

.

[Kris]

Eleiodoxa Conferta/Swamp Palm seeds Germination !

I sowed some seeds (I have ordered from RPS) the 31st of January of this year. I found a seed germinating the 26th of February, today I decided to take a photo of it to share it here. Also, I checked the containers today an one more germinated.

The first one was germinated in a moist towel-paper inside a Ziploc plastic container to keep moisture from drying. This second one was germinated in a swampy mix of soil inside a Ziploc plastic container.

Here is a picture of the first seedling:

.

to see a grown-up specimen visit this Link !

[Kris]

Here is an intreasting Link ! by our forum member_Wai`anae Steve on Tahina spectabilis seeds germination...here you get the oppurtunity to see his work.And his illustrations are all step by step ! So those who are planning to try this seeds in future or have it already..then i insist that they take a look at it_Now !

[Kris]

Tahina spectabilis or Blessed palm Stills courtesy Mr.Bruno(bruno).since in this thread we have seen only its seeds and have also discussed about the methods adopted to germinate these seeds.but i think its time to see how this palm grows in the native wilderness of Madagascar ! only then those who have missed these seeds this time,will try to buy them in the next harvesting season from RPS and other sources...

the still that you are all seeing is of one of those blessed palms,this one is fairly mature specimen..

in this still we see a young palm,in prime of its youth...

in this still you can find little baby Tahni's found around the feet of the dead mother palm...their are literaly 100's of these seen !

love,

Kris

[Kris]

Using ziploc bags one could also germinate even Plumerica rubra (Fragipani, Flor blanca) Let's see what our member Luis Diego has to say about it ?

My Plumeria plants germinated some weeks ago, I will try to post photos when I get the chance... they were kept in Ziploc plastic containers with moderate humidity and full sun.

Regards,

Luis Diego.

[Kris]

Okay Friends

Now lets move on to my work... lets have some visuals of Acoelorraphe Wrightii seeds germination,i hope i have spelt that correctly And like always those seeds are from brother M@x (Maximus).

[Kris]

[Kris]

Now lets see the potting medium,like always its kept porous..for easy drainage and to ward-off root rot !

you can now clearly see those little babies...

here they are in their temperory resting place...

Love,

Kris

[Kris]

Now lets see my another fresh attempt with dragon blood tree(draconea draco)seeds germination ! 5 seeds were used one germinated in 2 weeks and rest is sleeping...here are the visuals of that repotting work !

the spotting medium,i have kept is as porous as possible ! since on previous ocassions i lost some due to damp-off in our rainy season...

this how it finally looks !

Kris.

[Utopia Palms]

Looking good Kris

You must have a great collection there now.

Clayton.

[Kailua_Krish]

What should I do if I see some fungus growing in one of my bags of seeds? Is there any special fungicide I should use or something else? Sorry if I missed the answer somewhere else in the thread. Another question, my germinating medium I was using is a mix of vermiculite and perlite and I was soaking it for five minutes and then squeezing it until I couldnt get anymore water out, is this still too wet? I read somewhere else that the medium should feel dry to the touch. Thanks!

Krishna

[Kris]

Dear Clayton

its nice to hear from you & very glad you too are regular to this thread....

Yes,i have an impressive collection that is building up,my spl thanks to our forum friends who have made this a reality,but the problem that iam encountering is that i have very limited real estate space...lets see what comes out of tomarrow ?

thanks & love,

Kris

[Kris]

Dear Krishna

my suggestion is that you have to redo the entire thing.i.e take those seeds out of that ziploc bags...throughly wash them and sock them first with mild solution of liquid bleech for 30 to 45 minutes,air dry those seeds for a day.by the way while you are cleaning if the seeds have rotten smell or if it has become spoongy,then their is no point procceding any further.if those seeds still sink in water then the following day sock these seeds with mild solution of fungicide which has a broad spectrum.this socking process can be from half an hour to one day depending on the hard coat of the respective seed variety !

And then use a new germinating medium my best bet will be canadian spyngum moss but here in my place they are not avaliable so i use cocopeat..

here is a link where you can get those products online _ The Link !

in that page go down and you will find plant markers & NoDampOff™ Seed Starter by Mosser Lee.I have tried it once,my friend brought me that while returning home...the results are fentastic.

But the procedure is the same..that is take a container with a wide mouth,in it add the canadian moss or agro-based cocopeat to the quantity you need for your work ! then gently add mild hot water to the moss or cocopeat and use you hand to mix it.and a word of caution is that some are allergic to these materials so better wear rubber gloves and do this work but i do it using bare hands i had no problems yet !

As you keep adding water like you are preparing a flour mix to bake a bread or chapatti..once you reach that stage stop.now press the medium,to see if water is comming out of you clinched fist.if it does stop watering now and allow the germinating medium to air dry a little using a ceiling fan or placing the medium in you warm kitchen..when the medium appears to lose its moisture visibily them.hand rotate this medium and put this medium into their respective ziploc bags.And with the help of a permanent marker pen write its content in that plastic bag..or stick a label with name of the seed variety,the date,your season,number of seeds used,and details of what fungicides were used on those seeds..and the type of medium used ?

And the seeds should be burried in that medium 'gently' & see to it that its on the top layer of that medium not burrying it full deep inside..keep the baggie bags in warm location and monitor for any change every 3 weeks to 1 month..if the seeds used are fresh & viable you should see some roots in the lowers side of the ziploc bag ! and after that in 2 to 3 weeks their will be sprout too inside that bag..once you reach that stage upload your stills in this thread and iam shure friends here will guide you at what stage they must be repotted..

Even i have met with lots of failures pertaining to seeds germination...2 or 3 tries you will know the trick ! My suggestion will be fresh seeds and fresh germinating medium with moisture levels to acceptable limits should do the job.if the seeds are treated with mild fungicides at the socking stage the better will be your results.and my gut feeling is either your medium is too damp or the seeds are floaters(Dead),since only then,the seeds attract moulds and other fungus grouth.

lots of love to you,

Kris

By the way this is the fungicide i use for all my garden needs ! this generic product must be avaliable even there with a different company or brand name ?

.

[Kailua_Krish]

Good news! When I was re-doing each bag I found that many of my bismarkia, copernicia, and nannorrhops have sprouted and that the fungus was only in two bags! I think the main problem was too much moisture in the bags. I used some fungicide (daconyl?) in the bags, I thought that would help. I did choose to stick with the pearlite and vermiculite mixture as I was looking around and found a site that had a comparison of usage of these vs peat and the inorganics outperformed the organics so we'll see how that goes. In a future trial I'll use peat instead and see if I get better results like you have Kris.

[Kris]

Dear Friends

lets move on to some visuals...but its of the Talipot palms,seeds purschased from Rps and they are germinating even after 6 to 8 months later...since most of the first batch germinators are now preety big in size.what happened is all those non-floaters,sleeping seeds that were in ziploc baggie bags were transfered to roof top garden and were placed in big metal barrel with vent holes in its sides..and in just 2 weeks time some of the sleeping buddies all woke up ! So never ever throw your old seeds which does not float ?

here is a still of that metal barrel,just incase some have not seen that still earlier !

And by the way the temperature was varying between 104 to 108 Farenheat on average for a month.

...

[Kris]

Continued....

Love,

Kris

[Kris]

'The Judean Date Palm' thread started by rubyz (Reuven) was once again active with lots of very intreasting info's and updates...!

here are some very intreasting links from that thread ! link courtesy_ JimR & Dave-Vero. And my sinsere thanks to them for keeping us all updated on this issue !

What is intreasting thing here is we are finding it difficult to germinate fresh seeds which are hand plucked from the palm trees,cleaned,treated and placed in a sterilised medium...inspite of doing all this we still find it difficult to get high successes rate.but here in those lovely links you are going to see research scientist germinating date palm seeds dating back to 2000 years..And kindly visit these links rightaway & be benifitted,since those sites may delete or move this topic in few days time...

Link_One

Link_Two

Link_Three

Love,

Kris.

[Kris]

Here are some stills of Talipot palm Seed germinating after a long time,since they did pass the float test...i retained them in the ziploc bag..see the results for yourself !

Since its one of the late germinated seed,i wrote the batch to which it belongs...i usually do not tag my germinated seeds in this fashion but this seed is an exception..

[Kris]

Here are few stills of Caryota zebrina 10 Seeds from RPS.com and i have put only 2 seeds in a ziploc bag,for more space & if infected only 2 seeds will go waste...and since i have no much experience with these seeds i was bit careful with it.so i gave them a good socking in fungicide solution.And here are the visuals..

And once Clayton York of utopian palms had said that Caryota Zebrina_Zebra Fishtail Palm looses it charm(its frond coloration as it ages)...while the Caryota ophiopellis _Snakeskin Fishtail Palm looks lot better even when mature.And that palm happens to be his favouriate too.i wish to try these C.Ophiopellis seeds in comming months.i will keep you all posted on that !

Now lets have some visuals of Zebra Fishtail Palm seeds germination...

.

[Kris]

i have used crushed granite chips,construction grade ! this is used in the bottom layer of the plastic bottle..to fecilitate easy flow of water from the medium...and this also helps in keeping the drain holes clear from any fungus grouth & blocks...

love,

Kris

[Kris]

Some information as narrated by few of our esteemed members...

Most of my seeds are kept at the higher end of the temperature scale, around 34ºC-36ºC. Sometimes temperatures will push to 38ºC-40ºC for maybe an hour during the day, and at night fall to 18ºC-20ºC. I think heat is only an issue if it is sustained for several hours. If the seeds are too moist and they get too much heat, I think that is when they expire most easily, as the poor little embryo gets steamed to a vegetable! When temperatures ramp up for short periods, I think it can trigger germination, just as with species that pop when you allow them to feel the cold.

Palm Seed Germination Alan W. Meerow

"Virtually all palms require high temperatures for the most

rapid and uniform germination of their seed. Seventy to 100°F (21-38ºC) is the accepted range,

and 85-95°F (29-35ºC) probably yields the best results"

For seeds of Syagrus romanzoffiana you don't use temp. bigger than 35ºC

Regard

Most palms germinate in the 24-34 C range.

Palms from high altitudes or "high" latitudes prefere the 15-25 C range and can stop at 30 C.

Palms from hot tropical savannas can germinate at much higher temperatures, but they also do well around 30 C. These, such as Borassus, Copernicia, Medemia, Latania, Acrocomia, Bismarckia, can keep pushing above 40 C, but they are possibly baked above 50 C.

Carlo

.....

[Kris]

Continued...

I germinated Washingtonia seeds recently and it has been near 100F/38C every day. I had some in ziplock baggies so it was even hotter in them, and they germinated. I did have them in shade though.

Hydriastele ramsayi need a lot more heat than that and when they germinate they need very deep pots/ pipes. As it is summer there try putting them under a black tarp in the hottest place you can find.

Mike did this and got a few to germinate. remember when collected the ground temperature was up to 50c course sand is good to use.

regards

colin

[Kris]

On Tahina spectabilis seeds germination :-

Just potted up the last batch of the ones I germinated indoors. Received my seeds in late February. Some, I simply put straight in the germination mix. 90% germination rate on those. Some, I soaked for 2 days before sowing them. 93% germination rate on those. But close enough, so it probably falls within the margin of error. In other words, soaking the seeds or not soaking them is probably irrelevant for Tahina seeds. I also put a number in an open container (with a cinder-soil mix) in our shadehouse. Without soaking the seeds. Those have taken about a month longer to germinate (due to less heat), so don't know yet exactly what the final germination rate will be on those. Possibly less than 90%. Still, very happy with the results!

.

[Kris]

Germinating rhopalosytlis sapida _ information & Stills courtesy our forum member Pivi(Peter)

I heard that fresh seeds with this specie are very important.

So that's what i got. They confirmed that the seeds i got are fresh (my second batch).

I kept them in water for 2 days then put in moist peat.

Temperatures kept i think between 19 (night) and 24 (during the day). Out of the sun, bottom floor of my house where is nice and "chilly" now when it's summer.

It took them 58 days.

.

[Kris]

All these day we were all curious to know how the inner portion of a fresh seed looks like ! recently our forum member 'John in Andalucia'(John) has given us beautiful visuals and also has illustrated how to do it...!

Here are the tools of the trade. A hacksaw blade, fine emery paper and a nice cup of Ceylon tea - preferably in a bone china mug. When you have your seed cut in two, if you did it correctly, one half will show the embryo. Sand it smooth to reveal the embryo a little clearer, and then rub a drop of oil, or hand cream onto the sanded surface to enhance the detail. Then put the half-seed in your flat-bed scanner. No camera work involved.

...

[Kris]

Continued...

[Kris]

Germinating "mapu" seeds _ comments & suggestions as given by our members !

I bought 10 seeds from rarepalmseeds 18 months ago. Kept them in a ziplock back with sphagnum moss. The last germinated a week ago. Success rate was 60%, the other 4 rotted. The seedlings are super slow and the roots in the earlier germinated are almost non existent.

Robert

I have germinated these many times over the years. I just put them in a small pot maybe a 1/2" under the soil and put it in my seed house. Keep it moist to wet. Their sporadic in coming up and can take several months.

Jeff

I got 10 Seeds from RPS 8 weeks ago. I took them in warm water (35ºC) for 3 days and then into ziplock-bags. Kept them warm and moist (30-33ºC) and today I made this photo.

[simona]

Dear Kris,

everything you wrote in this thread is extraordinary and very helpful, not to mention all those great pictures. Thank you, for the great work!

There are 16 pages here of useful seeds germination information but it's very hard sometimes to go through all for findind a specific one.

It would be great & much easier for the interested reader if, there might be a possibility to present each sort of palmseed germination in a single theme.

[Pivi]

Simona i think everyone can find that using forum search option.

[simona]

Thanks Pivi, I'll do that.

It just crossed my mind that, a special place for each palmtree species seeds germination might be a great place to find quick information & share experience.

[Kris]

Germinating Nannorrhops, Temperature tips !

I have 1000 Nannorrhops arabica in a box that see temperature highs of around 38°C (100°F). I've always considered this the limit with seeds, and only for hard seeds such as Brahea, Sabal, Syagrus etc. However, I'v only had three sprout in the 6-8 weeks I've had them, so as they are a desert-hardy palm, I put five in a small box of moist dirt and let them get really hot, like, 50°C (122°F). Low and behold, the next day, two out of the five have sprouted. Today I put the bigger box outside, where under the lid temperatures reach 47-48°C (117-118°F) during the hottest part of the day, and two more have sprouted. If you are germinating Nannorrhops, don't be put off by the guideline temperatures for most seeds. These are tough, and they obviously like it hot.

Thats interesting, I had 5 seeds that I used the baggie method and kept them in my garage which Im guessing was between 80-95 F and I got 100% germination in 3 weeks. I wonder why it took yours so long? The only thing I can think of was that I had the bag much too wet, maybe significant moisture is part of causing these to germinate.

Krishna

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[Kris]

Dear Friends,i wish to share the germination methods of Big50 as he has illustrated in our PALMAS Y PALMERAS EN ESPAÑOL (Spanish Forum) under the topic "Nuevo germinador"

Here are few intreasting stills from that topic,which are very informative to palm enthuiest like us !

Page_1 deals with the germination chamber fabrication....

...

[Kris]

Page_2 lets see the results !

Just in Case if you need more information on the above,PM Big50 for details.And if you know spanish then visit his thread.And the link for his thread is in the above post !

[simona]

Thanks Kris!

[Kris]

Dear Simona

thanks for visiting regularly this thread !

Love,

Kris

[Kris]

Dear Friends,lets see today what one of our respected member & my friend John in Andalucia has for us in this lovely thread "My Desert Oasis"_ Polytunnel cultivation...

All the important stills from that thread will be highlight in this post but in case you want more info,then visit his thread or better still PM him to know more about his work.

Now lets move on with those lovely visuals shall we...and by the way the stills are all self explainatery !

This is his office in that garden ranch..

This the Polytunnel where all the germination work takes place,Now at this point iam remined about my another friend Neofolis who also grows palms in this similar fashion in U.K

Now lets go inside and see the entire layout & ofcouse the germination beds,mistyfiers,saplings.etc...

these young saplings remain in this polytunnel till they are little seasoned to take the outside temperatures..

Ones these saplings are little big they are brought outdoors !

Those young saplings that do not need full sunlight are placed under the shade of a huge dicot trees,so that they get filtered sunlight & mild warmth from the outside..

[Kris]

Dear Friends,Lets see some visuals of seeds germination along with some Hi-Tech gadgets as carried-out by our member CarloSpain .if you want to see these illustrations with descriptive notes then kindly visit Nuevo germinador(Spanish Forum)

So here are the stills of his work !

[Kris]

Dear Friends,more visuals & updates from Nuevo germinador stills courtesy Big50

I think this time the seeds used in this germination is Bismarckia nobilis

So lets have some visuals,shall we...

.

[Kris]

Continued...

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