Broken Date Taproot...

[bananaman]

Hello everyone!

So, it turns out that I had planted my date seeds around 3" deep instead of the 1/2" I had meant to...

So, I scraped off the top 2.5" of soil, and watered them. I then picked up the pot, and the bottom fell out. So, I quickly ran inside and got a cup of water to keep the taproots moist.

I then mixed up 1/2 sand and 1/2 potting soil to put in the pot, and reattached the base with duct tape instead of string. I filled the pot with this mix, and put holes in the soil with a pencil. I then lowered the seedlings VERY SLOWLY into the holes. Unfortunately, about 1/2-2/3 of them had the very tip of their roots snapped off because the roots were slightly curved.

Will they keep on living?

The roots are about 6-8" long and about 1/3 have some shoots coming up. The shoots are not longer than 1/2 " on those.

So, in other words, if a date seedling has the last 1/4-1/2 of an inch of their taproot snapped off, will they survive?

Thanks!

Edited April 18, 2014 by bananaman

[Kris]

I have no idea.

But this is how we do here...

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/4608-materials-need-for-germination/

love,

kris.

[Jubaea]

I would expect that they will be fine as long as the soil is kept moist and they are kept in the shade. I have done the same to other seedling palms and as long as I don't forget to water them they usually pull through.

[bananaman]

Ok. What a relief.

I put them outside, despite the fact that they have not emerged from the soil yet. They are in very sandy soil, so I hope they will be fine. Also, the pot is at least twice as deep as their roots, so they will have room to continue growing.