Totally fresh sabel palmetto seeds! Now what do I do?

wheelman1976 · Post by **wheelman1976** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 7:24 pm

Gotta say I got an unexpected surprise today... I was at Frederick Meijer Gardens with my fiance for our tasting and afterwards we went into the conservatory (it's a huge greenhouse full of tropical foliage). Among the multiple palms there was a large sabel palmetto with seeds literally hanging over the walking path. I'm sure I broke the rules but I grabbed a handfull off the batch that was closest. So what's my best step on starting these bad boys out???

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:05 pm

Hi Doug,

Yup, they just fell into your pocket.

This link explains it fairly well, especially since you know the species.

http://www.palms.org/principes/1999/palmseeds.htm

Then have a look at the mammoth-long Germinating post (start at page 1

), lots of tips and tricks from members.

Good luck.
Barb

EDIT: also a short video on baggies http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-otF31-p9I

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:36 am

Sabals seemed to need heat...... I used 90-95F and they germed nice. I used the plastic baggie method with slightly moist peat moss. Set my thermostat controlled heater to low 90's and placed them in a large cooler. They took over 3 weeks for the first roots to show.

canadianplant · Post by **canadianplant** » Wed Feb 22, 2012 6:36 am

TimMAz6 wrote:Sabals seemed to need heat...... I used 90-95F and they germed nice. I used the plastic baggie method with slightly moist peat moss. Set my thermostat controlled heater to low 90's and placed them in a large cooler. They took over 3 weeks for the first roots to show.

ITs true. THey will germinate at room temp, but the lower the temp, the slower they germinate. They also do way better with bottom heat, set around 25 - 30 C ( I think thats 85 - 90F)