The nut IS the seed. The seed contains an embryo inside, which needs the energy from the nut to germinate (in other words, the nut is the embryo's food source). Cracking the seed and taking the embryo out is like practicing an abortion. Other seeds that are similar are corn seeds, canna seeds, Ravenala madagascarensis, banana seeds and strelitzia seeds. DONT DO IT! they will not grow.

I JUST WANTED CENTRAL CALI369 THAT HE MUST NOT KNOW WHAT A BUTIA CAPITATA SEED IS OR LOOKS LIKE BECAUSE I WENT AHEAD AND BROKE OPEN 6 OF THE NUTS AND GOT 15 SEED OUT. 12 OF THE 15 HAVE STARTED TO GROW, THEY HAVE ROOTS AND THE FIRST SMALL LEAF COMING OUT. I PUT THEM IN A GOOD SEED STARTER MIX AND A LITTLE WATER IN A SANDWICH BAG ON A HEATING MAT AND IT WORKED FOR ME

Enterprise17o1:

First, please, turn the ALL CAPS off before you post. It is considered yelling on discussion forums.

Can you post pics of your seeds / seedlings. From what I have seen the whole nut is in fact the seed for the Butia Capitata. Ive seen the whole nut sprouting and growing. I would be curious to see what you have and what you say is the "seeds" you got out of the nut.

Sorry novaplantguy I did not mean to yell but when your eyes are as bad as mine are you really have to use all caps unless you get someone to do all your typing like I am doing now. Give me a little bit and I will have all the pics you want.

Enterprise17ol, i do know what a butia capitata seed looks like. I have germinated over 100 of them. If you broke the "nut" and got seeds out, you've got a seed pod of some sort. Palm seeds don't come in pods. Butia Capitata seeds look like miniature coconuts. Here's a link to what Butia Capitata seeds look like.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Butia capitata seeds have 3 seeds in each nut. Most of the time only one is viable but I've seen seeds with three plants out of the same seed.

Yes, palm seeds may sometimes be polyembryonic (containing more than one embryo (not seeds). The embryo alone is not likely to survive/geminate though. It uses the energy from the endosperm (the fleshy white "meat" inside of the nut) to germinate and produce the first roots and leaf. Which is why i told Enterprise not to take the embryo out of the nut. He/She insist that they opened the nut and obtained many seeds which are germinating already, which is what has me baffled because palm nuts don't contain multiple individual seeds. The nuts are the seeds. The fact that she opened the "nut" and got "seeds" out leads me to think that he/she has some other type of seed, not palm seeds.
Here's a picture i found online of a palm nut. The embryo is the small white stump-looking thing at the bottom tip of the nut. The rest of the inside of the nut is the "meaty" substance called the endosperm.

And here's a link to a page with some information regarding palm nuts.

Here is a link that might be useful: All about palm trees

Thanks Turtile
For letting them know I'm the only one who knows the difference in a seed and a nut.
Now if anyone will tell me how to put pictures on here I will post the ones you want to see.

Enterprise
Go to photobucket open an account for free then upload your pics then use the hotmail tag.

Hey Enterprise, I don't mean to be a bully. I'm just really confused about the fact that you got 15 seeds out of 6 palm nuts. And, Butia seeds take more than a month to germinate, at least for me. Anyway, just follow topher's dirrections and you should be able to upload pics for us to see.

Just thought I'd revive this thread as the discussion intruiged me. Apparently, Butia can produce more than one seed per fruit/nut. Here are some pictures of a Butia eriospatha fruit/nut I cracked open to reveal two separate seeds. Each has its own endosperm and embryo (visible as the raised bump on the removed seeds). I'm going to repeat this procedure on half my fruits/nuts and leave the other half with the hard seed coat intact to see if one speeds germination more than the other.

treeguy_ny what was the outcome of your experiment?

Newbie...is Pindo Butia CApitata the same as Jelly Palm?

Transplanted 3 in the past two years. Live in coastal NC where the Cape Fear River meets the Atlantic.

The two newer and larger transplants both produced these huge 2'plus long ear of corn looking pods. Was expecting and hoping for fruit. Spindly xmas tree shaped growths appeared with hundreds of nuts/seeds that you-all have been talking about. Branches were about 14" or so long easily. Nuts are hite inside, pointy end as pictured in one of the posts..about the size of a large blueberry. Another post area in this site says it can be 6-9 months before they germinate...soak in water two days,etc. So, knowing me somewhere in that length of time I'm going to forget to water... So...think I'll see what I can do to stimulate fruit as I want to try jelly and wine. Any tips?

BTW local horticulturalist tells me he thinks the cold winter (for here) stimulated many pindo's to send out these pods.

Regards, Steve

I have germinated Pindo palm embryos.There are 3 in each seed.

Tatsuo

Hello, I have a beautiful Jelly Palm that is just now flowering after 4-5 years on the coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. I am very interested in eating the seed and did not see any posts of people enjoying the seed to eat. Please send some info on eating.????

A lot of people make jelly out of the fruit.The seeds are inside the fruit.I've never heard of anybody eating the seeds.I don't know if you can eat the seeds,I've never really thought about eating the seeds.Be careful some seeds are poisonous.Did someone tell you that you can eat the seeds of B.capitatas?I would try and find out more info.on which seeds are palatable and which ones are not.
Randy

People do eat the nuts! I tried one (the embryos that I cracked open), and they tasted a little bit like coconut, but with less taste. My son loves to eat the ripe fruit! People in Brazil, where I grew up, make all sorts of desserts with the fruit. Here in South Carolina (and in other parts of the South), people make jelly from the ripe fruit. I have also heard that some people make a sort of "coffee" from the nuts. I have MUCH more research that I need to do!
Right now I am preparing the cracked nuts (I understand that you have to keep them extremely clean in order to germinate them), as well as some unbroken ones. I will see which ones germinate the best.

I have never seen a Butia seed cracked open and produce two different seeds. That is crazy cool. Here are some photos of some Butia's and hybrid Butia seed that I work with. For germination I do not crack the seeds. First off I found it much better to plant them in community tubs or beds as I found planting them singularly I had poor germination. I store the seed in the fridge for a month for cold stratification then plant them and hit them with bottom heat of 95F. 3 months in normal time for germination. Here are some photos. Some I have shared here before.

Last photo is off a quad seedling. It was mentioned above that you could only obtain 3 plants from one seed. I have found however that you can have 6. Two per hole on the seed.

Community bed at 95F

4 months later.

The seed producers.

Hi all! I want to germinate myself the Pindo palm seegs. Please help me and give me an information what kind of ground i should use for it or what is the best way to garmindate the butia nuts. I have some other question too. How long needs pindo palmt to give a first fruits. I will have it in Georgia (NOT US state Georgia, but on another side of earth, on nearly same latitude as New York) In capital Tbilisi. Thanks a lot in advance

Hi

Question from New Orleans

I am just trying to clarify on the pinedo palm seeds. I have been told to soak the pods for a couple of days then plant in grow plugs and keep heated with a heating pad and in a grow box with a dome. My question is:

I have also been told to keep on a dark place, keep the warm and humid.

Other sites say the need sun light.

Which way is the best as I am planting them now

Thanks for any help you can provide

Btw this is the Palm Tree they came off of