Cameron
Can you post a picture of where you delidded the Jubaea seeds? I've got some you sent me and would like to try. Thanks!

Jim, I don't have any Bulgarian seeds left. I was supposed to get 1000-2000 from Kiril this year, but he had a smaller seed harvest than usual, so it didn't work out! 😕

Wish I would have known earlier,I just bagged up my last 100 Bulgarian Trachy seeds for sprouting.

I mean Garry sent me like 400 seeds from China so why not plant another 100 😯

BTW

I checked my little Naini Tal and Bulgarian(sawed off the styrofoam covers to have a look)
they are both perfect-tough little buggers!

Good luck with your seeds. Sounds like you are growing lots. 😀

Jim - Grats on the palms !

Thanks everyone!

Gpenny, I'll try to post some pics for a kind of "tutorial" later today. I have another Jubaea seed that's just beginning to emerge after about 12 hours, so they're not all super fast like the first one.

Jim, good luck with all of the fortunei!

So for the Jubaea, I suppose you de-lidded both ends to get at least one end correct? Hard to figure out.
Congrats on that...6 and 12 hours!
That's about my patience level.

Yes, on the de-lidding resource of where to de-lid different types of seeds.

This seems like the perfect posting to do that, Cameron.

Maybe post "before" and "after" de-lidding pics with species. Recommend pics of successes only so we don't end up looking at pics that didn't work.
That'd be really helpful.

Barb

Here are 2 Jubaea seeds:

Here's one after I cracked the outer shell (endocarp?, you need to be very careful when doing this. I've been using a hammer and have lost a couple this way. if you use a vice or a walnut cracker, it would probably be safer):

You can see a small point on the seed above, that's where the embryo is. Here's a closer shot from above:

You will want to sand down this area just until you can see the embryo. Don't actually sand into the embryo, as this will damage it. You can see the small bit of white in the middle:

Here's a seed that took around 12 hours to germinate. It's barely out, and is hard to see in the pic, but it's growing:

As for the first seed that popped within 6 hours: When I was removing the outer shell, I cracked a bit of the actual seed by accident. It didn't seem to be having an effect on the germination at first, but as the seed soaked up more water and the embryo grew, the shell began to split all around the crack. Eventually, the gap became so large, that the embryo just floated out of the seed! 😆 The second seed isn't cracked though, and it's going great so far!

Chamaerops humilis. After 5 weeks in a community pot with no sign of germination, used sandpaper on the end, and re-soaked. After a week in water, changing water daily, here it is: De-lidding at the seed END was the wrong place.

<img src=" " width="375" height="500" alt="DSC04434" />

Picture shows seed still wet from soaking.
Barb

I decided to "sacrifice" a few seeds of each species so that I (as well as everyone who wants to try the de-lidding method) can figure out the position of the embryo in different seeds. Pics will follow.

Good work, Barb!

Trachycarpus fortunei:
The embryo position would likely be the same for the entire genus.

The seeds are shaped like kidney beans/hearts/whatever you want to call them:

The embryo is located on the opposite side of the indented part of the seed. See the white dot:

Butia eriospatha:
The embryo location would likely be the same for all Butias.

Butias are often known to produce "twin" germinations from the same seed. If you look at the pointed end of a Butia seed, you'll see three black dots. Here's one dot (blurry, right in the center):

Behind each of those dots is a possible position for an embryo. In this case, there were 2 embryos in the seed:

You want to de-lid the area around each dot:

Rhapidophyllum hystrix (needle palm):

On the left is a whole seed. You'll want to gently crack the outer shell until you have the inner seed on the right. One side of the seed will have a kind of "seam" running down it. The embryo is located on the smooth side, under a small bump:

The embryo is the faint white line, right in the middle:

Chamaerops humilis var. cerifera:

On the top seed, near the pointed end, is one dot. This is where the embryo is. The seed below shows the position:

Trithrinax campestris:

There will be one end of the seed which is darker and more pointed:

On one side, there will be a "seam" which runs all the way down the seed. Really hard to see here, but it's basically in the center:

On the left side of the seam, near the pointed end, is the embryo. White spot on the bottom right:

Nannorrhops ritchiana var. Kashmir:

This one was the hardest to figure out.

There will be a very small bump/dot at the end of the seed (the darker area right in the center of the seed in this pic):

The embryo is located beneath it: