Queen palms seedlings

[Chene209]

Anyone ever grown queen palm trees from seedlings?

I ordered from eBay.i put them in a bucket with bit of water.the next day in afternoon I put them in 5 gallon pots.i planted about 40 and around 10-15 are dead or slowly dying.first few days they were in shaded area then last two days in full sun.i still have a bunch in bucket of water,do they need rooting powder or what can I do for better success rate? Today was 82 degrees next couple of days is going to be 65 average.its windy here often.

[Butch]

Can't help you, but those thing pop up all over wherever the seeds happen to land....  No care needed here in SO. Cal. they are almost like weeds... Pretty weeds, but weeds, none the less...

Butch

 

[Fusca]

  On 3/26/2025 at 4:05 AM, Chene209 said:

Anyone ever grown queen palm trees from seedlings?

I ordered from eBay.i put them in a bucket with bit of water.the next day in afternoon I put them in 5 gallon pots.i planted about 40 and around 10-15 are dead or slowly dying.first few days they were in shaded area then last two days in full sun.i still have a bunch in bucket of water,do they need rooting powder or what can I do for better success rate? Today was 82 degrees next couple of days is going to be 65 average.its windy here often.

Expand  

Photos would be helpful.  I have germinated a couple of seeds in the past but yours apparently came to you already sprouted.  Even though queen palms like full sun even as seedlings in the ground they can be vulnerable as new sprouts especially in pots.  I would communicate with the seller as to how much sun exposure they've had since germination and then slowly acclimate them to more sun.  No rooting hormone is necessary for them.

[SeanK]

Hmm. If they were grown under shade cloth, they may be burning up under full sun. They need to acclimatize slowly to the sun.

[PalmsandLiszt]

Are these tiny sprouting seeds with one or two leaves that you bought cheaply en mass? If so, it sounds like they might have been just yanked out of the ground beneath the parent palm, which would account for lots of them dying.

[meridannight]

I agree with others that if they were received as seedlings (as opposed to sprouted seeds), then it's possible that they were dug out of the ground (depending on where you ordered them from and if that climate supports growing them outside). And anything you dig out of the ground that has put down roots, is going to go into shock immediately and is in no condition to withstand long transport times. A number will die just due to to being dug out.

If they were grown from seed by someone then they wouldn't have gone through such a shock, however sending seedlings through mail requires real expertise to package them just right so that they wouldn't die on the way. If the seller wasn't very knowledgeable and just threw the plants into the box and that was it, then the seedlings again went through stress on the way and you will surely lose some.

I wouldn't place palm seedlings into the full sun. There are a few species you can be sure of which will tolerate full sun, but most of them want partial shade during that sensitive early period of their life, even if as adults they should receive full sun.

They don't need rooting powder.

Saying all that, I have no idea how big these ''seedlings'' are. If they are true seedlings and not young plants, then that is always risky to order them through mail, because they are at a very vulnerable stage in their life where one thing going wrong can set the stage to their ultimate demise. It's almost a certainty some of them will die. At least you ordered a large number, so eventually you should still be left with some. 
 

Pictures would greatly help with assisting you with your issue, by the way.

[Chene209]

Yea this guy said he sent to California before,he sent the roots in moist napkins wrapped in newspaper.hes from florida.in the past I ordered from different nursery(pineapple guavas)n they have sent me roots in soil in bags.good chunk are still alive.ones in bucket with water still alive.i think ones that are dead got shocked.he did give me like 4o extra since I ordered alot.he said here's extra just in case some don't make it.