Germinating palm seeds

Hello all,

I just begun the adventure of germinating palm seed. Does any one have a suggestions on how to setup a stable environment using a heating mat and a thermostat controller. Any successful, small, home-made green house ideas or contraptions, beside setting the seeds in a bag on a computer monitor (unless that is the best way). I have read of placing the seeds in a bag of moist S. Moss and maintaining a temperature range. Question, do I put the bag of seeds directly on the mat or raise it slightly or put the bag and heating mat inside something? If someone could provide some details I would greatly appreciate the advice.


thanks
brian

I have had good luck with many different mediums. Probably most my experience is with reg potting soil, a deep (10" ) large tub with a coiled wire running throughout the bottom 1" or so and set on 85-90F. Then I keep the soil moist and cover the tub. That worked great for most palm seeds (and lots of other seeds, too)... but I had a lot of gnat problems. Then I used moist perlite in a large foam container (4'x3'x8')- trays of perlite about 2-3" deep and keep a light bulb in there all the time for heat. That worked great for cycad seeds, but the palms weren't as happy- they'd germinate, but dry out despite my best efforts at keeping the perlite moist. Have raised palm seeds in baggies of peat moss and vermiculite (don't like that one too much) on the counter sink. Some palm seeds like to be soaked in diluted bleach for a few days first (kills any fungus and gets the good and wet).

If you already have a theromstatically controlled heat mat your half way there. I use large transperant containers with sealable lids which are 1/3rd filled with germinating medium ( medium varies on preferance and depth depends on size of container and which palm seeds your germinating)
the container sits directly on the heat mat and the mat runs at about 30C ( 86F) The lid seals in moisture which means the medium will not dry out and you will not have to water the seedlings untill they are ready to come out.
Take palmbob's advice on soaking in diluted bleach (1:10) and steralise your containers with the same.

Jay.

Palmbob:

What do you think of the method described here:

http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/shop/RhoAuc.shtml

"Seeds collected fresh were received within 4 weeks from NZ. They were cleaned to remove any dried remaining flesh and then soaked in dilute bleach for 20 minutes. After rinsing, the seeds were placed in a container of tepid (23°C) water and kept warm (approx 23 - 25°C). The water was replaced daily to prevent bacterial build-up on the outer seed coats. After 3 days, half of the seeds were sealed in a poly-bag part filled with lightly moist perlite and kept at around 25°C. The remaining seed was left in the tepid water close to a radiator. Temperatures fluctuated between 22 - 27°C on a regular basis and the water was changed daily - the seed being quite vigorously flushed each time. After 19 days, waxy-white 'buttons' were noticed on the soaking seeds. These had elongated to over 1 mm. long within 3 days. At this point the seeds showing activity (about 80%) were sown below the surface in a community pot comprising 3 parts perlite, 1 part sterilised multi-purpose (soil-less) compost. First aerial shoots appeared after another 20 days. The remaining seeds in soak all showed signs of germination within 10 days."

Sounds OK, but a lot more observation time than I would ever be willing to spend. I just stick the seeds in the seed box and look again every week or so. Eventually I take out the plants once they are overgrowing the seed box. I'm far too lazy to look all the time and clean water etc.

I've found the most important part of germinating Trachycarpus seed to be the seed-soak of 24-48 hours. If they're not well soaked they just don't germinate as evenly.

Is it safe to use the bleach mixture on germinated seeds? It seems I always have the odd seed or two in each community pot with mold problems. I have been spraying with Neem, but the mold usually returns within a week. The radicules typically look strong/healthy.