When to harvest W. filifera and Sabal Mexicana seeds?

[Brian F. Austin]

Fist time poster here.  Living in Austin Texas for 20+ years. 

I've caught the palm bug and want to grow some washingtonia filifera, sabal mexicana and even phoenix dactylifera from seed.

I'm curious when is the best time to harvest seeds from the filiferas and sabals? I'm out checking some choice trees on my daily walks and saw some nice fruits on a few mature sabals.

I took photos so I'll try to upload them, but not sure if i can figure it out on the 1st try

Any tips on germination would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Alicehunter2000]

When they fall fresh on the ground. Super easy germination on those. Welcome to Palmtalk. ...where are you located?

[PalmatierMeg]

Around here Sabal seeds of most species ripen late Oct through Nov. The fruit will be black when ripe. The palm will start dropping them then and you should be able to scoop as many as you want. Fruit is not toxic or caustic and cleans off easily after a soaking. Seeds are medium to dark brown and slightly flattened. They are great for beginners because they germinate readily. Make sure to use a pot at least 6" deep and sow just under the soil. Germination time is several weeks to several months.

I can't speak for filifera but if it is like robusta it should drop them like rain in late summer to fall.

[Laaz]

Sabals, once the fruit is full size they will germinate. Washintonia, I wait until they hit the ground.

 

Welcome to the forum.

[Brian F. Austin]

Thanks for the quick responses. I'm here in Austin - 8B. I'll make sure to be ready come october for pick some sabal seeds.

I found a few seeds under the sabals and I've been seeing the starlings eating off the trees too. The ones I picked up had a brittle black shell around a kinda flattened spherical orange/brown seed. 

I haven't gotten up close to any of the filiferas yet to see seeds yet. There are a few massive old filiferas around town that I would like to collect from. 

I walked up to a couple smaller sabals that were probably 10 -15ft tall.  It's incredible how wide the petioles are!

I have noticed some really tall robustas also. I'll try to snap some photos of all the different ones. Thanks for all the welcomes to PalmTalk!

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

The washingtonia in your pic is not a filifera.  

[Brian F. Austin]

in the avatar pic? I grabbed that online. I think it was from one of the oases in CA??

 

Or one of the other photos I posted? I could easily be 100% wrong in ID'ing them. 

[Brian F. Austin]

Here's the Sabal that had dropped some seed already...and some others on my walk 

[Brian F. Austin]

potty palm (robusta?)

more sabals....?

 

[topwater]

21 minutes ago, Brian F. Austin said:

Here's the Sabal that had dropped some seed already...and some others on my walk 

I suspect those are robustas, no big deal but they are less cold hardy than the filiferas.  Washies are super easy to germinate.  Welcome to PT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Brian F. Austin]

1 hour ago, topwater said:

I suspect those are robustas, no big deal but they are less cold hardy than the filiferas.  Washies are super easy to germinate.  Welcome to PT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was thinking that all of these photos were of sabal mexicana. They all look costapalmate to me except the porta potty one, i was guessing robusta on that one. But I'm a major noob when it comes to identifying these 3 palms. I could use all the help I can get. What about this google image... I figured these 2 palms are W. Filifera? They've been there since atleast 1940. Here's an old historical photo too. You can kinda see the fans starting to poke out in the picture.

Edited August 26, 2016 by Brian F. Austin

[topwater]

I think you have a mix of Sabals and Washies in your pics.  The inflorescence is usually more reliable than the leaf. If you post images of the exact trees that you intend to get seed from, the Washie experts on this board can tell you which is which. Personally, I would grow all of the four that you mentioned, seeds are free after all.  I agree that the last pics look like filifera.

[Brian F. Austin]

Thanks Topwater. I'm trying to school myself so I can identify these different palms. It's like my eyes just opened to palms and I'm noticing them all the time now. There's not alot of different palms in my local area so it will be nice to be able to distinguish the few types there are.

I'll try to get some clear photos of the palms I end up collecting from. I'm excited to grow some... too bad I have to wait.

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

The palm in your last pic is filifera. The portapotty is robusta

 I think some of those sabals are palmetto,  but its hard for me to tell on such old palms in pictures. If those sabal seeds are close to the same size as washingtonia seed then they are not a sabal mexicana. 

[jwitt]

Thanksgiving to Christmas for filifera seeds.  Sow in place late winter.

[Brian F. Austin]

It's been a few months since I last posted. Thanks for the posts txcoldhardy and jwitt. I'm finally realizing the difference between some of these palms.

The washingtonias here have spent alot of seed already and birds like starlings seem to eat em up and even live in the big filiferas. I did manage grab some seeds some from sabal mexicana and a washingtonia. I cleaned them up before reading that it's best to leave the last membrane on the sabals and also that they need some cold stratification as per this page...

http://w3.biosci.utexas.edu/prc/HaysFlora/uts/sabal.html

Does anyone else have experience with this? I was going to start them right away without any cold time.

 

 

[Brian F. Austin]

Here's some sabals in west austin:

[Brian F. Austin]

some more:

[Brian F. Austin]

and more:

[Brian F. Austin]

last ones

[Brian F. Austin]

i started some medjool dates also:

[Brian F. Austin]

Here's the date palms today:

 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

Both will sprout immediately.  I just harvested about 250,000 Filifera/hybrid seeds and 200 gallons worth of Sabal Mexicana seed on Tuesday.

[Brian F. Austin]

Holy moly that's a lot of seeds. I can't begin to imagine what 200 gallons looks like. Photos? 

What was germination time on the sabal mexicanas? Temperature? Thanks!

Today I put all of the Sabal seeds into squeeze-dry sphagnum peat moss in a ziplock. I probably should've soaked em longer, but they only got about an hour in water before putting in the bags. Oh-And started another dozen or so medjool dates.

 

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

I soak my seeds for three days. sabal mexicana like it around 90 degrees to germinate. You should see 50% germination at the 3-4 week mark. 

[Brian F. Austin]

You were right they didn't need any cold time (makes sense). I got about 29 out of 30 that germinated of the Sabal Mexicana. I started another 100 or so from 2 other groups of trees. They are quick too. Here they are a day past 2 weeks in the bag....

 

 

[Brian F. Austin]

double post

Edited November 17, 2016 by Brian F. Austin

[Brian F. Austin]

And here's some other Sabal Mexicana seeds collected from Laguna Gloria. Photos before and after I cleaned off the fruit. I started soaking these in water today.

 

[joetx]

Hey, how did you keep the critters from chewing up your young date sprouts? I had around 10 and all got chewed up by some animal.

[Brian F. Austin]

On 1/14/2017, 1:32:18, joetx said:

Hey, how did you keep the critters from chewing up your young date sprouts? I had around 10 and all got chewed up by some animal.

I didn't have any issues with varmints. The pits were thoroughly cleaned and then soaked for days/weeks before planting. They are still in small pots and there are squirrels around constantly. I did use a really coarse soil mix that has fairly large chunks of granite and cypress mulch in it, not the easiest to dig into, especially for a sharp spike of phoenix strap. Here's a picture of one of them today. They needed to be transplanted a long time ago, but honestly I have nowhere to put these right now. That's a small chiltepín growing with it.