Jubaea seed collection and germination.

[NWpalms@206]

Visited Mission Bay San Diego today, and the legendary Jubaeas. Needless to say I now have a fat stash of jubaea fruit/ seeds. From the two biggest Blue ones there. Some are still in fallen fruit some are already out and appear dry. For anyone who’s done this process please advise me how to prep and germinate/sow these seeds. I maybe have 100 seeds and might go back for more, we’re staying in mission bay until Monday. Anyways,  if you’ve been successful with these help me out I’ll share if they sprout! 

[Las Palmas Norte]

Nice haul. Sorry, can't recall my germination technique from 20 years ago. 

[BeyondTheGarden]

I got some dried seeds off ebay.  used a bench vise to crack and remove the hull and had them in communal plastic containers on a heat mat.  Germination rate was low but several germinated.  Sadly they all died off after about a year, that was before I knew how to make fast draining potting soil. 

[Collectorpalms]

7 hours ago, NWpalms@206 said:

Visited Mission Bay San Diego today, and the legendary Jubaeas. Needless to say I now have a fat stash of jubaea fruit/ seeds. From the two biggest Blue ones there. Some are still in fallen fruit some are already out and appear dry. For anyone who’s done this process please advise me how to prep and germinate/sow these seeds. I maybe have 100 seeds and might go back for more, we’re staying in mission bay until Monday. Anyways,  if you’ve been successful with these help me out I’ll share if they sprout! 

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When in doubt try to replicate their natural climate. Mainly temperature range to germinate.  So for southern hemisphere  here add 6 months.

You could try some giving them a natural winter, since they ripen in fall. Or just try germination temperatures of spring 70/41 0r straight to summer upper 80s cooling off at night. Yeah I wish you luck, I want to collect some of those, but i am 2000 miles away. Id go to huntington gardens for the amazing mule and bxj nearby. Neat hybrid palms come out of those palms.

 

[Chester B]

I got seeds from those trees. Put them on top of some damp soil and waited a couple weeks and they started popping. Easiest seeds I’ve ever germinated and got near 100% germination after a couple months. No heat, no fussing. 

[NWpalms@206]

5 hours ago, Chester B said:

I got seeds from those trees. Put them on top of some damp soil and waited a couple weeks and they started popping. Easiest seeds I’ve ever germinated and got near 100% germination after a couple months. No heat, no fussing. 

Wow that’s great news! so do you have seedlings from these jubaea? You Just put them ON TOP of wet soil? Was there any specific way you oriented the little dot on the seed that sprout comes out of ? Also I’m wondering if the ones still in fruit need to be dried out before Germinating? Sorry for the interrogation haha 

Edited October 1, 2022 by NWpalms@206

[Chester B]

33 minutes ago, NWpalms@206 said:

Wow that’s great news! so do you have seedlings from these jubaea? You Just put them ON TOP of wet soil? Was there any specific way you oriented the little dot on the seed that sprout comes out of ? Also I’m wondering if the ones still in fruit need to be dried out before Germinating? Sorry for the interrogation haha 

The seeds I got were already cleaned but fresh and pretty heavy if I remember correctly. I laid them on their “side” halfway pushed into the soil. That was it. I do still have seedlings, they are green in appearance. I think the blue shows up when they get bigger. 

[ShadyDan]

FWIW the last batch of fresh Jubaea seeds I germinated I used community pots with a 50/50 peat perlite mix. I buried the seeds there own depth in soil and used bottom heat. I had ~90% germination after a couple months this way. 
 

I never crack the hull, but cleaning the seeds from the fruit is definitely recommended!

[Josue Diaz]

Mine sprout without any help outdoors - burried by squirrels. My temps are similar to Santiago, Chile with the exception that our summer months are maybe 15 degrees warmer on average. 

 

[Banana Belt]

Getting a seed from a Jubaea to sprout would be a luxury if only I could get my Jubaea to set fruit and seeds.  My Jubaea's which are close to 40 years old have been flowering every year for 10 years but have yet to set fruit.  The flowers will  start growing fruit but abort and fall off before getting mature.  Fruit seem to hold on longer each subsequent year with this last summer hanging on longer and getting bigger than before, but still the fruit never reach maturity before falling off.  I have been told that Jubaea will start flowering as soon as the trunk starts going verticle, but won't set fruit until decades later when the trunk starts to slim down.  I can't understand the logic of this, why would a tree flower for more than a decade before setting seed?

[SeanK]

You can buy the dried coquitos ready for eating in Chile.

[matthedlund]

I germinate Jubaea seeds quite often and have gotten pretty good at it. You can use a 50/50 mix of perlite and peat moss, or just coco coir alone. I prefer coco coir as it's less prone to fungus gnats. The only prep I would do is to clean the seed of any fruit pulp and soak the seeds for a day or two. I use shallow storage totes (6") with their lids and use variable bottom heat. 80 degrees during the day, 60 at night is about right. The day night swings can make a big difference for older seed. If you use heat, don't let it get too hot, they won't like it.

[NWpalms@206]

On 10/7/2022 at 9:58 AM, matthedlund said:

I germinate Jubaea seeds quite often and have gotten pretty good at it. You can use a 50/50 mix of perlite and peat moss, or just coco coir alone. I prefer coco coir as it's less prone to fungus gnats. The only prep I would do is to clean the seed of any fruit pulp and soak the seeds for a day or two. I use shallow storage totes (6") with their lids and use variable bottom heat. 80 degrees during the day, 60 at night is about right. The day night swings can make a big difference for older seed. If you use heat, don't let it get too hot, they won't like it.

Thanks for the advice! I’ve cleaned a few hundred so far. Hopefully get them set up here soon. about how long until I should see sprouting?