A neighbour, his brother and me are all trying to grow some palm
seeds. Mine are from europe and theirs are from florida.
So far we've had zero success... it's been a couple of months and
we're all bored of looking at an empty pot.

Do they take a long long time to germinate or have we no chance?
--
http://www.Voucherfreebies.co.uk
http://www.holidayunder100.co.uk

Some palms germinate very quickly with the first signs of growth
appearing in 7 days or so. Others can take a year or more before they
start making a move, but many fall into the 4 - 16 weeks category if
the seed is fresh and the correct conditions have been provided. With
a few exceptions, the higher the temperature, the faster the
germination process, so unless your seeds have been kept in a heated
propagator you're unlikely see much progress for many weeks yet.
There are only two species of palm native to Europe; the almost
ubiquitous European fan palm: Chamaerops humilis and the extremely
rare Cretan date: Phoenix theophrastii. There are so many palms grown
in Florida that there's little point in hazarding a guess as to what
they are.

Chamaerops germinates well if the seed is soaked for 48 - 72 hours in
tepid water and then sown in a plastic bag of barely moist perlite
that has been sealed to prevent moisture loss. Kept in an airing
cupboard, first signs of germination (root emergence) take place
within 6 weeks and the growth shoot follows a week or so later. Other
palms are best soaked for about 48 hours before sowing in the same
medium and kept as warm as possible. If palm seeds are sown
conventionally in a pot with compost, signs of life will not become
apparent for some time after germination has actually taken place.
The majority of palms will send out a root or root-like structure
first followed by the growth shoot, which will either emerge from the
same point on the seed (adjacent germinator), or at some distance away
along the root like structure (remote germinator).

The reason for using perlite in preference to normal compost is that
the chances of fungal infection that can quickly kill a seed are very
much less due to its sterile nature. When sown in a plastic bag, it is
easy to monitor the seed's progress and remove germinating seedlings
for potting up. Germinating palm seeds are very fragile and the
slightest bruising to the root-tip can kill the seedling, so they must
be handled with extreme care. Prodding around in pots of sown seeds
in the hope of finding signs of life can incur irreparable damage if
the seeds are starting to germinate so just keep the compost lightly
moist and be patient.

On Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:02:13 -0700 (PDT), Dave Poole
wrote:

Some palms germinate very quickly with the first signs of growth
appearing in 7 days or so. Others can take a year or more before they
start making a move, but many fall into the 4 - 16 weeks category if
the seed is fresh and the correct conditions have been provided. With
a few exceptions, the higher the temperature, the faster the
germination process, so unless your seeds have been kept in a heated
propagator you're unlikely see much progress for many weeks yet.
There are only two species of palm native to Europe; the almost
ubiquitous European fan palm: Chamaerops humilis and the extremely
rare Cretan date: Phoenix theophrastii. There are so many palms grown
in Florida that there's little point in hazarding a guess as to what
they are.


Thanks - mine are in a bag on a windowsill I think theirs are outside
now.
I'll give it a few months longer

Chamaerops germinates well if the seed is soaked for 48 - 72 hours in
tepid water and then sown in a plastic bag of barely moist perlite
that has been sealed to prevent moisture loss. Kept in an airing
cupboard, first signs of germination (root emergence) take place
within 6 weeks and the growth shoot follows a week or so later. Other
palms are best soaked for about 48 hours before sowing in the same
medium and kept as warm as possible. If palm seeds are sown
conventionally in a pot with compost, signs of life will not become
apparent for some time after germination has actually taken place.
The majority of palms will send out a root or root-like structure
first followed by the growth shoot, which will either emerge from the
same point on the seed (adjacent germinator), or at some distance away
along the root like structure (remote germinator).

The reason for using perlite in preference to normal compost is that
the chances of fungal infection that can quickly kill a seed are very
much less due to its sterile nature. When sown in a plastic bag, it is
easy to monitor the seed's progress and remove germinating seedlings
for potting up. Germinating palm seeds are very fragile and the
slightest bruising to the root-tip can kill the seedling, so they must
be handled with extreme care. Prodding around in pots of sown seeds
in the hope of finding signs of life can incur irreparable damage if
the seeds are starting to germinate so just keep the compost lightly
moist and be patient.
--
http://www.Voucherfreebies.co.uk
http://www.holidayunder100.co.uk