HELP! Can't Get Date Palm Seeds To Sprout!

[PalmTreeDude]

I have tried this twice now, I take some dates with the pits still in them, eat the fruit, and save the seeds. I tried germinating them two different ways. The first way was with a wet paper towel and I put 4 seeds in it, and slightly dampened them and put it up on my refrigerator. After a week, mold ruined them. Then I get about 10 date pits, put them in a bag of spagnum moss, and shake it around and add just the right amount of water, seal the bag and put them on a heating pad. They have been there for nearly 7 months and nothing is sprouting. What am I doing wrong? I get the date seeds from store bought dates from California with pots in them. I clean the seeds before I try to germinate them.

Edited October 3, 2017 by PalmTreeDude
Typos

[Matthew92]

I found 3 on the ground when I was at Islands of Adventure Orlando this past summer (was from either a P. canariensis, dactylifera, or hybrid between the 2). Cleaned off the pulp, let them sit in water/hydrogen peroxide for a day or 2, then planted each one a little below surface level in a one gallon pot. Sat outside in half to 3/4 of the day sun getting rain and some water when dry. Leaf out of the ground in about a month/month+1/2 with 2 of them.

[Fusca]

I don't think the seeds would benefit from cold scarification (never tried).  Maybe your heating pad is set too high or too wet inside the baggie.  The only time I've had failures with date palm seeds is due to mold and I don't generally worry about providing supplemental heat.  They usually germinate in a couple of weeks for me.

[Monòver]

Here they germinate like weeds!!!

They potting medium must be not too moist and not to hot.

[cm05]

They’re very hit or miss for me. Most attempts result in failure (rot). I’ve tried the baggy method, the paper towel method, I’ve even germinated one in a cup of water, but it rotted after being planted.

With my latest attempt I simply planted two seeds (in small popcorn containers), this was on August 19th.

Nothing sprouted, so I ordered a cheap heating mat from Amazon, within a week or so the first palm sprouted, on September 19th, exactly one month after being planted. The first leaf emerged on September 25th.

The second seed hasn’t done anything yet. And the coconuts I tried germinating alongside the dates all rotted.

[kinzyjr]

@PalmTreeDude

I sprout tons of phoenix sp. each year.  Try using direct sow using normal potting soil in a 1 gallon or larger pot.  Bottom heat helps in this case, but I've had success without it during the warmer months.  When it gets cool out (January/Early Feb), I tend to have some seeds not make it due to mold, but during the summer, almost 100% chance you're going to get germination within a month.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

1 hour ago, kinzyjr said:

@PalmTreeDude

I sprout tons of phoenix sp. each year.  Try using direct sow using normal potting soil in a 1 gallon or larger pot.  Bottom heat helps in this case, but I've had success without it during the warmer months.  When it gets cool out (January/Early Feb), I tend to have some seeds not make it due to mold, but during the summer, almost 100% chance you're going to get germination within a month.

+1

dactylifera and cidp are some of the easiest seeds to germinate. Usually they'll sit for 3 weeks and then mass germinate. 

[PalmTreeDude]

Alright, thank you to everyone who replied. I am going to try it with a pot this time and put the pot on the heating pad. The pad is hot, about 90 degrees directly on the surface. Any advice on the pot method or just throw them in a water them every once and a while?

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

3 minutes ago, PalmTreeDude said:

Alright, thank you to everyone who replied. I am going to try it with a pot this time and put the pot on the heating pad. The pad is hot, about 90 degrees directly on the surface. Any advice on the pot method or just throw them in a water them every once and a while?

You had better try with new seeds. Wet phoenix seed will rot after time. You can keep them in dry storage for years and years without much loss in viability. 

You're trying too hard and keeping them too wet i expect.  Soak fresh seed for 2 days in water, let the seed dry for a day then toss them in a styrofoam cup right on top of moist perlite, or papertowels. Put the lid on the cup, put it somewhere 85 degrees and forget about it for 3 weeks and youll come back to sprouted seed. 

[PalmTreeDude]

18 hours ago, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

You had better try with new seeds. Wet phoenix seed will rot after time. You can keep them in dry storage for years and years without much loss in viability. 

You're trying too hard and keeping them too wet i expect.  Soak fresh seed for 2 days in water, let the seed dry for a day then toss them in a styrofoam cup right on top of moist perlite, or papertowels. Put the lid on the cup, put it somewhere 85 degrees and forget about it for 3 weeks and youll come back to sprouted seed. 

Yeah, when ever I try a new method I use fresh seeds. Alright, I will try that. How moist do you think the perlite needs to be? Could I just spray the surface a few times with a spray bottle and I will be set? I am just worried I will rot them. Right on the heating pad should be good and will give it just the right amount of heat it seems.

Edited October 4, 2017 by PalmTreeDude

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Wet the perlite and then drain all excess water off of it. You'll be good with that. 

[PalmTreeDude]

On 10/5/2017, 7:40:31, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

Wet the perlite and then drain all excess water off of it. You'll be good with that. 

Sounds good, I will give it another shot. Thank you 

Edited October 6, 2017 by PalmTreeDude

[Jeff_Cabinda]

On Wed Oct 04 2017 02:42:47 GMT+0100, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

+1

dactylifera and cidp are some of the easiest seeds to germinate. Usually they'll sit for 3 weeks and then mass germinate. 

Can we germinate Dates sold as food???? (From Tunisia...)

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Yes those will work. 

[Josh-O]

17 hours ago, Jeff_Cabinda said:

Can we germinate Dates sold as food???? (From Tunisia...)

absolutely!

[Steve Mac]

Just plant them in your garden with the roses or carnations, then they will come up.

Or one inch away from your house, that works around here. 

[pin38]

I soaked some grocery store date pits in water for a couple days, planted them in faster-draining soil mix in a pot, and them let them sit for several weeks in my unheated sunporch in March-April. I gave it some warm water every week, if that. We do have drier air here though. They don't even need supplemental heat if they get some sun on the soil every day, though it might provide higher success rate. 4 of them germinated and I tossed the rest at that point since I didn't want to pot any more.

Edited October 9, 2017 by pin38

[PalmTreeDude]

On 10/3/2017, 9:53:18, TexasColdHardyPalms said:

You had better try with new seeds. Wet phoenix seed will rot after time. You can keep them in dry storage for years and years without much loss in viability. 

You're trying too hard and keeping them too wet i expect.  Soak fresh seed for 2 days in water, let the seed dry for a day then toss them in a styrofoam cup right on top of moist perlite, or papertowels. Put the lid on the cup, put it somewhere 85 degrees and forget about it for 3 weeks and youll come back to sprouted seed. 

I did what you said. I put then in styrofoam cups on moist perlite and put plastic wrap over the top and poked 8 small holes in the wrap on each one to hopefully not get any mold. I set them on my heating pad for bottom heat. 

[PalmTreeDude]

I soaked them for two days too! Changing the water every night.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Good. You may need to put a little water in the cup every week. Other than that youll have seedlings before too long.

[dalmatiansoap]

Ad more soil, you might end up cooking that seeds.

[Monòver]

Yes, heating pad is the best for cook seeds.

 

[PalmTreeDude]

2 hours ago, Monòver said:

Yes, heating pad is the best for cook seeds.

 

 

6 hours ago, dalmatiansoap said:

Ad more soil, you might end up cooking that seeds.

Are you sure this will cook them? They are not to low, here is a side view of the cups, soil is at half way.

[Monòver]

May be you must check the temperature near the seeds. Perlite is very good isolating heat and styrofoam cups, the same. I think you musn't be worried for this.

I had bad experiences with heating pads.

[dalmatiansoap]

The best results with Phoenix seeds in my case were in room temperature. Normal potting soil, few drops of water every now and then and 3 weeks and voila, like popcorns. Heating pads are great to germinate bananas. In a fact every seed that sprouts better with temperature fluctuations are good for heat pads.

[Anthony_B]

On 10/3/2017, 2:41:48, PalmTreeDude said:

I have tried this twice now, I take some dates with the pits still in them, eat the fruit, and save the seeds. I tried germinating them two different ways. The first way was with a wet paper towel and I put 4 seeds in it, and slightly dampened them and put it up on my refrigerator. After a week, mold ruined them. Then I get about 10 date pits, put them in a bag of spagnum moss, and shake it around and add just the right amount of water, seal the bag and put them on a heating pad. They have been there for nearly 7 months and nothing is sprouting. What am I doing wrong? I get the date seeds from store bought dates from California with pots in them. I clean the seeds before I try to germinate them.

I have successfully done this twice.  Once with medjool date pits I saved from a case I bought from Trader Joe's, and I just sprouted and planted a bunch of Cretan date palms (5 of 8 germinated).

 

The first thing you want to do is soak the pits for a week, changing the water every single day.

After that, wet a paper towel.  Not lightly, soak it completely, then wring it out most of the way.  Fold it into a rectangle, place the pits in it one by one, and fold it back over again twice until you get a tight, thick rectangle.  You want it to be thick so it does not try out.  The paper towel should not be sopping wet.  It should not drip or anything.  It also should be wetter than "damp."  It needs to be moderately wet.

Place it in a Ziploc bag.  Squeeze all the air out.

Don't put it in the fridge!  TOO COLD!

Don't put it on a heat pad!  TOO HOT!

Toss it on a coffee table or a desk in a shady corner of whatever the top floor of your house is.  I tossed mine on top of my keyboard on the 3rd floor.  Hot air rises.  You want above room temp.  Any less is too cool, any more is too hot.  After a month, the bag will still be very moist inside.  It is very important you keep it out of the sun, away from any air vents and compress all the air out.  A 2nd floor closet would be a great idea!

 

I have never done this "moss" technique, and will not.  The technique above has been excellent for me.

 

It will take anywhere from 2-8 weeks to germinate your seeds.  Don't open the bag.  You will know the dates have germinated because the bag will puff up from the roots lifting up the paper towel.

 

Here are the Cretans I just planted.

 

It has taken about 2 months to get this far.  It takes roughly a full month for the roots to develop.  Then, I wait until the green spear emerges.  When that becomes a few inches long, they may be planted.

 

In other news, my Canary, which was just a twig when I purchased it in March, is kicking butt.

 

Edited October 12, 2017 by Anthony_B

[climate change virginia]

give it time they wont sprout for 2 months they will germinate in 2 weeks though

Edited February 25, 2021 by climate change virginia

[Mostapha]

I usually put them in a glass of water, change it every couple of days on a window sill facing west..and usually within 2 weeks they are sending out the nice tube root..I plant them and shortly after the sprouts appear..last summer around August a neighbor gave me 10 fresh pips (9 of which are growing), currently community potted in and 8"  terracotta pot all are in their 3-4 strap leaf stage about 18" tall..this spring will be putting them into separate 5.5" x8" treepots to grow out.  You just want to make sure that you pot them into a deep enough pot in the begining so the tube root can go down and not curl, or your first few straps may curl up instead of growing straight upright. . Thanks Mark

Edited February 25, 2021 by Mostapha

[Frond-friend42]

I assume these will do well. They are medjools. I cleans them a lot and continue to pick off cloudy aqueous growths and change the water.

It got me thinking, how many other more exotic species might be able to germinate so simply, and it just hasn't been attempted. The paper towel method also works well for these.

[Mostapha]

These pips are doing well. .those tube roots will start growing fast, about a week or so after mine hit this stage I planted them.  Again just give them room to grow straight,  otherwise the first few strap leaves will curl..but these are looking great, and with Spring around the corner they should do wonderfully..just when you put them.outside protect them from squirrels and other scavenging seed eatter..thanks Mark

[Fusca]

1 hour ago, Mostapha said:

 just give them room to grow straight,  otherwise the first few strap leaves will curl

Hey Mark, nice to see you posting again.  I read a thread awhile back where Konstantinos in Greece shared that Phoenix palm seedlings that twist/curl are typically male plants!  I had noticed that happen to some but not all of my germinated Phoenix seedlings.  I had never heard that before and thought that was very interesting!  I posted a couple of pics of my CIDP seedling in a different thread that is growing straight in spite of having the seed pushed out of the soil a couple of times, so I think she's a female. 

[Mostapha]

4 hours ago, Fusca said:

Hey Mark, nice to see you posting again.  I read a thread awhile back where Konstantinos in Greece shared that Phoenix palm seedlings that twist/curl are typically male plants!  I had noticed that happen to some but not all of my germinated Phoenix seedlings.  I had never heard that before and thought that was very interesting!  I posted a couple of pics of my CIDP seedling in a different thread that is growing straight in spite of having the seed pushed out of the soil a couple of times, so I think she's a female. 

That's interesting..I've never heard that..I know some of my Cidp were started in a small container with moss and the tube root curled and the first few leaves curled the same way..like the lantanias