Various Seedlings

RoboCaesar · Post by **RoboCaesar** » Wed Nov 14, 2012 9:49 pm

I got interested in growing palms back in May, and have since acquired a collection that is probably too large.

Phoenix Dactylifera Seedlings:

These have been great. I got them to germinate in early June. Then they were neglected for a while in soil that was probably too soggy and dense. Even though it was a cold start to the summer (lows in the lower 50s, highs in the 60s), the seedlings kept on growing. I now have 6 solid seedlings that I'll transplant soon. Each one is over 6 inches tall.

Adonidia Merrilli Seedlings:

The first set of seeds I got were too old and didn't germinate. In late August, I ordered some seeds off of ebay that were very fresh (don't be afraid to contact the seller and ask about the age of the seeds). I got a nearly 100% germination rate in about 2 weeks. These seedlings are a little over 2 months old right now and aren't that big, but they only just emerged from the soil recently. Right now I have about 20 seedlings.

Washingonia Seedlings:

These are what I started out with in May. I have 13 seedlings that are steadily growing. Next spring, I think I'll plant some in the ground in a somewhat warmer and drier part of the yard and see what happens (with a little bit of winter protection for sure). The winters aren't usually that cold here, but it's the once-a-year or so frosts with temperatures in the lower 20s that I would have to watch out for.

canadianplant · Post by **canadianplant** » Thu Nov 15, 2012 4:33 am

"I got interested in growing palms back in May, and have since acquired a collection that is probably too large. "

Have you seen pics of barbs place

Personally I have over 100 houseplants, and I still dont have enough

Great looking seedlings though, I like how the washys look like little bonsai!

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:17 am

robocaesar, nice looking seedlings, good work!

Phoenix should come out of the community pot ASAP, they have massively long roots and once they get entwined, tough to get 'em apart.
And try to get them into 14-inch pots.
Stuewe's is a great company/great service to order from:
http://www.stuewe.com/products/treepots.php
I planted all my seedlings into their 14-inch tree pots.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/8078203232/" title="008 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8470/8078 ... ff95_c.jpg" width="600" height="800" alt="008"></a>

I've got some Christmas palm seedlings too; a beautiful palm.
And wxman has a gorgeous one planted out.

Here's 2 or 3 Xmas palms in the big round pot:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/8126439054/" title="006 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8053/8126 ... 75aa_c.jpg" width="600" height="800" alt="006"></a>

You had THAT MUCH growth on your Washies since May???? wow.
Well grown!

Shucks...still see your floor...there's room for more!

Barb

RoboCaesar · Post by **RoboCaesar** » Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:44 am

canadianplant,
I'm pretty amazed at the variation in size among my washingtonia seedlings. I'm not quite sure what causes it, but I'm enjoying my bonsai palms until they someday become massive!

Barb, I'm pretty happy with the growth rate of the washies. The most mature one (germinated in mid-june) is already working on its 6th leaf. Thanks for the website link to Stuewe's. I ordered some containers for the date palms and it shipped on the same day. I also got some containers for all the Christmas palm seedlings for good measure.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Fri Nov 16, 2012 8:55 am

website link to Stuewe's. I ordered some containers

There's a bit of a trick to getting them apart as they're packed tightly.
Pull and push apart from the bottoms, then it works.

They stand up nicely in milk crates (make friends with your grocer).

working on its 6th leaf.

Whatever you're doing, keep doing it.

Barb

wxman · Post by **wxman** » Sat Nov 17, 2012 9:03 pm

You'll love Christmas palms. They seem to want to start dividing their leaves and trunking young! Keep them warm and happy!

Cameron_z6a_N.S. · Post by **Cameron_z6a_N.S.** » Sat Nov 17, 2012 9:35 pm

Nice work! When your seedlings start overflowing from one room, STOP PLANTING SEEDS or else they'll take over your whole house!

RoboCaesar · Post by **RoboCaesar** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:13 pm

Yep wxman, I'm really looking forward to when my Christmas Palms take off! They look awesome when they're more mature with their trunks and arching fronds.

I definitely have to be careful about how many seeds I plant, unless they're trachies because I can just plant them in the backyard with no supervision (I might need to get a hold of some more seeds by the time spring arrives). Indoors though, I've had to hold myself back from buying more seeds or palms at times!

A quick update since I like to document things:

I transplanted the date palms last night:

The roots weren't nearly as long as I thought they might be. Maybe it's because the soil was consistently wetter than it needed to be? So it was pretty easy to separate the seedlings. I also thought it was interesting how the original seeds are already rotting away, since they're fairly big in the first place.

The date palms have been labeled and transplanted into pretty deep containers and are ready to keep on growing inside until springs finally arrives!

EDIT: Fixed image URLs

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 5:40 pm

You'll love those Stuewe containers.

Good you transplanted them...another six months in a community pot and you'd be tearing your hair out.

Barb