Materials Need For Germination..

[Kai]

I select coconuts in the supermarket. They have to be fresh and no cracks! Then I put them on top of the soil...

[Kai]

Within 3 or 4 weeks result!

[Kai]

I wonder what variety this is going to be!  

[Kris]

Dear Kai  

thanks for the visuals ! Now lets see some queens that sprouted little late from the previous batch of seeds...you

all would have noticed that once every repotting work of young palm saplings are over,those seeds that are slightly germinating or sleeping seeds are once again put in a new ziploc bag with the same old medium and stored in the same

dark room in my case...

see the results of patience for yourself since it took around 2  months to reach this stage here are the visuals.and none of my operation is assisted with bottom heat or neither any heat pads used...since the climate & weather sondition is hot & humid through out the year !

[Kris]

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[Kris]

i must bring to your notice that more often my palms saplings get killed by squrieal attack.so at times i have plastic bottles with soil and no plants in it.i have reused it.so that it gives me addition space to walk around...since so much bottles are filling up..!

here in this still you can see how the soil medium from the old bottles are reused...see the final still to get a clear idea of old soil and new soil !

[Kris]

- -

[Kris]

in the left overs i found 3 just germinating and one well germinated with no top sprout yet...so they will be,once again put in a new baggie bag with the same medium as done before !  

[Kris]

the above medium with those seeds were once again put in this baggie bag ! this work has to be done immedietely since the medium will start drying up due to our hot weather..

[Kris]

Now lets come to the sprouted palm saplings_shall we ?  ???

[Kris]

this is the final still of this operation,here you can notice the bottle soil medium has two set of colours_yes old medium & newly prepared soil...while i must tell you that palm saplings in both soil medium are growing fine...no difference at all !  

so the theme is never waste the soil medium,try to reuse it,if you fell that your medium is not infested with worms or harmful fungus ! that is the plants that die due to damp-off,those soil medium should not be reused..i think i have made my point clear... ???

[Kris]

Now lets see the Cidp(Std Fruticas type)potting work,But seeds were gathered from heavy trunking mother palm ! seeds from italy  :: Max thanks for knowing my taste so well..

[Kris]

.-.

[Kris]

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[Kris]

A close-up !  ???

[Kris]

in the cocopeat their was not a single left over seed seen !

[Kris]

.-.

[Kris]

A close-up !

[Kris]

Since those roots are preety close to each other and had some cocopeat attached to it..i had to do what i must do..clean this tangle with water in a plastic pot.

And in one of the posts you would have notice 'KamiPalms' had advised me,to see to it that the roots are as clean as possible from the cocopeat or any germinating medium..since they may breed fungus grouth in humid regions..So here are the visuals of the socking type of cleaning,no presurised water or force of any kind is used here..that's a point to note !

[Kris]

After cleaning...

[Kris]

After seperating each of those young onces they are placed in mineral water bottles in my case,and before pouring the loose soil medium check for the saplings height..since some palms like to have their seed or its white primary shaft from where the green leaf sprout occurs not submerged in soil or dampness !  ???

so take note of this point...

[Kris]

An arieal shot !

[Kris]

finally this is how they look and the black power seen on these top soil of these bottles are seaweed organic powder

just for support !   after that these palms are immedietly taken indoors to safe guard these babies from notorious squrieal attack...and in the indoors they are gently watered to the required level.

[Kris]

Now friends lets see some useful quotes & worth while illustration from Michael Ferreira - (Palm Guy) _

Palm Guy@Posted on: Mar. 15 2008,13:19

Hi Kris,

Unfortunately, I did not take many photos of the germination process from start to finish. It would've been nice to have some more pictures for your educational posts on germination from which I myself have picked up a few tips(I still haven't been very successful with the Psuedophoenix species). However, I'll try my best to share my experiences with growing this new species.

1. Received 10 fresh Tahina spectabilis seeds in the mail on Thursday Feb. 28, 2008. The seeds had become available on RPS' website: www.rarepalmseeds.com on Feb 16,2008.

2. Soaked 5 seeds for 1 day and left 5 seeds unsoaked in the packet. No scarification was done as most of them arrived with a broken seed coat that was very thin, flaky and removable to begin with.

3. On Saturday Mar 1. I sowed the seeds using the following two methods.

Method 1:

  a. Placed 5 (2 soaked) seeds in a plastic bag containing the mix below:

NOTE: It's IMPORTANT to pre-soak the mix in another container and squeeze any excessive water out. You should be able to squeeze 1 or two drops of water out of a fistful of soil, any more than that and you will have rot/fungal issues. Its also important not to keep the baggie in stong daylight doing so may lead to aglal problems.

   b. Placed the 'baggie' seeds in an oven with the pilot on. Temperatures in the oven ranged from 77F/25C to 95F/35C.

Method 2:

   a. Placed 5 (3 soaked) seeds in plastic cups containing the same mix mentioned above at a depth of about half the seed's diameter.

   b. The cups were then placed in a makeshift germination plastic container with the lid closed as viewed in the below picture. I used heat mats to raise the temperatures. Temperatures ranged from 70F/21C from 12am to 6pm (when I was at work or sleeping) and 80F/26C to 85F/29C from 6-12pm. PLEASE NOTE: the below picture does not contain Tahina spectabilis seedlings. This picture was solely taken for reference purposes.

NOTE: It is important to watch water levels when using this method as the seeds can dry out much quicker than using the Baggie method.

Results. Both Methods turned out to be equally successful. I did notice that the baggie method in the higher heat led to more rapid germination and root growth. Soaking the seeds seems to be irrelevant in the case of this species. I think heat and humidity are the two important factors and not to mention FRESH seed. I don't think anyone wanted to test seed viability duration with such a rare species (especially at 70EUR for 10, although I do understand the laws of supply and demand) but if someone has tests seed viability please post.  

All 10 seeds germinated in less than two weeks time. The first germination occurred in 2-3 days and the last to germinate happened after about a week and a half.

I hope this is comprehensive enough. My hands hurt from typing. I will talk to you guys soon!

Cheers,

Mike F

Dear Mike,

A special thanks to you,for giving us such a clear & easy illustration & narration of your Tahina spectabilis seeds germination process for the benefit of all our memebers..

Love,

Kris  

[Kris]

Some seeds did germinate even without socking or the germinating medium...here are few stills of it and seeds courtesy_Max(Italy)  

[Kris]

Some Still..

[Kris]

One more fo the same...

[Kris]

This little baby way put in a bottle & i will update on this when it sprouts..! till then patience  ???

[Kris]

the Med Fan_Naples form that was potted around a fortnight a go has sprouted and 2 spears have come out of one seed itself..it should be a clumping variety i think !

here's the visuals _

[Kris]

Same still with flash on !

[M@ximus]

(krisachar @ Mar. 17 2008,07:55)

QUOTE

the Med Fan_Naples form that was potted around a fortnight a go has sprouted and 2 spears have come out of one seed itself..it should be a clumping variety i think !

here's the visuals _

Ciao  Kris , Great  job!!  How  are  you??

The  Chamaerops  humilis " Naples", (  I  have  used  the  name  "NAPLES", for  remember  the  provenance)  should   be  the  CHAMAEROPS  HUMILIS  "ARBORESCENS", and  for  sure  have  single  trunk!!

M@x

[Kris]

Dear Brother Max,

iam fine and have lots of work these days... :laugh: ,i have my job,extra work due marriage and my first love...Plants & seeds germination.... ::

if the naplese Med fan is solitary then iam a lucky guy to have 2 sprouts from a seed !  

And their are lots of intreasting stills comming your way so stay tune since they are all your's...!  

And a very special thanks to you,not only for visiting regularly this lovely thread but for your gift seeds,without which i could not have even crossed 2 pages..

sorry for repeating this over & over again but that the truth..

Lots of love to you,

Kris  

[Kris]

Dear friends  

as always i keep telling that fresh seeds are a must to have good seeds germination rates..

here are the visuals of a queen palms seeds recently arrived from Italy.and at that time here we had slight rains.and i do not work on seeds during that high humidity period.though we are in our early summers those rains are frekeish not regular feature.

so i kept those seeds in that dark room and in a week's time i saw the roots in those baggie bags..these things are all very new to me.since iam not a proffesional in this field !

Friends here are those visuals...And hope you are as happy and thrilled seeing it as i did on that day.. ???

[Kris]

now lets see its contents_shall we !  

[Kris]

A close-up !

[Kris]

The above seeds were placed in baggie bags with medium amount of moist cocopeat.and placed in dark room.

here medium amout of cocopeat means that usually i fill the baggies upto the half way mark.i.e 50% of the baggie bag is filled with cocopeat but here only 25 to 30% of the bag contained that germinating medium..since more cocopeat means the medium will retain more of moisture content and the bag will be sweeting moisture in our summer seasons..

And here is the still of those seeds who were silent & sleeping which would need that regular treatment of socking for a day or 2 and then putting them in different baggie bags..

And while planting,placing & handling the germinated seeds kindly do it with gentleness & with care !since the chances are there that the seeds could be damaged.and the ziploc bags are so smooth while carrying them around or checking for roots & sprouts do it placing it on a table and with using both your hands since they have the tendency to simply slip out of hand..imagine what will be the condition of that germinated seed hitting the floor ?

[Kris]

Now lets see the gift seeds germination of Copernica Alba which came to me from Joseph( http://www.ortanique.com/index.php? ) for joining the IPS.

By the way no special bottom heat treatment was given for these seeds,they were simply left in dark room,which i often do to all my other seeds..

Here are the visuals _

[Kris]

Close-Up !

[Kris]

Due to the transperancy of the ziploc bag,one could easily see through the pack and also see the root developement clearly which not that clear & easy with other methods..!

[Kris]

Now to the opening cermony...!