It would be super cool if you could be successful and I would love to get my hand on some seed, but I'm somewhat skeptical.

I am picturing a tall skinny trunk..covered in 3 inch needles with 4 fronts on top...and slower than a 3 legged turtle..if you get seeds sign me up!

I say go for it! Don't hold your breath though. But you've nothing to lose.

I pretty much have the same mental image of a fatter spiny clump of chunky but skinny trunked sparsely leafed palms. I fully expect failure, and if for some reason I do get a seed, it will probably take about a year to germinate.... The female flowers don't quite look open and ready to take pollen yet, but I am hoping tomorrow morning will be go time.

Did you pollinate them yet?

I have been giving them a good dose of pollen daily. It looks like the flowers are slowly opening one at a time from the tip to the base of the inflorescence, and I don't know what the time frame is when they are receptive. I figured I should err on the side of caution and continue to toss pollen on them as much as possible. Soon I will run out of fresh needle palm pollen, so I have put some in the freezer just in case. If I get a seed from this I will be amazed.

I have been giving them a good dose of pollen daily. It looks like the flowers are slowly opening one at a time from the tip to the base of the inflorescence, and I don't know what the time frame is when they are receptive. I figured I should err on the side of caution and continue to toss pollen on them as much as possible. Soon I will run out of fresh needle palm pollen, so I have put some in the freezer just in case. If I get a seed from this I will be amazed.

No surprise, but no seeds resulting from this attempt. It looked like something was trying to happen, but no fruits really developed. Just last week all of what looked like it may have pollenated yellowed and fell off. They did hold on to the plant for 2 months. I wonder if the embryos don't have room to properly form in the tiny Rhapis seed. In an x butiagrus cross, the female is the pindo which has much larger seeds than the queen. Hmmm.....

duplicate post removed

This post was edited by jfacendola on Fri, Aug 30, 13 at 9:42

Too bad, it would have been cool. Try again next time, if there ever is one?