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Do cleaned Bismarkia seeds sink or float?


Walt

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I have three silver form Bismarkia noblis palms producing seed. I know these palms are dioecious. I know that all three flowered at different times, leading me to believe none of the seeds will be viable.

My question is, do freshly cleaned seeds float? Some of the seeds are starting to fall off on the ground. I picked up three that had turned (epicarp and mesocarp) black. The seeds inside were hard. I cleaned them and placed them in water and all three floated. Is this an indication that they are sterile?

I understand that some palm seeds that are viable do float, like Jubaea (is this so?).

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Above photo: The left two palms and the far right palm are seeding.

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Above photo: This is the palm on the far left in the top photo. There's far more seeds that can't be seen from this angle.

Mad about palms

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Well hydrated,cleaned Bismarckia seeds sink. If they are normal size,there is a chance yours are dehydrated and just need some days of soaking before they will sink.

''To try,is to risk failure.......To not try,is to guarantee it''

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The seeds seemed to me to be very buoyant. I'm thinking maybe they lack endosperm and are mostly hollow inside.

I have a friend out of state that wanted some of my bismarkia seeds, but I told her it may be a waste of time and money. In fact, she asked me to make this posting to see what others on the forum had to say.

I will wait until more seeds ripen and float test them.

I've never been able to germinate a palm seed that floated. I recall posting here about five years ago about palms (and other tropical plant seeds) I bought from a vendor (with the initials SR). I recall I ordered 50 Roystonea regia seeds, and everyone of them floated (I posted a photo of them here floating in a jar of water). None germinated, and under the best germinating conditions. 90% of the other seeds I ordered didn't germinate. Needless to say I never bought from that vendor again.

Mad about palms

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I have a question to all about bismarkia and other fan palms having similar traits like male and female forms.

I.e can we cross a bismarkia with a Borassus ? it could sound funny but what is the answer to my question.

Dear walt,

you can cut few ripe seeds to check if its a viable seed.

and at times few palm & cycad seeds do float for a day or so.then they sink.this may take few hours or a day.

love,

kris.

  • Upvote 1

love conquers all..

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.

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Nice looking palms youve got there!!!!!!!!!!!
I have had success from floating seeds and i am novice germinator.

Its worth a try =)

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I have a question to all about bismarkia and other fan palms having similar traits like male and female forms.

I.e can we cross a bismarkia with a Borassus ? it could sound funny but what is the answer to my question.

Dear walt,

you can cut few ripe seeds to check if its a viable seed.

and at times few palm & cycad seeds do float for a day or so.then they sink.this may take few hours or a day.

love,

kris.

good question and good advice! Walt take a saw to one of them to see if there is an embryo.

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Walt, I have a Bismarkia that has flowered for a number of years now that has only produced seed that were no good. This year there may be some hope as I had a male Bismarkia palm flower for the first time. Looking at the fruit on my female tree there are a few fruit that are much larger than most. I am thinking the larger fruit may be good seed.

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  • 7 months later...

Hello all, I live on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands and am brand new to the forum.

I have two Bismarkia Noblis palms that I planted about 6 years ago. Last year, one of them flowered and it became evident it was a male. This year, the other flowered … and happily it is a female. Both of them flowered at about the same time.

I now have three very large infructescence on the female with hundreds of fruits on each. My problem is that I don't know when I am supposed to harvest the seeds and I can't find that info anywhere. Currently, the large majority are still green, though some have fallen on the ground and dried out. None of those were viable as they had rotted before I even saw them.

I took one off the tree yesterday and sliced it in half and it does appear to have an embryo, so I am assuming the others should be viable.

At what point should I harvest the seeds?

How do you clean them?

I saw the instructions for germinating and potting … so that was a big help. Many thanks for that! I love the pipe idea.

The only other palms I have grown from seed are my coconuts and Christmas Palms … which both basically plant themselves. :happy: I am still waiting for my Royal Palms to flower. They grow the fastest and the tallest … but they sure take their time to flower!

Thanks for any assistance!

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Edited by Liane
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Welcome to the forum, you are blessed to live in an area where your choices of palms are almost unlimited. That being said, wait till they turn almost black before harvesting.

When they fall on the ground, pick them up, float test them. If they sink, they are probably viable. As was mentioned, sometimes you have to let them sit in water for a few days before they will sink. Sometimes air gets caught between the fruit and the actual seed and will cause it to float. When you let them soak it loosens the outer fruit and is easier to clean them prior to planting.

I have had great success with Bizmarkia, even up here in cold North Florida, very easy to germinate...just use a really deep pot as they are remote germinators and send down a long radicalis.

BTW....gorgeous Bizzy's ....great color!

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

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The seeds rotting is not always a bad thing, they typically turn black when ripe and then start to ferment, that is part of the natural process. The fruit around the seed ferments but the seed doesn't, it also makes them a bit easier to clean. To clean them it helps to soak them in water, changing the water daily, this helps the fruit part of the seed to ferment quicker and you can periodically scrape the harder pieces off or cut it off with a pairing knife, be careful if you use a knife!

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Also welcome to Palm Talk! I love the BVI's! I've done some bareboating around there, love the baths, bitter end and Foxys on Jost van Dyke :) one of my favorite places to sail is the Sir Francis Drake channel, can't beat it!

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Wow, thanks for the quick replies all and thanks for the kind welcome!

I love the BVI's too and that's why I've been here for more than 20 years. Oddly enough, I am a yacht charter broker and also love boating. :laugh2: Small world huh?

Thanks for letting me know the seeds should be almost black. I was getting ready to cut them down and get busy germinating. I guess I have a while to wait before that happens. I am going to give the bulk of the seeds to the National Parks Trust. I would love to see these trees all over the BVI. They are my all time favourite palm species. They are just gorgeous!

By the way, if anyone is interested. The male tree I bought from a nursery here for a ridiculous sum of money. It was about ten feet tall and already had about 7 or 8 leaves on it. It was in a 4' tub when I got it and it was terribly root bound. My friend and I dug a 6 foot deep by 6 foot round hole and filled it with the best soil money (and my compost heap) could produce.

The female was planted about a year later. I bought it for $75.00 and it had three very lonely looking leaves. It was green with purple tinges but the nursery assured me it was the same as my larger Bismarkia. I was skeptical but knew nothing about them at the time. Of course, they were right.

The funny thing is that whilst the larger of the two was planted in marvellous soil, the female was not. It got planted directly into the worst clay you can imagine. In fact, I know for sure that the soil under it (about 10 feet deep) and around it for 20 feet is pure clay because I put it there.

What I am saying is that it seems these trees will grow in pretty much anything … provided they have drainage. Both are situated at the edge of my lawn with a steep drop off, so drainage is never a problem.

The female, despite being substantially smaller and planted a year later, is now only about 1 foot shorter than the male. So all I can deduce from that is that these trees may actually prefer clay. Once my seedlings are ready, I am going to try out that theory! I figure I can plant another 6 or 7 of them on the property, so that should be a good test.

Thanks again folks! :greenthumb:

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Oh, one more thing … should I score the fruit prior to soaking them in water?

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Wow … that's going to take weeks! I think I'll just do about 30 of them for me (and a few friends) and give the rest to the BVI National Parks folks. Let them do the work! :winkie:

Thanks again!

Edited by Liane
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Mesocarp! It was on the tip of my tongue but I was too lazy to look it up lol

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  • 6 years later...
On 9/28/2013 at 2:14 AM, ILoveWhitePalms said:

Nice looking palms youve got there!!!!!!!!!!!
I have had success from floating seeds and i am novice germinator.

Its worth a try =)

So my question is: Does a seed that SINKS a good indicator that's its viable? Also does a tree bearing seeds means that it has been successfully pollinated?

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