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How to continue after receiving germinated palm seeds?

8 years ago

I have purchased 10 seeds of Adonidia Merrillii (Golden Christmas Palm) which are already germinated, but are ot seedlings yet. I hope that at least two survive for planting in my yard. The problem is how exactly to continue with already germinated seeds that are delicate?


https://www.rarepalmseeds.com/pix/AdoGol.shtml


I planted the received-by-mail germinated seeds into pots with potting soil and placed them into mostly shade or partial shade. The temperatures this time are 15C to 20C. The soil is damp but not sogg and I only watered them twice in 2 weeks time. Yet the tops of the germinated "spears" show browning. What am I doing wrong? Perhaps they are developing deeper roots now, which takes energy away. How do I know they are not declining or dying?

Comments (7)

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Thanks. Do you think it is better to move the pots with seeds to more sunshine?

    The seeds arrived germinated (as they were sold as germinated) in a coarse vermiculite and I moved them into a mix of peat and potting soil. Perhaps they need more water? The soil is moist but not soggy. Yet they can not intake their own water yet (afaik), so perhaps I should water them more frequently?

    The problem in this island we rarely get above 25C and only in August sometimes up to 27C. When palms are larger (except the super-tropical species) they are growing just fine, except windy areas. Minimum temperatures in my land are +7C.

    Also, I placed one pot with germinated seed tinto a large container and covered it with plexiglass to create more heat.

    I also keep to be germinated variety of seeds in such containers under plexiglass as mini greenhouses.

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    I am attaching photos to illustrate:

    The seeds that have their germinated spear tops browning are Adonidia Merrillii Golden. The Bentinckia Condapanna germinated seed (almost a seedling) does not have its tip browining but have not started to continue growing yet. The green cover is against cats and birds. I moved the container into mostly sunny location. It used to be in mostly shade. You can see the browning tips and I moved several seeds to the soil surface now.

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    I am trying to germinate many kinds of palm seeds for my collection in this manner. They are unavailable to purchase neither locally nor anyone will mail to this island. The only way to DIY. This is illustration to where I moved one Adonidia m.G. germinated seed in order to see whether it will help with browning tip.




  • 8 years ago

    You probably know to never move anything that's been growing in shade straight into full sun. It needs to be gradual. The seedlings don't need full sun for a big part of the day, but morning and/or evening would be good. I had an A. merrillii Golden but animals ate it down. I put some protection around it but it was too late. Surprisingly they never touched the ordinary green A. merrillii.

    PicoAzores thanked tropicbreezent
  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Tropicbreezent, I just received an advise from RPS where I bought these seeds from. They are advising against leaving the seeds above the soil level as you advised earlier:

    RarePalmSeeds wrote:

    "sorry to hear about your failure in growing Adonidia from seeds your purchased from our shop. I noticed some of the germinated seeds are almost uncovered in the pots. Make sure you plant them deep enough (only the shoot above soil level) otherwise the seeds will dry out. Choosing smaller pots with low nutrient soil is advisable, too. One of the most important things is to cover the seedlings with transparent plastic to increase air humidity! Remember where these plants come from, warm and humid tropical areas. Without protection they will dry out and get visible brown leaves in an early stage of their growth. Also choose a bright location without direct sunlight for the pots. Hope this will help you. Good luck with growing your palm trees."

  • 8 years ago

    That's up to you.

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