Palmvrienden forums

Roystonia borinquena - 6 days, Sabal bermudiana - 12 days, S. minor 9 days, Phoenix roebelenii - 14 days, P. reclinata x canariensis 16 days, Livistona decipiens - 17 days, Rhopalostylis sapida - 19 days, R. baueri - 17 days, Syagrus romanzoffiana - 23 days, Jubaea chilensis - 35 days, Archontophoenix cunninghamiana - 20 days, Dypsis lutescens - 13 days, Chamaerops humilis 26 days.

Just popped in before I scamper up the M5 for Christmas. Continuous soak has been my favoured method of germinating palm seeds for many years. Although it does not always bring about faster germination, I've not had negative results from any of the genera I've tried and with few exceptions (mainly very large seeded palms), I consider it to be a fairly safe and sure method.

The seeds must be cleaned properly first otherwise keeping bacteria levels down even with a daily change of water will be a problem. I usually soak the seeds for a few hours and then clean them. Any dried remains of the fruit will re-hydrate and become obvious. The seeds are then soaked for an hour in a hypochlorite solution - 1:10 of a 5% sol'n. This sounds technical, but if you shop for the cheapest, straight, household bleach, it is usually 5% hypochlorite. About 2 teaspoonfuls to a cup of water will give roughly the right dilution.

After that the seeds are rinsed and placed in tepid water that is changed daily. In some cases, germination is remarkably rapid and others less so: Roystonia borinquena - 6 days, Sabal bermudiana - 12 days, S. minor 9 days, Phoenix roebelenii - 14 days, P. reclinata x canariensis 16 days, Livistona decipiens - 17 days, Rhopalostylis sapida - 19 days, R. baueri - 17 days, Syagrus romanzoffiana - 23 days, Jubaea chilensis - 35 days, Archontophoenix cunninghamiana - 20 days, Dypsis lutescens - 13 days, Chamaerops humilis 26 days.

I usually wait until the root or cotyledonary petiole (depending upon whether it is an adjacent or remote germinating species) has extended to about 5mm. This usually means leaving them for just a day or two after the first signs of germination. The seedlings are then given a short, 10 mins. soak in hypochlorite solution (same dilution as above), rinsed, carefully sown in heat sterilised soil-less compost and kept lightly moist. Shoots can take from 1 to 3 weeks to show dependent upon genera and/or species.

Impatience and a realistic approach to life expectancy LOL means that I rarely bother to grow palms from seed nowadays, preferring to get them after someone else has the bother of growing them on for a few years

On the water change, it may be that the water is removing germination inhibitors from the seed. I’ve read this is needed in some seeds.