Dypsis fruit color puzzle

[Tracy]

So last year, the taller and larger Dypsis prestoniana I have flowered and produced some viable fruit.  As expected the ripe fruit was a reddish color (see photo below).  The shorter Dypsis prestoniana began flowering at least a couple of years sooner and has a little different growth habit than the larger one.  The leaves seem a little more re-curved than the larger one for example and trunk is narrower in girth.  Although they flowered, neither were mature enough to set fruit until the larger one did last year.  This year, one of three inflorescence has what appear to be fruit on it, although a significant quantity are already dropping... pale green and some that are riper have a pale yellow tint.  They look about the same size as the ones last year that were viable on the bigger plant.  My thought is whether this could be a hybrid that is producing a different color fruit and that the yellower fruit might actually be ripe.  I could just be jumping the gun and the plant isn't holding the fruit to full red color because it isn't mature enough.  I thought I would float this question though to get the feedback from those with more experience with the larger solitary Dypsis species.  After the first photo, the rest are of the fruit and specimen in question.  Green, yellow and some seeds after cleaning the fruit off in the one photo.  Thoughts?

[Darold Petty]

Tracy, I can't really offer any advice specific to your Dypsis, but I have had palms make a huge pollination, only to abort about half the number of pollinated seed starts, perhaps to better develop the remaining ones.

[BS Man about Palms]

My Big Curley still puts out flowers, but have yet to see seeds again and they were orange when mature... But it is so large and holding so many leaves that I think it would need a significant amount of water to set seeds again.

[Tracy]

12 hours ago, BS Man about Palms said:

My Big Curley still puts out flowers, but have yet to see seeds again and they were orange when mature... But it is so large and holding so many leaves that I think it would need a significant amount of water to set seeds again.

Any thoughts on the fruit color on this one and whether they are just premature, so not turning the normal orange/red color for D prestoniana, or perhaps this could be a hybrid and yellow is the ripe fruit color?  I may clean some more of the yellow ones and use the baggy method to see if they sprout just to check.

[BS Man about Palms]

23 hours ago, Tracy said:

Any thoughts on the fruit color on this one and whether they are just premature, so not turning the normal orange/red color for D prestoniana, or perhaps this could be a hybrid and yellow is the ripe fruit color?  I may clean some more of the yellow ones and use the baggy method to see if they sprout just to check.

I had heard of orange and red, but not yellow. Are those all fallen ones? Are there enough to just leave on the tree to see if they continue to change color?

For sure not green I would say. I will say I think the other difference with a seed set before was trimming the other bracts, I've had 3 at a time and I KNOW that takes a SERIOUS amount of energy to support!  

 

[Tracy]

1 hour ago, BS Man about Palms said:

For sure not green I would say. I will say I think the other difference with a seed set before was trimming the other bracts, I've had 3 at a time and I KNOW that takes a SERIOUS amount of energy to support!  

This one did have 3 total bracts this summer and only the first one to open has developed any fruit, the other two bracts had flowers that just dried up and dropped off.  I felt guilty removing the other bracts as the bees were in heaven for weeks going to town on them, so while this one was starting to set seed, the other two bracts were still on it and flowering.  Yes, I am leaving the fruit on the remaining bract to see if they develop, but they are falling off pretty rapidly, some green and others yellow.  I know that if some are turning into a yellow color that the green aren't ripe yet.  But to answer your question Bill, everything I have gathered thus far had already fallen off the bract and I'm leaving the rest on to see what they do over time.  In that it's a little effort to clean fruit and try to germinate them, I just didn't want to waste time if there is no chance the yellow ones are ripe.

[Tracy]

On 11/2/2021 at 6:18 PM, Tracy said:

I could just be jumping the gun and the plant isn't holding the fruit to full red color because it isn't mature enough.  I thought I would float this question though to get the feedback from those with more experience with the larger solitary Dypsis species. 

and the answer is... impatience.  I should have just waited longer and I would have had the answer that the previous ones that were dropping were just premature and not "ripe".  The orange color is developing on the remaining fruit and I suspect they will continue getting a deeper orange as they get closer to being ripe.  There were a massive number of flowers on the three inflorescence relative to the final fruit that remain now.