Tiny many seeds!!!

[ZPalms]

I don't really have the best set up for seed germinating but I have so many seeds that I need to sprout and it's stressing me out because I'm not sure how to sprout all of them at once without messing up and once they are sprout, I don't have enough pots to place them all in. Does anyone have any idea what I could do?

I was thinking of getting some plastic bins or something, but I don't have any seed starting mix, but I do have some regular dirt, but I think it has premixed fertilizer in it, so I was thinking of using just perlite, but I've seen perlite can be unreliable and dry out quickly.

Seeds that I'll be sprouting:

• Washingtonia Filibusta

• Beccariophoenix alfredii (I've noticed one of these seeds turned dark for some reason, but it doesn't smell like anything and it's still solid but the other one is fine )

• Acoelorrhaphe wrightii

• Trachycarpus Fortunei (Can these be direct sown into the ground after sprouting or not?)

• Sabal x Brazoria

• Chamaedorea radicalis

• Sabal Palmetto

• Butia Odorata

I've been putting off seed germinating for a while cause I'm terrified of messing up and killing seedlings and the lack of pots and too many seeds

When they sprout, where is the best place to place them? I never know where to store them or when they should be in the sun, or should they not be in the sun, under a grow light? When I sprouted my washies in the most inconvenient way possible, I placed them directly in the sun, but I don't know if that goes for all palms. And when it comes to placing them outside, I've seen people leave trachys, butias, and sabals outside in pots, but how do you stop them from digging their roots out of their pots into the ground? And when winter comes, how do you make sure the pots don't freeze when their seedlings?

Edited February 26, 2022 by ZPalms

[aztropic]

Young seedlings need protection from birds! They like to yank them just to eat the roots, or use the green for nesting material. Grow them for a year in a window,or under screen tent protection. Also,seedlings should be kept from freezing the first year so definitely plan on bringing them inside and make room near natural or plant light for the first year. Plastic water cups or cut off water/pop bottles make for cheap pots. Dirt from your yard is fine to grow in (plants can't read) as long as pots have drain holes. Sprout seeds using baggie method, and pot up individually to save space!!!

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[ZPalms]

33 minutes ago, aztropic said:

Young seedlings need protection from birds! They like to yank them just to eat the roots, or use the green for nesting material. Grow them for a year in a window,or under screen tent protection. Also,seedlings should be kept from freezing the first year so definitely plan on bringing them inside and make room near natural or plant light for the first year. Plastic water cups or cut off water/pop bottles make for cheap pots. Dirt from your yard is fine to grow in (plants can't read) as long as pots have drain holes. Sprout seeds using baggie method, and pot up individually to save space!!!

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

Thank you very much! I'm surprised my washies didn't get plucked from birds after I had them out in the open under full sun when they were just a blade of grass. I'll probably end up using my grow lights since my windows are currently covered.

I think dirt from my yard is sand/clay so I may not to get bags of dirt

When doing the baggy method you just put a handful of dirt and seeds and then moisten it?

I always thought seeds had to have the biggest pots for the tap roots, that will always confuse me

Edited February 26, 2022 by ZPalms

[Than]

My issue with the baggy method is that once put on a heat mat, water evaporates and condenses on the surface of the bag while the medium becomes bone dry. How do others avoid this?

[aztropic]

Use a thicker plastic bag.  Ziplock type bags made for freezer storage are thicker than general purpose bags. If using spaghnum moss for the medium,soak it well,wrong it out,and it should never dry out in the thicker bag.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[Fusca]

9 hours ago, ZPalms said:

Seeds that I'll be sprouting:

• Washingtonia Filibusta

• Beccariophoenix alfredii

• Acoelorrhaphe wrightii

• Trachycarpus Fortunei 

• Sabal x Brazoria

• Chamaedorea radicalis

• Sabal Palmetto

• Butia Odorata

If you're trying to germinate all of these at once keep in mind that the germination times will vary greatly.  If your conditions are ideal with bottom heat you might see Washingtonia sprout in 3-5 days while Butia might take more than 6 months.  Sabal palmetto would be second fastest (not sure about x Brazoria) and then Beccariophoenix if your seeds are fresh (maybe not since they're coming from Africa).  The others should take roughly 2-4 months if I'm remembering correctly.  Good luck with them!

[ZPalms]

11 minutes ago, Fusca said:

If you're trying to germinate all of these at once keep in mind that the germination times will vary greatly.  If your conditions are ideal with bottom heat you might see Washingtonia sprout in 3-5 days while Butia might take more than 6 months.  Sabal palmetto would be second fastest (not sure about x Brazoria) and then Beccariophoenix if your seeds are fresh (maybe not since they're coming from Africa).  The others should take roughly 2-4 months if I'm remembering correctly.  Good luck with them!

Thank you! appreciate it! I'll need to get a heat mat or something cause atm I know they wouldn't be warm enough! 

[aztropic]

Top of the hot water heater covered with a thick towel to hold in the heat is probably warm enough to get things sprouting.

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona

[ZPalms]

1 minute ago, aztropic said:

Top of the hot water heater covered with a thick towel to hold in the heat is probably warm enough to get things sprouting.

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona

I'll give that a go thanks! Didn't think of that 

Edited February 26, 2022 by ZPalms

[JLM]

I got a good round of seeds in December that ive been working on. Bought a heat mat, set the temperature to 100F and let the seeds do their thing. I currently have about 7 Phoenix that needs to be potted up. Otherwise, i have 2 Phoenix that have been potted, both with leaves emerging from the soil (remote germinators), and the Washies popped really fast, all 6 of those are probably about to put out their second leaf soon.

So in other words, get a heat mat, set the temp, do what you need to do with the seeds, then forget about them.

Edited February 27, 2022 by JLM

[BeyondTheGarden]

12 hours ago, ego said:

My issue with the baggy method is that once put on a heat mat, water evaporates and condenses on the surface of the bag while the medium becomes bone dry. How do others avoid this?

I think this issue happens when using bottom heat.  The baggies that I have surrounded by even temp don't have this problem.   For the ones that do I try to add enough moisture to compensate. 

I have seeds in baggies in my growbox which stays 80-85.  I also recently set up a grow shelf.  Not everything is from seeds started by me but anyway I ran out of room elsewhere.  A bunch of my seeds in baggies are inside a Tupperware box sitting on a heat mat.  Lower overall temp but more uniform, not burning the bottom and avoids the condensation problem mentioned earlier.. 

[BeyondTheGarden]

And plants stacked on plants stacked on plants

 

[BeyondTheGarden]

I was looking at everything and I think rolling the baggie fixes the condensation problem too.  It condenses but is in contact with the media so it stays locally confined and is reabsorbed.

[Steve Mac]

 

I'm not sure how soon the seed decides what is up or down and which way to send the root and shoot, but don't roll the bag when they are sprouting.

[Than]

Rolling the bag and leaving very little air inside seems to be the safest way. My bags are also inside a container but still water moves upwards. 

The question of when a seed knows where is up and where is down is crucial. I hope the seed doesn't know even before sprouting.. 

[Than]

6 hours ago, Jesse PNW said:

And plants stacked on plants stacked on plants

 

Wow, you've got a huge collection. I keep my plants in my bedroom and it is cluttered, although not as much as yours haha. I am looking forward to April so I can take plants out.

[ZPalms]

Does anyone know how using just perlite works to sprout seeds? I don't like using seed starter or moss because it's hard to tell if they sprout in soil and get tangled in moss and I gotta look for the ones that started