Very surprising germination rate

[Cedric]

I've just had a very happy sighting, thousands of Dypsis leptocheilos seedlings.

I thought this was worth mentioning (: because their germination was quite interesting.

Im not sure that they are terribly difficult to germinate as a rule however there seems to be some conflicting opinion on this anyway.

I myself have had terrible luck with them, mostly caused by rot in high humidity propagation units, and perhaps less than ideal seed material bought on the net from Europe.

Anyway I was travelling in the North of Thailand in April last year looking for seed of Trachycarpus up in the cloud line. My hotel(at a very much lower elevation) had groves of D. leptocheilos that had shed tons of seed. It wasn't fresh seed, last seasons seed and had compacted in deep layers beneath the palms.

The seed didn't look very good but after cracking a few open I noticed they were lovely and nutty white inside so I with the help of the gardener dug up s-hovel loads of the seed to take home to Honkers. I washed and washed and rinsed them getting rid of the black rotted layer. They half filled the large bath tub in my my room. My washing blocked the drains and caused mayhem with the plumbing of the hotel [blush].... anyway then I dried the seed in the sun a day r two then bagged it in large plastic bags enough to fill a large empty samsonite suit case. Way over weight at check-in.

Getting back I realised it was too early to sow the seed, early April can be quite chilly hovering around 17-24%C (62-75). Also finding myself quite busy on my return with other projects I didn't have time to sow. In a nutshell after everything thinking it was oldish seed anyway if I didnt do something it would be none viable anyway so I threw the whole lot out scattering it undersome low growing shrubs.

Yesterday I was helping prune back the shrubs and immediately noticed there was a mini forest of leptocheilos seedlings carpeting the ground.

The seeds went through the whole spring then hot humid wet season (++30%C 70-90%humidity) into the bone dry season (10-24%C) back into spring and to mid summer then germinated all at once.

Thats 2 and a half years from falling off the tree as fruit! Pretty remarkable I think. Obviously fresher the better doesn't always apply with this one!

Im a big fan of this dypsis still, yes even though its quite common its very different to other palms. The canopy always looks different, fresh and lovely. As they mature the leaf is held horizontal to the ground making a beutiful pattern if you look up into the sky too.

Edited August 1, 2014 by Cedric

[BS Man about Palms]

Neat story Cedric!

Now if I could get that with say... Lavoixia. or something like that. hahah

[NApalm]

Interesting. Thanks for taking the time to post

[DoomsDave]

Wow, how about a picture?

We love to coo over babies, even a thousand of them . . . .

[Cedric]

Ooops my phone is not even 1G. I bought a 4G just this year but its still in its box, photos are not an option just yet. My camera went out in the Spring-clean usless thing it couldn't take a focused right way around picture if it tried.

I love my phone its tiny light and can make calls and tex...... so much so that when I dropped it in the Mekong I rushed out and bought four more. It was so difficult finding a simple phone in Hong Kong these days that I bought four just in case they stop making them!

I will ask the maid if she can take some pictures she has the latest Samsung. She can send to my email and I can....... actualy you will be lucky to get a picture.

The seedlings are incredibly cute, yes cute is the word. Little delicate almost palmate leaflets not what I expected from Leptocheilos. Im potting some up later today when the sunis not so brutal.

[Cedric]

Question about Leptocheilos seelings, can they take full sun.....now that I've effectively removed the canopy should I be transplanting as a matterof urgency.

I cant wait to have younsters again they are so beutiful as young palms and rewarding unbelievably rewarding they grow so fast and respond so well to feeding, my other ones are the tallest plams I have, already shot up into the blue sky in no time at all, dead straight trunk with a lovely green trunk and white near the top bulge at the base simple leaves spread wide and horizontal, dancing umbrellas up the hill side. Strangely this is the fourth time they have flowered but no seed, wondering if the fruit bats arent eating the young fruit or something as they simply dissapear off the radar.

Waxing lyrical there but I love them more than anything else I have even the black cane palms with big wide once divided leaflets (think also a dypsis) even more than the lovely and colourfull little Dypsis sanctaemariae way more, only the grove of Roystonia come as close to my affection.

[Tyrone]

I love D leptocheilos. I miss my big flowering ones in Perth. To answer your question, if you get wet cloudy summers, they'll take sun from a young age. Part shade really suits them best. I love these at all stages from seedling onto maturity. Having a few hundred little one and two leafers is a beautiful sight.

[Cedric]

Thats a relief Tyrone. It was so hot yesterday my car recorded 37%C, 70-80 humidity all I could do was laze in the aircon. I looked this morning they all look fine as delicate looking as they are.

These are extra special in Bonkers, I've never seen them for sale. For some reason no one much likes palms here beyond the four or five most common on the planet that I think the British in fact must have brought here when it was still a colony, so its a rare thing. We only got fox tails a year or so ago, but I've got fruiting ones already. The mature red neck grove I've had growing for about twelve years I brought back in a suitcase as large seedlings.

When Disney land arrived there was a sudden rush of nice but limited interesting mature palms, many not suitable for the climate which just fell over but one or two I've been watching for seed.

This of course makes being a grower quite rewarding, you certainly will have no difficulty impressing anyone with your "collection" (: har har.