142 replies to this topic

[smile]

hello everybody
This is a message from nederlands
I have to kris borassus flabifier seeds received on 08 10 2008
now 25 10 2008
the first two germinating
at 25 degrees daytime and 20 degrees night
i will continue to keep
peter

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[surgeon83]

Congratulations. Now get it into a big pot! It sure was nice of Kris to send seeds to so many people.

[Ray Tampa]

Peter,

That is a wonderful palm. Good luck with it. Please keep us updated on the growth.

Ray

[smile]

yes
my third is also germinate
there have been three and all three germinate
peter

[Al in Kona]

Here's a Borassus flabifier growing in Kona, Hawaii from seed brought back from the IPS Biennial in Thailand about 10 years ago. Tall guy Garrett Webb stands next to the palm to give scale. Now you know what to expect with your germinating seed in about 10 years! BTW, Garrett has some of these palms for sale at his nursery.

I have one Borassus sambiranensis growing in ground at my place in south Kona, Hawaii Island. It has quite a different look from B. flabifier.

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[Kris]

Dear Peter

thanks for the update ! and iam very happy for you...since the seeds are fresh to reach this stage its possible...now take care of those little ones,since if you are in your wet winters it would rot easily.

So all the best & happy growing !

And by the way many had PM me asking they want to see the Borasssus flabifier in its natural habititate last 2 days i was working on that project.and their are lots of stills taken.and i will soon post them in our main discussion board.And one point i noticed in its habititate is the soil is coastal sandy soil or beach soil and the sea is less than one Km from the growing area of these borassus.F

lots of love to you,
Kris

[Jeff in Modesto]

hello everybody
This is a message from nederlands
I have to kris borassus flabifier seeds received on 08 10 2008
now 25 10 2008
the first two germinating
at 25 degrees daytime and 20 degrees night
i will continue to keep
peter

Peter... Looks good, but they need to be much warmer to be happy.

I got 3 seed from the same source as you... planted 10.11.08 ... in 50/50 potting soil and perlite . Only took less than 2 weeks to sprout at 30c.( 86f )
Now 20 days from planting the seed, the longest root is already 5 inches long.
Best to put your pots in very warm place, for fastest growth. The soil should be warm to the the touch.

Jeff

[fdrc65]

I like very much this palm, here a beautiful specimen in Phuket, Thailand




bye

[Kris]

Dear Jeff

Thanks for posting those above germination information in this thread,since i wish that all who want to share their borassus.F seed germination experiences & updates for the year 2008 can kindly use this as their main thread.since starting numerous threads under the same name or topic could be very confussing to search for the desired data in the future...

I hope to get full co-operation from all of you in this regard...All the best & happy germination

thanks & love,
Kris

[Kris]

Borassus flabellifer Seed Germination :-

The Link !

[Kris]

Another Link ! As how to grow this palm...

[Kom Thai Palm]

dear all,

I have one pic from visiting Phuket last year.

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[Kom Thai Palm]

Deal all,

Recommend 12" Deep pot for germination.

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[Kris]

Dear Komi

thanks very much for those lovely stills and thanks for stopping by after a really long time my friend...

Lots of love to you,
Kris

[Kris]

Some more palmyra seeds germination visuals for the year_2008,Stills courtesy our forum members !




A close-up still...


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[Kris]

All cleaned seeds were kept in a cardboard box..


Later seeds were grouped and kept in polythene carry bags to avoide seeds drying up fast !



Here in this still how the seeds were packed & the 2 big seeds seen are Big mama & the small SA2 is standard form..(i call them the week looking ones or washy robusta type looking)



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[Kris]

Most of our members have improvised new technicks..just to make it certain that those germinated seeds do grow-up into healthy palms
And i must say most have tried the baggie method,and the results seem to be fine










And one friend of mine has even cut PVC drain pipes to fabricate them into tall containers..



...

[Kris]

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[Kris]

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[geonomaDude]

Hi all,
Here I post a summary of my Borassus germination experience. Again, thanks Kris for the seeds!

[Kris]

Dear Adolfo

thanks for the update & your welcome by little brother.. And hope all will start using this same thread to share their experience on their palmyra seeds,and refrain from starting new topics under various headers for sharing the same information !

thanks & love,
Kris

[Kris]

Okay till new updates on the palmyra seeds germination for the year'08 comes in..lets see some stills on the seeds of this variety !
Their are 2 prominent seed sizes avaliable in the borassus flabifier specie..this post will have stills of that..

First still is of the big seed form,which we call as big mama !



Now lets see the standard form,the seeds here are not that big compared to the ones seen above !




Big mama seed...



Standard seed or the regular form..


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[Kris]

Few more comparative stills...









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[Kris]

This year i tried only 2 palmyra seeds for my materials needed for germination thread..And here are some visuals of that ! Year after year i just following the method you see below and i get consistent good germination & grouth through this method.Hope its of some use to you all..

Hai to all friends here,here are some visuals of the palmyra seeds germination..this is my most successeful method.i do this every year with 2 to 3 seeds.
Here is a demonstration of type I












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[Kris]

The seeds socking process...

Cont..

Seed Socking For 2 to 3 days but just one day of socking is sufficient for fresh seeds !



Top Side..



Bottom Side..



Air Drying for 30 minutes..under a celing fan


...

[Kris]

Cont...












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[Kris]

Cont..












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[Kris]

Cont..

This is the big industrial barrel where i grow all my heavy trunking palms...










This barrel is tagged with all the information using a white cryon pencil..


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[Kris]

Cont...

Steel mesh is used as a safe guard against Notorious squrieal attacks..






This barrel is gently watered and by the way the barrel is in our roof top garden under full sunlight and we are in our wet winters and the temperature is around 78 to 84 degrees farenheat.



A close-Up !


Love,
Kris

And by the way i will keep you all updated as to how its doing...

[surferjr]

Kris,

I'm very impressed by your patience to detail......wow!! Cleanliness etc

Your going to need more patience as this palm is slower than my Voanioala Gerardii Forest Coconut or Pseudophoenix Sargentii for me.

3 years 3 leafs??

Merry Christmas,
clark

[Davidl]

Kris how long from germination to the first frond ? I planted one in a big pot and one in the ground about three or four months ago and they had a sinker roots about 13 inches long when planted.

[surferjr]

Kris how long from germination to the first frond ? I planted one in a big pot and one in the ground about three or four months ago and they had a sinker roots about 13 inches long when planted.

Took me 6 months.....don't know if you can call it a frond.....more like a spike!

Clark

[Davidl]

I would be glad to see that but I guess it will show up soon. Thanks

[Kris]

Dear David

it took for me 26 to 28 days to get the palmyra seed germinated and the first signs of upward grouth(sprout/spike)it took roughly 5 to 6 months...But how fast they grow after that i have not documented it till this day.Since usually after germination i throw it into garbage can.But for a change iam growing this palm(Big Mama Series)to see how fast they grow & how big they can grow staying in those big black industrial barrels is the task that i have taken up this time.And if i find it intreasting who knows i might even plant it in our garden..

And Dear Clark

Thanks for the greetings !

Lots of love,
Kris

[FRITO]

Kris, great photos, I missed this thread earlier!

Can you explain your markings with the marker on the seed, Im guessing BM is for BIG MAMA? (drooling and rolling in it)

show us BIG MAMAS HOUSE!

lots of love to you and Big mama!
Luke

Edited by FRITO, 21 December 2008 - 09:58 PM.

[Kris]

Dear Luke

those markings seen on those seeds are for me to know which seeds from which parent.Since one fruit has 3 seeds and my men collect seeds from different mother borassus flabifier_(B.F) and place them in appropriate bags.so once they reach our house.it takes me one day to segricate then.and the cleaning process which is the hardest part,since its very fibrus and slippery and smells sweet like finest wines(Cognac)Which gives severe headache while cleaning more seeds...

And when indugual fruits are cleaned,they are placed seperately according to the parent..so once they are dried and clean the tagging begins All 'A's like A1,A2,A3,A5...and so on refers to seeds taken one perticular parent..So B1,B2,B3...means its from a another parent.

So now what i do is After marking the seeds,at the time of air-mailing those seeds i arrange those seeds so that all locations(countries) gets seed collected from variety of mother palm.and one peculier thing about this specie is that it has male & female form like the bismarkia's so i send seeds in pairs just in case if the planted palm turns out to be a male..since all want to collect this palmyra specie to be self sufficient in seeds in years to come.so planting one B.F palm in ones garden the chances are that it could turn out to be a male,which will be known only after 16 to 20 years from now.since these guys though look like your washy robusta but they grow like jubea very slow.But as for as our forum members are all more concerned about planting excotic palms in ones garden for their generation to reep the fruits of their planting..in that case it fully worth the wait.since the chelian wine palm does not give you anything edible..while a B.F palm all its parts are all fully utilised for one thing or the other.

Here is a still of last years harvest from one perticular location and the entire lot is from one B.F palm tree.And after cleaning it was sent to one perticular person who had requested for it as year ago !



And as for the natural habitate stills of the big mama,even i have not see it since its in a place called villipuram(zone Marakkanam area)very near to pondicherry.this place houses or is native to the big mama variety & also has orange fruticas of B.F palm.Iam very curious to see those fruits.may be in the next season i will ask these villagers to get me some orange fruticas too ! And the standard sized fruticas(Regular type) those still is only seen in all the internet sites.And i have not seen any big mama or the orange fruitcas stills in the world wide web..
The fruit of big mama is almost the size of a coconut,inside one could see 3 seeds and some times 2 or even 4 but the seeds size would vary depending on the number of seeds in a fruit.but overall the fruit size remains constant..

Love,
Kris

And by the way the gunny bag seen in the above still,is not from 'Santa'!

[FRITO]

wow, Kris, I am impressed and admire your attention to detail with these palms. I think I speak for many of use out there. i too like to label all my seeds from the source in case it turns out to be great I would want to return again to collect seed. and many palms have diffrent forms and colors as well to take note of.

I look forward to all B.f photos in habitat when you find them. Ever since Tim Mckernan posted his orange/black B. f it has caght my eye.

I love any orange palm: Dypsis 'orange crush' and A. vestiaria. even Wals 'orange' Bizzie (wonder if it stayed orange)


take care my brother,
Luke

[Kris]

Thanks Luke

Okay today lets see the visuals of the second method i used for the palmyra seeds germination,this is usually the method i follow every year for the benefit of our forum members ! But this time i have planted just one seed in this cement pots,since if this comes through well,who know's i may even plant it on the ground..











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[Kris]

Cont..







This is the cement pot i always use,it been very lucky for the palmyra seeds germination..



Now all i do is dig a small hole in the center of this pot and while filling this pit i use some perilite too !


...

[Kris]

Cont..

Now i place the seed in this dug up pit ! and while holding this seed,i as my assistant to start filling this pit with some perilite and the top completely covered with sandy soil_that's it !



'Fill it,shut it,forget it' _ is the Slogan of the hour ! Rest in the hands of mother nature & my doggies,Since they were curious as to what is happening in this big pot.. 'Bigger the better' _ i mean the pot we use for these kind of palms !



That's all folks for now,iam keeping my fingers crossed as to what next ?


Love,
Kris