Wes,

As far as a germination medium,
Perlite is great for Cycad and a lot of Palm seeds, you do however need to keep a closer eye on the moisture levels.
Sphagnum moss is good too, also holds a bit more moisture. For a general mix, I've been using a 50/50 mix of
Sphagnum moss and Perlite.

It all takes some experimenting to find out what works best in your location.

Trachycarpus fortunei

Never started any from seed, have read they should germinate at room temp with no additional heat.
I'm sure there are some people here at PalmsNorth who could give you great advice, maybe even
start a separate post on germinating these for future reference ❓

BTW ~ Here is one of the seedlings you brought me,

Brahea armata

Never tried these either, but some info,

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a warm greenhouse at not less than 24°c . Germination of fresh seed usually takes place in 3 - 4 months at 25°c . Stored seed is very slow to germinate. Pre-soaking the seed for 24 hours in warm water prior to sowing may shorten the germination time.

http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Brahea+armata

Phoenix sylvestris

Treat this like you would any other Phoenix ( Day or two soak, and then bottom heat )

Coccothrinax barbadensis

Haven't tried this particular one, most Coccothrinax germinate fastest
at higher temps. ( Day or two soak, and then 95*F temps for 1-3 months )
Coccothrinax are slow growing when young, although, C.barbadensis is said to be a faster growing one.

This Coccothrinax litoralis is 3 years old.
( At this point, the Cactus are faster growing 😀

Steve

Wes

As Steve stated trachys do not need anything special as far as temp. I have had the most success just setting them on top of the fridge. The brahea seeds are going to want some heat. Mine did great on a heat pad set to 85-90*F.

Awsome guys. Thanks!!
BTW Steve, your Fortunei I gave you looks GREAT. The one I kept looks HORRIBLE. You did GREAT with it.!!

Craig, how do you adjust the heat on your heat pad?
Mine is either on or off, no knob.
It's barely warm, certainly not 85 to 90*F

Barb

Trachy seeds are not the easiest in my opinion as the seeds tend to have fungus and mold issues. Maybe Steve can chime in here with his tea recipe for keeping seeds free of these. Barb you should buy yourself a three pronged timer for your heat mat 16 on 8 off.That should replicate nature as much as possible. Try a meat thermometer to see actual temps in your germination medium. I have the same heat mat as you and it has germinated loads of seeds.

Yea, I remember that mold was an issue when I tried them before. That was my first time trying to germinate and I BLEW IT big time.

John
thanks for the tip; will do.
Now my neighbours can wonder what I'm growin' 😆 😆
Barb

Are very easy to germinate and they do not need heat. I have some falling of my large female and are germinating right in the ground. I haven't been above 14C in quite a while so that gives you an idea about heat for germinating trachycarpus seeds.
As far as mold is concerned I found the best way is not to use the baggie method but to use a large rubbermaid bin fill it with peat moss and perlite and cover it until the seeds at about 4" in height then uncover them and let them grow or transplant them to one gallon pots. This method works great for me. I have never lost one to mold. I also just plant them in the ground around my garden and they germinate fine there.

Great Wes. Last night I put them in a baggie. The first baggie method I have used in a year and now you tell me NOT to use a baggie. 😆 😆 😆 😆

I think I will take your word for it and move them to a "tupperware" type lid locking bowl.

Thanks a million for the adivce!

Just germinated some of these recently, hope you had good luck with yours!

Phoenix sylvestris

Seeds,

An overnight soak, then exactly two weeks later.

Brahea armata

Seeds,

Soaked these for three days, took about four months to germinate. So far eight out of ten have germinated within the same week.

Steve

great pictures Steve. There is a certain satisfaction that goes with germinating seed. It pays to have patience, because the darn palm trees take forever to grow up. i still germinate way too many seeds and am not sure what to do with them at this point. i can't throw them away and they are taking over my house and basement. My friends are not interested in growing plam trees from seedlings and they do take alot of work. I may plant a whole bunch of my cold hardy stuff in ground this spring and summer and see what can survive.

How about anyone else here, what do you paln to do with your masses of seedlings?

You people are the germination KINGS! Nice.

It pays to have patience

You've hit the nail on the head, Kent. THAT and the right set-up (I thought I had that).

I simply ran out of patience. Did the baggie method, used a heat mat, used a mini plastic GH, checked temps daily.
Neurotic/obsessive became the norm, and I drilled into a Bismarckia seed "just to look" instead of what everyone else does ... just leave them alone until they pop! 😆

Once summer arrived 6 months later, nothing had popped.

And, just like oppalm said, I couldn't throw anything out (in case they were gonna pop tomorrow), so I tossed all the seeds in with my supply of potting soil mixes. Just in case 😆 😆
Nothing's come up out of the soil mix that other palms are planted in.

The palms I TRIED to pop: Brahea sp. (super silver), Brahea armata, Copernicia hospita, Bismarckia nobilis.

I do enjoy seeing other people's seeds pop!
Barb

Barb I can almost guarantee you it`s not you it`s the seeds why some aren`t popping for you. Some seed companies sell old seed 😈 . Ex. Bismarkia nobilis is among the fastest germinating palm seed species usually 1 week FRESH SEED. Maybe try a different company for seeds heres one I`ve ordered from.www.seedrack.com

John

I had great luck with the Sylvestris and they are still growing. the rest...um not so good.