you're lucky. christmas palms are beautiful and so easy to grow. i had a couple of them i grew for two years from seed, but unfortunately had to leave them behind when i left the east coast. good luck, and keep us posted!

Jeff, i germinated Nannorhopps with no bottom heat in a warm conservatory (around 21-24c) i had 10 seeds from RPS and 8 germinated over a 3 month period.

Bottom heat should work fine also. What sort of growing medium are you using?

Cheers
Vic

Hi there, just been for a dig around in the palm seed trays in the depths of the airing cupboard and find one of the 6 Trachycarpus F seeds has just begun to sprout a root. Nothing from the 6 Butia C seeds yet and 2 of the 6 Sabal Minors are growing away slowly. Will let the sprout grow upwards before potting on individually and getting them to green up. Have mine in half regular peat based potting compost and half vermiculite. Potted up the Washy R seedlings also into larger/deeper pots, they are coming along nicely too.
What mix of hydrogen peroxide do you use to soak the seeds in? May have a go at that with my spare palm seeds.
Gill.

Hi Greenclaws the mixture of H202 I start with is 35% food grade I can't remember the exact breakdown but it ended up being 50ml for the 10 gallon aquarium - Even my trachies after three days began to get the little white nub pushing through so I potted them up.

I didn't think about soaking seeds in hydrogen peroxide. I have some sabal dwarf palmetto seeds I received in a trade, and would really like to germanate them. I tried once with a few, but got no germanation. Yesterday, I rubbed sandpaper on the surface and dropped them in water, and planned to just pot with a clear cover leaving outside to winter sow them in case they need cold stratification. I have the 3 percent hydrogen peroxide from the drugstore. Can I just soak a few in that (no dilution)? Can I expect a root to start coming out from soaking in that? After soaking, with or without the root, should I leave the pot inside or outside (for stratification)? I'm thinking about trying hydrogen peroxide after reading this thread. Thanks.

I have no experience with Pharmacy H202 - I would not use it as it has other chemicals that may kill the seeds, such as stabilizers . You want to find yourself some food grade 35% H202 - you can usually find it at hydroponic supply shops. There is a lot of documentation on how to make 3% from 35% on the internet and then you want to water it down even more you do not want to have your seeds sitting in 3% H202 for 5 days..lol - Try putting your seeds in the fridge for a couple of weeks not the freezer then soak them for 4 or 5 days - you may want to invest in a heat mat.

Thank you for the warning about the possible side effects of pharmacy hydrogen peroxide, which I've used on plumeria to attempt to stop tip rot. I did not soak my seeds in hydrogen peroxide. I'm only trying two and saving the others for a different week for different conditions. I sanded these, soaked them for a few days, then winter sowed them in a container, using the winter cold as a stratification process. I may move them in later if I think they'll need heat, or put them on my heating pad. Then, I have more seeds to try in the warmer months. I'll try some in the fridge at that time, too. Maybe I'll try soaking them in Spray-N-grow or Superthrive.