Pseudophoenix Sargentii Seeds

[Johnny Palmseed]

I had hoped to trade some seeds but I can’t seem to post on the trade section. I am looking for Arch. Cunninghamiana, Howea Forsteriana, Dictyosperma Album, Dypsis Leptocheilos, Cham. Macrocarpa. I will also be glad to send seeds for free in the continental US.
Disclaimer - I have never attempted to germinate seeds from this plant. I have no idea how they will do. The mother is approximately 15-18 years old and has what I consider to be a wide base with a pronounced taper. It has shrugged off several category 2 and 3 hurricanes without losing a single frond.

Thanks 

John

[jimmyt]

Nice one!  Cant say I have any of those seeds that you are looking for.

[Johnny Palmseed]

All gone now.

[Tortuga]

I'm glad that I was able to get my hands on some of these seeds to try and propagate something that's not so common, or at least something that I would consider not so common out in California.  

I don't consider myself an expert at growing things but I'm trying things out to see what works and what doesn't,  at least for me and the plant of course.  I've killed many things using the baggie and sphagnum moss method so needless to say that I'm not a very big fan of that style or at least I haven't figured it out completely.

This time around it was a bit different.  I gave the baggie method one last try and had great success with it this time around with these Pseudophoenix Sargentii seeds that John traded with me.

The sphagnum moss that I was used to using was the type that you buy at the big box stores which seemed to be junk.  Now I had received some plants from Florida from someone else and they had used some moss that seemed to be what I would consider high quality moss so I decided to recycle it and and I use them on these Pseudophoenix seeds.  

I broke the outer shell of these seeds and soaked the seeds for a couple of days.  I put most of the seeds in the baggie and a few in a pot with some soil back in March once I received them.  The baggie seeds I threw on top of my cable box to keep them warm in a temp control environment.  The pot went outside in shady area which gets some morning sun.  In my neck of the woods the temps during this time reached some high 30's at night and into the 80's during the day, every week was a different story.

In April I was shocked to see some sprouts from the baggie method, but no sprouts in the pot.  

In May my wife was nagging to get rid of the baggie off the cable box since she's a bit of a neat freak.   I pulled 5 of the sprouts out to put them in liners cause I felt as though they were big enough and the rest went on top of a heat mat in the garage.  In May we experienced a bit of a heat spell that got into the 90's and when I remembered that I had seeds in an uncontrolled garage so went the seeds.  I would say that the seeds experienced heat in excess of 100 degrees.  Needless to say the seeds got fried, lesson learned.  

Now from a viability perspective I decided to count all the seeds that had sprouted from the baggie method and it was clear to me that 90% of them had sprouted.  The ones in the pot were goners.  It was a bit too cold for them to take.  So John I just wanted to say thanks for these great seeds and I hope I can get a few more from you next time around.  Here's a pic from the ones growing in liners.  

 

[Johnny Palmseed]

Thanks for the kind words. I too am very happy with the trade. Hopefully you will have some nice “West Coast Buccaneers” in a few years.

[Johnny Palmseed]

I have been watching and waiting for the new crop to ripen. I think I was about 1-2 months away and today I found this. Ugh. We have been having some rainy, windy conditions the last few days and I guess the weight and wind combination was too much. Unfortunately, I cut the rest off to allow this batch to get all the energy and so I have no backups. My apologies to those who have been waiting for my free seed offer. Last year was another bust as I had so many seeds drop that I only ended up with about 100. Maybe next year?

[jimmyt]

Oh no!  That is a bummer!  Glad it wasn’t the entire tree I suppose!  

[kinzyjr]

If anyone was waiting on seeds and would like a Pseudophoenix sargentii, I have a few out in the garage that are planted in a custom aggregate that I'm trying out.

@Johnny Palmseed I might be able to grab you some Dypsis leptocheilos or ship you a plant if the big bag in the garage produces any viable offspring.

 

[D. Morrowii]

1 hour ago, kinzyjr said:

If anyone was waiting on seeds and would like a Pseudophoenix sargentii, I have a few out in the garage that are planted in a custom aggregate that I'm trying out.

@Johnny Palmseed I might be able to grab you some Dypsis leptocheilos or ship you a plant if the big bag in the garage produces any viable offspring.

 

@kinzyjr I would like to venture a guess on your custom aggregate - is it Greatlands trail mix? :-) 

@Johnny Palmseed Sorry to hear this wind took out your seed stalk.
Looks like we are neighbors? I have a bunch of seedlings popping in the garage if you are up for trading. 

[Johnny Palmseed]

So I left the thing alone and now the berries are turning orange and falling off. Maybe some will be ok? If anyone wants some, let me know…

[kinzyjr]

29 minutes ago, Johnny Palmseed said:

So I left the thing alone and now the berries are turning orange and falling off. Maybe some will be ok? If anyone wants some, let me know…

When they turn red, they are good to go.  The ones in the photo were grown from berries that turned orange/red.  There were a few from green fruit that sprouted, but not very many.

[Johnny Palmseed]

On 12/6/2021 at 7:00 PM, kinzyjr said:

When they turn red, they are good to go.  The ones in the photo were grown from berries that turned orange/red.  There were a few from green fruit that sprouted, but not very many.

Yeah I cut a few open. No embryos so I just tossed them. I found these to be not great germinators anyway even when ripe and de-shelled. And as anyone who has done it knows, Pseudophoenix seeds are a pain to clean so I will try again next year.

[CodyORB]

 

On 11/21/2021 at 11:50 AM, Johnny Palmseed said:

I have been watching and waiting for the new crop to ripen. I think I was about 1-2 months away and today I found this. Ugh. We have been having some rainy, windy conditions the last few days and I guess the weight and wind combination was too much. Unfortunately, I cut the rest off to allow this batch to get all the energy and so I have no backups. My apologies to those who have been waiting for my free seed offer. Last year was another bust as I had so many seeds drop that I only ended up with about 100. Maybe next year?

.Perhaps next year you could try using strings to support the inflorescence or have it resting on a table.

[Johnny Palmseed]

12 hours ago, CodyORB said:

 

.Perhaps next year you could try using strings to support the inflorescence or have it resting on a table.

Funny you mentioned that. As I was picking up the seeds, I thought about a similar idea. I doubt I will ever get around to doing such a thing though as I have way too many projects. I think the problem here was that I left the first inflorescence to emerge to try to have the earliest batch of seeds. The problem was that it also had the fewest fronds to support it. What you don’t see in the picture is that one of the outer fronds was previously torn off by the wind and only the boot was left. I believe that if I had left the last inflorescence to emerge instead of the first, there would have been enough support to prevent this. Oh well, live and learn. Prior to last year, I cut all the seeds off and so I don’t have much experience here. It’s interesting though to see the differences in how other palms produce their seeds. My Veitchia Joannis has literally no support. The inflorescence is only exposed after the leaf falls.