Germinating W.Robusta Seeds- Help/Advice

[siege2050]

I water mine all the time. It probably depends on the soil you are using as well. I use palm and cactus mix. I think Filifera is the one you have to watch with the watering.

[RobustaEnvirons]

17 hours ago, siege2050 said:

Here are a few that were germinated this way, they are around a couple and a half weeks old.

How have you gone about growing them? Have you done anything different from what I've done?

I planted my seed on December 27 and still nothing has happened. I've provided heat to it by putting it on my hot-air furnace vent. Before I planted my seed I soaked it for 5 days. 

[RobustaEnvirons]

37 minutes ago, siege2050 said:

I water mine all the time. It probably depends on the soil you are using as well. I use palm and cactus mix. I think Filifera is the one you have to watch with the watering.

I used the same soil as you did actually. I used Miracle Grow "Cactus, Palm, and Succulent" potting mix. I actually mixed Perlite, and sand in with that for better drainage. 

[PalmatierMeg]

2 hours ago, RobustaEnvirons said:

Lol, okay. I do tend to get anxious and become impatient a lot. I don't mind the waiting. It's just that a few people have said to water it, but I'm afraid that it'll rot from repeatly watering it. They've said to keep it moist and wet, so I water it often. It dries out a little bit fast since I keep it ontop of my warm air vent. 

I just worry about having a lot of time invested in waiting for it to grow, only to find out it's sitting under the soil rotted! This happened to me once when I tried to grow a T.Fortunei from seed. All that time and waiting, and it was rotted underneath the whole time! You can imagine my disappointment and shock.

It's frustrating because nobody's ever said how much to water, so I water it a lot. Everybody just says to "keep it watered". Every now and again, I will water it until water drips out the bottom holes. 

The only reason I had expected it to sprout so quickly is because people on here were saying there Washies had done this.

Although I live in Ohio, I have it in constant heat (75F and up) and I've followed every instruction to provide it best growing conditions. So that's why I figured it'd be faster. 

But, I guess you're right though. I probably should lower my expectations and not worry about it so much. 

Moist, not wet/soggy or they will rot. Heat will speed them along.

[PalmatierMeg]

One thing I forgot to mention: Washies are remote germinators. They send a radicle way down into the soil (you are using 6+" pots, right?). The first leaf emerges from the radicle and grows toward the surface. Your seed may germinate by sending down its radicle but the first leaf may not emerge for several weeks or more. Resist urge to dig up seeds to check or you may damage a radicle and kill the seed. Learn to wait patiently.

[siege2050]

Yeah, just keep them moist to the touch, it looks like you have them too dry. Just dont keep them soggy. I think they are pretty tough actually and grow fast, I had a one gallon windmill palm a couple of years that grew great outside in a pot, but I got scared and did not plant it in the ground and brought it in overwinter and it died. If i would have just planted it outdoors it would probably still be here. I think the windmills are touchy about water and low humidity in winter indoors. I actually did not plant my seedlings in very deep pots, it may come back to haunt me later. I plan on using these only as container plants to sink in the ground in summer till they get too big to work with. I have a shop with 14 foot ceilings to overwinter in,  but I suspect they will weigh too much by then to move around.

[RobustaEnvirons]

18 minutes ago, PalmatierMeg said:

One thing I forgot to mention: Washies are remote germinators. They send a radicle way down into the soil (you are using 6+" pots, right?). The first leaf emerges from the radicle and grows toward the surface. Your seed may germinate by sending down its radicle but the first leaf may not emerge for several weeks or more. Resist urge to dig up seeds to check or you may damage a radicle and kill the seed. Learn to wait patiently.

 Oh, that's interesting. That's helpful information to know. I'm using a 32oz Powerade bottle that I cut the top off of. I don't really know what size in diameter that would be. Its not very tall, probably about 6-8inch tall I suppose. I just went and bought a Powerade bottle at my local grocery store. 

I'm glad you mentioned not to dig it up! I have a tendency to dig plants up because I tend to grow impatient. I'll be sure to leave it alone. I really want it to grow and thrive, so I won't bother it. I had thought of it though. 

I'll continue to be patient...   

[RobustaEnvirons]

21 minutes ago, siege2050 said:

Yeah, just keep them moist to the touch, it looks like you have them too dry. Just don't keep them soggy.

But see, I actually water it quite often. I watered it just now since you said its dry looking. That's one of my problems though. Either people say its too dry and I then water it or I give it too much water and people say its soggy. I try to keep it on-top of my warm-air furnace vent as much as possible and that unfortunately dries it out. But, people have said to provide it with heat; all the time. So I just keep adding water to keep it wet. Its a push-pull situation, I can't seem to get it. 

I watered it just now since you said its dry looking.  

[RobustaEnvirons]

50 minutes ago, siege2050 said:

Yeah, just keep them moist to the touch, it looks like you have them too dry. Just dont keep them soggy. 

This is how wet it is now that I watered it. I watered it until water ran through the holes on the bottom. I have perlite and sand to help with drainage. 

[Pando]

[RobustaEnvirons]

1 minute ago, Pando said:

 Nice one! I'll try to be patient. Its hard...

[Pando]

Another thing to try - if you have any seeds left, put a few in a small sealed zip lock bag with either moist 'clean' sphagnum moss or between wet towels. Use clean water (either bottled or RO if you have it), not tap water. Just keep it room temperature, don't cook it. Watch for any sign of fungus and change out the medium immediately if you see any.

You can then inspect the seeds every few days to see if the seed has germinated.

Once it has a little root coming out, you can then carefully put it into the soil about 1/4 inches deep - at least you know it's starting and leave it alone for a few weeks

 

Edited January 14, 2016 by Pando

[RobustaEnvirons]

6 minutes ago, Pando said:

Another thing to try - if you have any seeds left, put a few in a small sealed zip lock bag with either moist 'clean' sphagnum moss or between wet towels. Use clean water (either bottled or RO if you have it), not tap water. Just keep it room temperature, don't cook it. Watch for any sign of fungus and change out the medium immediately if you see any.

You can then inspect the seeds every few days to see if the seed has germinated.

Once it has a little root coming out, you can then carefully put it into the soil about 1/4 inches deep - at least you know it's starting and leave it alone for a few weeks

 

Thank you. That's a very good idea. I would love to try that. Unfortunately, around the holidays my uncle accidentally threw out all of my extra W. Robusta seeds . I have no seeds left which to try anything with. If I had some left I'd try this out and increase my chances for getting one to start. I only planted this 1 seed before he accidentally threw my little zip-lock baggies of seeds away.

I'll keep this idea in mind for when I get some more seeds.  

[Pando]

39 minutes ago, RobustaEnvirons said:

I try to keep it on-top of my warm-air furnace vent as much as possible and that unfortunately dries it out. But, people have said to provide it with heat; all the time. So I just keep adding water to keep it wet. Its a push-pull situation, I can't seem to get it. 

I watered it just now since you said its dry looking.  

Take a piece of plastic wrap and cover the container, use a rubber band to hold it in place. Poke a few holes into it for air and where you can drip some water into the soil. That way you can create a mini-greenhouse that prevents the soil from drying.

[Pando]

1 minute ago, RobustaEnvirons said:

Thank you. That's a very good idea. I would love to try that. Unfortunately, around the holidays my uncle accidentally threw out all of my extra W. Robusta seeds . I have no seeds left which to try anything with. If I had some left I'd try this out and increase my chances for getting one to start. I only planted this 1 seed before he accidentally threw my little zip-lock baggies of seeds away.

I'll keep this idea in mind for when I get some more seeds.  

PM me your address and I'll send you a bunch.

[RobustaEnvirons]

12 minutes ago, Pando said:

Take a piece of plastic wrap and cover the container, use a rubber band to hold it in place. Poke a few holes into it for air and where you can drip some water into the soil. That way you can create a mini-greenhouse that prevents the soil from drying.

Ok, I'm going to try it. That's a good idea. 

[PalmatierMeg]

Palm growing is not for the terminally impatient. Palms have their own agendas and those almost never correspond with yours.

[RobustaEnvirons]

1 minute ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Palm growing is not for the terminally impatient. Palms have their own agendas and those almost never correspond with yours.

Well, so far my Robustas have seemed to grow really fast. But, I've never started one from seed. So far I've only ever bought them on eBay already started as a seedling or adolescent. 

When I first bought my Robusta seedling (on eBay from Nevada) it immediately declined. It tested my patience right from the beginning. I had to wait 1 month before it decided to begin growing again (it arrived with 3 fronds and 3 days later it only had 1 tiny leaf left). I had considered it a gonner. But, I just left it to recover. 

I patiently waited and it's one and only leaf grew longer and now there is a second leaf growing quickly. 

So I understand about being patient, as I've already gotten a crash course in it. Lol. 

I'll just have to get better at being more patient and not look at it too often. 

[RobustaEnvirons]

UPDATE: I just want to let everyone know that my seeds have sprouted! Yahoooo! I guess they didn't take that long after all.

It was so awesome coming home from work to find (too my surprise) that they sprouted. It was so cool!

I forgot that I actually planted 2 seeds (in case 1 didn't make it). They both ended up sprouting up!

I will try to work on not being so impatient. I don't know why I was so impatient like that. It wasn't even that long. 

In reality, they really were quite fast. I dropped them in water to soak on December 22nd. I then pulled them out on December 27 and put them in a container of soil 1/4 inch down. They surfaced today (or it could've been yesterday). 

It was a total of 2 weeks and 5 days to come to the surface. I can't believe I was so impatient, when I guess it wasn't really all that long to wait. 

It's probably all that constant warm air furnace heat it got that pushed it along. I had it on the furnace vent all the time. I just leave it on there night and day. Warm 76F heat blowing on it constantly. 

[siege2050]

Yay, now watch how fast they grow lol

[RobustaEnvirons]

1 hour ago, siege2050 said:

Yay, now watch how fast they grow lol

Yeah! That's something I look forward to. 

[RobustaEnvirons]

One question though; How do I go about eventually separating them? I'd like to put them in separate containers eventually.

Not right now, but eventually when they're further developed. 

 

[Ben in Norcal]

7 minutes ago, RobustaEnvirons said:

One question though; How do I go about eventually separating them? I'd like to put them in separate containers eventually.

Not right now, but eventually when they're further developed. 

 

Let them grow a leaf or two, and come spring carefully pour out of the pot and gently separate any tangled roots.  Then re-pot up individually.  

[RobustaEnvirons]

18 hours ago, Ben in Norcal said:

Let them grow a leaf or two, and come spring carefully pour out of the pot and gently separate any tangled roots.  Then re-pot up individually.  

Do I have to wait until Spring, or could I possibly transplant them sooner? The only reason I ask is because I want to give one of them to somebody. It would be nice to give it to them now (or at least in the next month or so). 

Some of my family have said they are interested in having one. The only reason I put 2 in a single container is because I didn't have another container to use. 

But, if I must wait I have absolutely no problem with that. I was just curious. Spring isn't all that long a wait though if I have to wait. 

[knell]

I have moved robusta seeds and seedlings at all stages and their roots are durable to pretty much everything ive done to them. Just make sure the medium is at least a little bit loose (your previous blends are great), as they will dampen off otherwise.

Im always careful and its not like im throwing them against the wall, but they are impressively tolerant to many scenarios.

[RobustaEnvirons]

26 minutes ago, knell said:

I have moved robusta seeds and seedlings at all stages and their roots are durable to pretty much everything ive done to them. Just make sure the medium is at least a little bit loose (your previous blends are great), as they will dampen off otherwise.

Im always careful and its not like im throwing them against the wall, but they are impressively tolerant to many scenarios.

Ok, cool. That's helpful. Thank you. I think I will let them grow for a while longer and then transplant one of them to another container.

I've actually got a little bit of a waiting list. My Aunt, my step-sister, a friend, and my grandma all want one (eventually). 

[RobustaEnvirons]

I noticed today that there is some Yellowing/Browning on the tip of my W.Robusta's largest leaf. Is this normal? I snipped the Yellowing/Browning off with scissors to try to clean it up.

I'm concerned that it could spread to the rest of the leaf. 

I wonder what is the cause of this? It's always had a little at the end, but it stopped moving down the leaf a while ago.

Is this due to too much heat? Not enough water? The soil still appears pretty wet from when I watered it last week. Not enough sunlight? Too cold (there's a little draft coming from the window)? 

I moved it back a little from the window (as shown). The furnace vent does blow heat all the time on it. Not sure if that could matter. I've been told they absolutely love heat (since they're from the desserts of Sonora Mexico).

It does have a new leaf. Could this Yellowing/Browning be due to the palm redirecting resources to the new leaf? 

I sure hope it doesn't spread and then the next thing I know the whole leaf is dead! Yikes.  

Edited January 17, 2016 by RobustaEnvirons

[nitsua0895]

22 minutes ago, RobustaEnvirons said:

I noticed today that there is some Yellowing/Browning on the tip of my W.Robusta's largest leaf. Is this normal? I snipped the Yellowing/Browning off with scissors to try to clean it up.

I'm concerned that it could spread to the rest of the leaf. 

I wonder what is the cause of this? It's always had a little at the end, but it stopped moving down the leaf a while ago.

Is this due to too much heat? Not enough water? The soil still appears pretty wet from when I watered it last week. Not enough sunlight? Too cold (there's a little draft coming from the window)? 

I moved it back a little from the window (as shown). The furnace vent does blow heat all the time on it. Not sure if that could matter. I've been told they absolutely love heat (since they're from the desserts of Sonora Mexico).

It does have a new leaf. Could this Yellowing/Browning be due to the palm redirecting resources to the new leaf? 

I sure hope it doesn't spread and then the next thing I know the whole leaf is dead! Yikes.  

I've had the same problem with some of my palms, sometimes to a worse extent on the tips. My guess is that it could be a nutrient deficiency but I still have a lot of learning to do. Have you fertilized this palm at all? 

[RobustaEnvirons]

6 minutes ago, nitsua0895 said:

I've had the same problem with some of my palms, sometimes to a worse extent on the tips. My guess is that it could be a nutrient deficiency but I still have a lot of learning to do. Have you fertilized this palm at all? 

No I haven't fertilized it, because people on here have recommended NOT to water it while it young. They've said that it can hurt or kill them if fertilized while young. I personally suspect it could be either from the cold that's seeping through the bay window, or from the hot air hitting it all the time on/off. I don't know either though. 

Edited January 17, 2016 by RobustaEnvirons

[nitsua0895]

If it's not a lack of nutrients then I would guess it could possibly be caused by the dryness of your home. Being a W. Robusta I would think it could easily handle dry heat but I've heard that heated homes can be brutally dry.

I brought in my Alocasia Borneo Giant for a few nights below freezing and it's been turning yellow ever since. I imagine it was the dryness but I'm not sure. I try to leave everything in my greenhouse with a small heater now.

[PalmatierMeg]

Central heating is the bane of all palms. Forced air heat is the worst. Low humidity and hot air can turn a palm dry and crispy. Otherwise palm looks ok. Don't fertilize before spring.

[nitsua0895]

1 minute ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Central heating is the bane of all palms. Forced air heat is the worst. Low humidity and hot air can turn a palm dry and crispy. Otherwise palm looks ok. Don't fertilize before spring.

Is it stressful on palm seeds that are just beginning to germinate in a home that's centrally heated? I'm trying to figure out the best way to germinate the seeds I'm getting soon. I'm debating between the ziploc bag method or to just put them in nursery pots and then on top of heater vents.

[siege2050]

Its probably the dry air, my larger washingonia seedlings approaching two feet have yellowing tips as well. Central heat is rough on plants. I have some Banana seedlings I germinated having the same issues. I have been fertilizing my palms with a weak solution for quite some time now and no ill effects. I figure anything that grows that fast needs nutrients, but I do use a weak solution. That Borneo Giant wont fit in your house for long nitsua0895 lol, mine reached 10 feet this year, and made me about 8 baby plants. Here it was at 6 feet.

[nitsua0895]

43 minutes ago, siege2050 said:

Its probably the dry air, my larger washingonia seedlings approaching two feet have yellowing tips as well. Central heat is rough on plants. I have some Banana seedlings I germinated having the same issues. I have been fertilizing my palms with a weak solution for quite some time now and no ill effects. I figure anything that grows that fast needs nutrients, but I do use a weak solution. That Borneo Giant wont fit in your house for long nitsua0895 lol, mine reached 10 feet this year, and made me about 8 baby plants. Here it was at 6 feet.

Yeah I've seen these grow extremely fast during the summer. It's too bad they usually die back each winter here and then regrow starting in March. Although I have noticed they are much more hardy than banana trees. I've seen bananas turn completely brown at 32F and seen a Borneo Giant in a protected area stay green at 25F.

But what would you recommend I do for this small one? I potted it about a month ago, the soil is very moist, and I've kept it away from cold weather but it's turning yellow and one side is now drooping.

 

[RobustaEnvirons]

1 hour ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Central heating is the bane of all palms. Forced air heat is the worst. Low humidity and hot air can turn a palm dry and crispy. Otherwise palm looks ok. Don't fertilize before spring.

I agree that my central heating is probably the cause. Thank you for chiming in. I always appreciate any advice I can get! What can I do to remedy this effect the Central Heating is having on it? Would wetting down the leaves help (to hydrate them since there is no humidity)? Should I water it more often? What boggles my mind is that High heat/dry air with no humidity seems like the W.Robusta's natural growing condition in Sonora Mexico/California/Arizona/Nevada. Wouldn't it thrive in these conditions?

I thought its weird, that's all.

As per your advice I'll try to move it away from the heating furnace as much as I can. I think if I move it at night to another location in my front room it wouldn't get all that hot air from the vent. I could move it to the other side of the room at night (so it wouldn't get the hot air from the vent or the cold draft from the window). Then in the morning I could put it back on the window to take advantage of the sunlight coming through the bay window.

The cold comes seeps through the bay windows worst at night, so moving it at night only I think could help since the whole of the front room is warm and draft-free (usually we keep it at 73-76F in our house).   

Edited January 18, 2016 by RobustaEnvirons

[RobustaEnvirons]

So should I take my newly germinated seeds off of the heating vent? I figured the heat would probably maybe help them since they're seeds and all. I can move it though if anyone thinks I should? 

[siege2050]

2 hours ago, nitsua0895 said:

I hYeah I've seen these grow extremely fast during the summer. It's too bad they usually die back each winter here and then regrow starting in March. Although I have noticed they are much more hardy than banana trees. I've seen bananas turn completely brown at 32F and seen a Borneo Giant in a protected area stay green at 25F.

But what would you recommend I do for this small one? I potted it about a month ago, the soil is very moist, and I've kept it away from cold weather but it's turning yellow and one side is now drooping.

 

I have the babies in the house and they are getting leggy but green. They just need as much light as possible, but mine did die back like that when I first brought them indoors but recovered. I put my adult alocasias in plastic bags and store them under the house during winter. I have to start them about 1 month before time to plant out because they are a little slow to get started. Biggest problem I have with them is spider mites, they love aroids.

[siege2050]

2 hours ago, RobustaEnvirons said:

I agree that my central heating is probably the cause. Thank you for chiming in. I always appreciate any advice I can get! What can I do to remedy this effect the Central Heating is having on it? Would wetting down the leaves help (to hydrate them since there is no humidity)? Should I water it more often? What boggles my mind is that High heat/dry air with no humidity seems like the W.Robusta's natural growing condition in Sonora Mexico/California/Arizona/Nevada. Wouldn't it thrive in these conditions?

I thought its weird, that's all.

As per your advice I'll try to move it away from the heating furnace as much as I can. I think if I move it at night to another location in my front room it wouldn't get all that hot air from the vent. I could move it to the other side of the room at night (so it wouldn't get the hot air from the vent or the cold draft from the window). Then in the morning I could put it back on the window to take advantage of the sunlight coming through the bay window.

The cold comes seeps through the bay windows worst at night, so moving it at night only I think could help since the whole of the front room is warm and draft-free (usually we keep it at 73-76F in our house).   

I have Red Bird of paradise tree in my house that I started from seed. All the pics I have seen show them being grown in hot dry places so I used minimal watering and they were looking terrible. I started keeping the soil damp at all times and now they are all nice and green lol.

[Pando]

2 hours ago, siege2050 said:

I have Red Bird of paradise tree in my house that I started from seed. All the pics I have seen show them being grown in hot dry places so I used minimal watering and they were looking terrible. I started keeping the soil damp at all times and now they are all nice and green lol.

Strelitzia can handle dry soil when they are larger, as long as they get drenched periodically. They store a lot of moisture in the trunk and in leaves. But, they can take all the water you can give them and grow that much faster.

[RobustaEnvirons]

So should I just water more often then? Should I just keep the soil wet and moist? I don't mean that I'll drench it everyday, just add some water everyday or so to keep it wet. Is this a good way to combat this Yellowing/Browning?

I really don't want it to spread down the rest of the leaf! That's what I worry about.