Neighbor gave me Butia Odorata seeds now what? (PICS)

[Dwarf Fan]

I posted pics to get an ID of my neighbors Palm that set seed and it was IDed as a Butia odorata in this thread:

Today I seen him out front of his garage and I asked if I could have some of the seeds from his Butia he said, “go ahead take them all they just make a mess of my yard”.

Score! 🙂

Pics of the seeds below, my question is how do I prep these to grow?

Do I just remove the flesh and put them in a pot with soil and water them? Or is there an optimal germination method for Butia Odorata seeds?

 

[Fusca]

17 hours ago, Dwarf Fan said:

Pics of the seeds below, my question is how do I prep these to grow?

Do I just remove the flesh and put them in a pot with soil and water them? Or is there an optimal germination method for Butia Odorata seeds?

Are you going to eat the fruit?  It's delicious and although you don't get much fruit compared to the amount of seed you can make outstanding jelly from it.  That Butia odorata has a very nice form.  Did you check around the palm trunk for any volunteer seedlings already sprouted?  With the volume of fruit that's produced often times a couple of fruits get caught in the old leaf boots and germinate there.  You can certainly do as you suggested - I personally have had better results by cold-stratifying the seed in the refrigerator for a couple of months before sowing.  @Scott W can probably give you some good advice.  I believe that he's grown many from seed.

[Dwarf Fan]

6 hours ago, Fusca said:

Are you going to eat the fruit?  It's delicious and although you don't get much fruit compared to the amount of seed you can make outstanding jelly from it.  That Butia odorata has a very nice form.  Did you check around the palm trunk for any volunteer seedlings already sprouted?  With the volume of fruit that's produced often times a couple of fruits get caught in the old leaf boots and germinate there.  You can certainly do as you suggested - I personally have had better results by cold-stratifying the seed in the refrigerator for a couple of months before sowing.  @Scott W can probably give you some good advice.  I believe that he's grown many from seed.

I am not going to eat the fruit, yes I also thought the Palm has a nice appearance it has been there since prior to 2007 so definitely well over 16 years (probably 20+).

I didn’t recall seeing any volunteers on the ground, but I will take another look and pay extra attention to the boots as well thanks for the tip, I wouldn’t have thought to look in the boots. 

I sent a PM ago Scott thanks, could you tell me more about the “cold-stratifying” method you used?

Edited July 29, 2023 by Dwarf Fan

[Fusca]

On 7/28/2023 at 10:51 PM, Dwarf Fan said:

could you tell me more about the “cold-stratifying” method you used?

Nothing too complicated - I took the cleaned seeds and put them in a baggie and placed them dry in the refrigerator and soaked/planted them after their stint in the refrigerator.

I've also done the same thing with Butia embryos.  If you put a seed in a vise and tighten SLOWLY until the hard outer shell cracks there are often 2-4 embryos contained in each seed.

[Dwarf Fan]

1 hour ago, Fusca said:

Nothing too complicated - I took the cleaned seeds and put them in a baggie and placed them dry in the refrigerator and soaked/planted them after their stint in the refrigerator.

I've also done the same thing with Butia embryos.  If you put a seed in a vise and tighten SLOWLY until the hard outer shell cracks there are often 2-4 embryos contained in each seed.

I was reading about the vice method to get out the inner embryos, I might employ several different methods and start a thread and post the results, I will try to use a few of the most commonly used methods others have had success with and do a heads up test since I have so many seeds to experiment with.
 

How long was their time in the refrigerator?

[Dwarf Fan]

Seeds from one inflorescence with flesh removed by hand and rinsed a few times with water:

Edited August 3, 2023 by Dwarf Fan

[Fusca]

On 7/30/2023 at 2:34 PM, Dwarf Fan said:

How long was their time in the refrigerator?

I think around 10 weeks.

[Bigfish]

Butia odorata does tend to respond well to letting the seeds “rest” for several months.  This lets the embryos continue to mature within the seed.  I harvested some last August, cleaned and dried them, then bagged them up and just let them sit in room temperature until this April.  In late July, they started popping up like grass.   That might be a little longer than necessary to let them rest, but they do seem to benefit from it.

[Scott W]

They also benefit from bottom heat and high humidity.  Bury them about a quarter inch under sterile soil, cover them and wait.  Can take upwards to 2 years for germination.

Here's some links to a few articles that expand on what I'm talking about...

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263460045_Alleviation_of_seed_dormancy_in_Butia_odorata_palm_tree_using_drying_and_moist-warm_stratification

http://www.palmsociety.org/members/english/chamaerops/051/051-13.shtml

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272238172_Seed_after-ripening_and_temperature_influence_Butia_capitata_germination

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350536008_Palm_Seed_Germination

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283798068_Endocarp_Removal_Enhances_Butia_capitata_Mart_Becc_Pindo_Palm_Seed_Germination