wxman, that sounds like a good mix. I think that if you've got enough peat in there, it should retain moisture easily once it's soaked, and you won't have to worry as much about them drying out. As far as a tray goes, you could simply use the tupperware container without the lid. It will catch all of the extra water/soil, and you can clean it out periodically.

Barb/wxman, although some sites say it's fine to germinate T. fortunei with the fruit/skin on, I always prefer to remove it, just to avoid the risk of mold. Barb's method should work well. If you don't have an old pillowcase, just put the seeds in a ziploc bag with a bit of water. Rub the seeds around in the ziploc bag, and this will gradually remove the fruit from the seed. Rinse out the bag, and keep repeating this until it's all removed!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions .. it really means a lot. I've never had luck with palm seeds before, so I'm hoping this is the ticket. My seeds came today and I poured them in a big mixing bowl.

Then I covered them with cold tap water. Look, no floaters!

So, should I change the water a few times a day and then after about 2 days, the flesh should come off fairly easy? I tried to get the flesh off one and it was almost like peeling a lemon. Hard to get off and came in little pieces.

Sheesh, maybe I should shut up but only the dark ones are ripe seeds.

The dark ones will have the papery sheath that you can rub off after soaking for a while.

Everybody else here...PUHLEASE chime in!!!!

Barb

Barb/wxman, I have heard of green fortunei seeds germinating before. I think it was on the EPS forum, Jim might have some input on this too. You should probably just leave them in the water for a week or so, just to ripen a bit more.

Thats a lot of seeds 😀

As far as I know, for palm sees, sinking = viable. Ive never had green seeds myself, but if you go with the "sinking = germination" way of thinking, they should sprout. I think maybe waiting a bit longer to plant them might be best.

Do change the water twice or 3 times a day, and rinse the seeds in warm water. I found that using the tap to rise the seeds in a sive got rid of lots of the paper that were on my trachy seeds. They were soaking for a week, changing the water once a day. Twice is better!

Ive had horrible luck with palm/banana seeds. Ive ordered probably over 60 packets and have only gotten maybe 6 or 7 that sprouted. My advice is make sure the medium isnt wet at all, it should be slightly drier then you expect (thats how I changed my luck!). Dont let the planting medium dry out, and you should be good!. the thing is, palm seeds can take a few days, to a few weeks to over a year to germinate. Dont loose patience. The best way to speed it up is to get the proper temps for germination. Check for mold every few weeks.

The real trick is making good planting medium. I usually just buy the miracle grow seed starting mix, which in my experience isnt to bad. Most palm nuts will tell you to make your own, usually 50/50 peat/perlite, but everyone seems to have their own mix.

Good luck dude!

The green ones may germinate but I would imagine the skin
will be hard to remove which may put you back at just planting
the darker ones that the skin comes off easily.

I like germinating mine in a large zip-lock baggie,half perlite/half
sterile sphagnum moss....this way I can keep an eye on them.
I usually pot up when the first seedling leaf is 1" so I can keep
an eye on it,I have potted to many seeds with a little root
(no leaf yet) on them that never grew and were never heard from again! 😆

I picked green T.fortunei seeds as early as in October and got not a bad germination.
So definitely green ones can be sprouting as well,but may not be as good as black ones in general.

Whew, that's good to know (that green ones germinate too).

Come to think of it, John gave me some green C.humilis from his seed-set last year and two popped in no time at all.

Hey Tim, are the de-lidded ones popping?

Barb

Nothing is up from the soil yet. I have them in tupperware containers with saran wrap on top. Time will tell.

Hope you've got more patience than me, Tim.

I drove myself crazy by peering at Trachy seeds twice a day.
So I got on with other stuff and forgot about them, and poof, up they came.

Barb

any seeds sprouting yet? I have good luck at 75F to 80F. I use the plastic bag method with just moist peat moss ( soak moss in water then squeeze all water out with hands....very tight). This give just the right amount of moisture. I placed the plastic baggies in a larger cooler and placed a heating pad inside and set temp just below 80F. Germ in a couple to 4 weeks.