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Germinating Licuala


Brian

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Yesterday I was cleaning out my grow room and decided to throw away some bags of seeds I had from three years ago.

To my surprise I found that in one very dried out bag of peat moss, 2 Licuala peltata seeds had germinated. This also happen with Licuala spinosa after two years in a bag and dried out peat moss.

Clayton had mentioned before that Licuala can take a long time to germinate but I'm wonder if the dried out peat helped triggered the germination?

Anyways, never give up on germinating Licuala. They will pop sooner or latter.

18n. Hot, humid and salty coastal conditions.

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Thanks for the encouragement Brian. I was about to throw away my 2 years old (expensive) batch of L.orbicularis which is still sleeping in cocopeat...Would it be a good idea to re-soak them? Or maybe dry them out for some time?

Sirinhaém beach, 80 Km south of Recife - Brazil

Tropical oceanic climate, latitude 8° S

Temperature extremes: 25 to 31°C

2000 mm average rainfall, dry summers

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Dear friends  :)

even i kept importing seeds initially,and i used to tell my indian friends workin in u.s to send me.and i used to watch

whenever the seeds list are highlighted with the astrix as NEW or receiving special emails from the stockiest saying new stocks avaliable.

when those fresh seeds itself do not germinated then emagine what successes rate will the old once give ?

but the daily Mantra is try try try again,you will succeed.

all the best !

Kris.

love conquers all..

43278.gif

.

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Hello Gileno,

Drying out did not hurt mine. By the way, mine dry out because in the winter I have to use a space heater. During this drying they got pretty hot. Definintly dont give up on them.

Hopefully some of the Licuala guys like Clayton or Jeff can give their take on this.

18n. Hot, humid and salty coastal conditions.

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Now YOU have found out what others and I have seen over the years. Licuala's can take up to 2 years, maybe a while longer to germinate. Don't ever give up, until the time comes when you check your seed and you then discover that they have or are starting to rot, only then you can throw them out. After a long period, you might want to change the soil. I don't think by them drying out, is what cause them to germ. I would try to keep them moist at all times.

Jeff

Searle Brothers Nursery Inc.

and The Rainforest Collection.

Southwest Ranches,Fl.

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I had some hand harvested Licuala spinosa not germinate for about a year. I gave up on them and threw D lutescens seeds with them . The D lutescens grew into there 3rd leaf before these weirdo leaves started emerging from the soil(I'd forgotten about the Licuala seeds and had long given up on them) Now I have a heap of spinosa seedlings. I no complain..........

Tyrone

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Hi All

Yes Licuala’s and quite a few of the other Genus are very hard to germinate under a controlled sterile environment, as the years go buy I’m sure that there is another very important factor that cannot be easily reproduced in our germinating set ups. That is the natural break down of the seed as if they were in the ground! Some species like Licuala peltata do take 12 months to the day to germinate and if the seed was not fully ripe when they were picked these can take twice as long, as long as the seed is well looked after they all should germinate. I normally do not through out any of the old seed if they have not germinated in the boxes with bottom heat after about 2 years, I find a nice garden bed and put them down yet again, on many occasions they germinate up to another year later! So now I have many garden beds with many licuala species growing all together along with Joey’s and lemurophoenix, note that in the boxes they were kept at 35C with perfect moisture content and looked after in the best posible way with some times little success and then some 2 to 3 years later in a garden bed all reaming good seeds start to germinate? I have found this to be the same with Pelagodoxa, Lemuriophoenix, Johannesteijsmannia (only some of the remaining seed that did not germinate with the Joey’s) some times Raphia and some of the Attalea’s also germinate a lot better in a soil mix out side in the shade house as well, so do try a few different methods when you put

any of these species down to germinating. Many times it seems that the temperature is not the most important thing in germinating some of your seeds!

I do hope this helps a few people with some of the harder to germinate species.

Ps there are a few others species that also will germinate better like this as well, here are a few photos of some of those species that have germinated in this way, and these species are quite tropical and one would think that with out the use of heat that they would not germinate, but they did in the middle of winter of all times???

Clayton.

This first photo is of a Licuala species that had not germinated after 2 years, so I put the old mix into a garden bed that is irrigated 2 times a week in one of the shade houses, after another 6 months or so they started to germinate this was at the start of winter and I did not think that any would survive especially in winter, “But they did” not only did they survive but they grew very well with more germinating over the next 5 to 6 months. Now these palms are at least 5 years old and are starting to make there mature leaves.

Once they are too large I will cut a hole in the shade cloth and let them grow through into the full sun.

So when you through out your old seed put them in a place were you think they might grow well and with a little bit of luck you might end up with a nice clump of palms that you might have other wise thrown away! ???

post-592-1178662870_thumb.jpg

Sunshine Coast Queensland Australia

Minimum 3.C -------- maximum 43.C Average Annual Rainfall 1700mm

IPS Membership since 1991

PLANT MORE PALMS TO SOOTH THE SOUL

www.utopiapalmsandcycads.com

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This photo is of some Lemurophoenix, The same thing with these seeds, they were well over 2 years old and I had given up on them, these were put in a garden that was not irrigated but was mulched quite thick, after about 6 months the first one started to show 6 more months and there were about 7 or so of them growing in an area of about 2 ft square, as you can see some 10 years later all are growing quite well a few are larger than most of the others but one would expect this to happen especially when they were never watered.

I do believe all of these germinated due to the fact that the soil had helped to brake down the seed allowing it to germinate a lot easier than say in a sterile box in a controlled environment were fungus is a big problem and normally kills your seedlings were in the ground different funguses and micro bacteria help brake the seed down to were it is a lot easier for the seed to germinate.  :)

post-592-1178663009_thumb.jpg

Sunshine Coast Queensland Australia

Minimum 3.C -------- maximum 43.C Average Annual Rainfall 1700mm

IPS Membership since 1991

PLANT MORE PALMS TO SOOTH THE SOUL

www.utopiapalmsandcycads.com

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one more of the lemurophoenix

post-592-1178663146_thumb.jpg

Sunshine Coast Queensland Australia

Minimum 3.C -------- maximum 43.C Average Annual Rainfall 1700mm

IPS Membership since 1991

PLANT MORE PALMS TO SOOTH THE SOUL

www.utopiapalmsandcycads.com

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This photo is of some Joey’s (Johannesteijsmannia altifrons) most of the seed had germinated in the boxes but there were a few that had not germinated after about 18 months, so I put them down also in one of the garden beds and sure enough after 6 months a few started to germinate, I did intend to move them but never got the chance and once they were all on there 4th  or 5th  leaf I thought that I would kill them all if I tried to move them, so here they are to day all growing on top of each other, I must say these have grown better than any of the other ones that I have planted! I’m not sure why but seeing them like this is quite stunning (like a new species of clumping Joey!).

post-592-1178663537_thumb.jpg

Sunshine Coast Queensland Australia

Minimum 3.C -------- maximum 43.C Average Annual Rainfall 1700mm

IPS Membership since 1991

PLANT MORE PALMS TO SOOTH THE SOUL

www.utopiapalmsandcycads.com

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I have mature fruiting Licuala grandis ,orbicularis, spinosa and lauterbachii.With the exception of L.spinosa, fresh seed germinates in less than five weeks.I have a batch of L.peltata sumawongi(sp.?) that are going on six months with no sign of germinating so I am glad there is still hope .I had given up on them based on my experiences with the other Licualas.I think really fresh seed is the key.

                                                                                      Scott

El Oasis - beach garden, distinct wet/dry season ,year round 20-38c

Las Heliconias - jungle garden ,800m elevation,150+ inches rainfall, year round 15-28c

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Thanks Clayton for your highly informitive input on this subject.

I now have new hope for my remaining Joey's that have not germinated.

Brian

18n. Hot, humid and salty coastal conditions.

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  • 12 years later...
On 5/7/2007 at 11:12 AM, Brian said:

Yesterday I was cleaning out my grow room and decided to throw away some bags of seeds I had from three years ago.

To my surprise I found that in one very dried out bag of peat moss, 2 Licuala peltata seeds had germinated. This also happen with Licuala spinosa after two years in a bag and dried out peat moss.

Clayton had mentioned before that Licuala can take a long time to germinate but I'm wonder if the dried out peat helped triggered the germination?

Anyways, never give up on germinating Licuala. They will pop sooner or latter.

I found 2 Joey palm seeds germinated in a dry ziplock bag, nothing else inside not even humidity! Reading the same on Licuala seeds means that nature will provide germination even without perfect surroundings. Nature is a survivor in any circumstances, its the most powerful energy on earth and we have still so much to learn !!! 

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