Lucuala Mattanensis Mapu at last

[Palm Guy]

Got two more coming up! 50% germination in 6 months. They seem to like the mulchy soil I sowed them in...I guess the air keeps out the fungus. Lets see if they survive...

Mike

[Gbarce]

July 5 - There is just a closed spear on the plant.

July 30 - The spear has burst open but not fully yet

August 11 - The leaf is fully open

October 4  - New leaf is still just a spear but is still pushing itself out.  This sucker is still tight and shows no signs of opening yet.

October 12- The spear opens up - So from July30 to October 12 is 2 months and 13 days (73 days) per leaf

[Gbarce]

closer

[Gbarce]

another angle

[Carlo Morici]

My seedlings are going ahead, healthy but slow. One has just sprouted after... one year and a half from sowing.

Carlo

[Gbarce]

I had 4 seeds that came from a friend's plant so they were really really really fresh.  I planted them in pure Charoaled Rice Hulls inside a microwavable plastic container.

3 out of 4 germinated within 2 month!!!

Anyway - with all 3 seeds that did germinate there was a whitish cloudy growth on the seeds.  This growth actually clung on to the individual rice hulls so when I pulled the seeds out lots of the charcoaled rice hulls came along with it.  

In fact the reason I discovered they had germinated was becuase there was  whitish cloudy growth spreading on the surface of the medium.  I panicked and assumed it was a fungal attack  - when I pinched it off the whole seed came up with it.  I was surprised to see a root had popped out already. see the picture below.

The other seed that had not popped a root yet was clean and had no sign of this.

Anybody have simillar observations?  I am thinking that this cloudy growth - if indeed it is fungus- might ba a natural part of the germination of this particular palm.  

What do you think based on your experiences with this palm?

[HellJ]

Well, I checked my mapu seeds today, and 9 have germinated!!!! Two are even growing their first spear!

Am really pleased with this. Took several months in a propagator. I just put them in, and basically forgot about them until I checked today. I saw a small white colour on the side of the pot, pulled it out and checked, and found the 9 with roots.  A couple of the others are just forming that little bump on the side of the seed, so are also waking up.

:)

[SubTropicRay]

How much water do these things like?  I have a feeling not as much as one would think.

Thanks in advance,

Ray

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Ray, I think I agree with you...  Certainly it needs to be moist at all times, but not soaking wet...  I think the key is to throw some bark in the mix...  Or maybe better yet some 1/2" rocks so there is some good airspace in the mix.  My largest specimen is working on pushing out it's third leaf currently. It was in a dense soil and was beginning to damp off so I repotted it with 2/3 perlite and 1/3 peat and it seems to be much happier.  

Even better news, I was potting up some Pinanga caesia recently and was using recycled soil for the compot (a big no-no... whoops!) and in the bottom of the pot, buried with no chance of living I found a L. mapu seed that had germinated and had a 3" spear coming out of the seed!  I now have 2 out of 10 mapu seeds germed from RPS!  YIPEE!!!

:cool:

[www.dadluvsu.com]

O yeah, for the record that's 1.5 years to germinate from when I recieved the seed!

[www.dadluvsu.com]

I copied this from another thread...  It seemed relevant here also...

I sewed mine over a year an a half ago... gave up on them in the tubes and recycled the soil into some community pots...  Today, to my surprise I found 6 of the 10 seeds had germinated and grown into healthy little one leafers!  HOORAY!!! :cool: I CAREFULLY potted 4 of them out into one gallon pots and left 2 of them in the Physokentia insolita compot...  I will leave them alone as long as I can...  The P. insolita have just begun to germinate, I will pot the remaining 2 when I plant out that pot!  YIPEE!!!   Chalk up another good batch of seed from rarepalmseeds.com  I just needed to be patient!

Tha bad thing is it makes me wonder where the remaining seeds are buried and how it's going to break my heart when I dig up a pot one day to find a dead albino mapu

[Gbarce]

Congratulations!!

That was a nice Christmas gift, wasn't it?!

[www.dadluvsu.com]

It was an awesome gift...  Completely unexpected!  I thought for sure those seeds had died...  I was wrong, they had been alive all the time.  ::

[Gbarce]

I have a batch if seeds that have been asleep since July-- so its been 5 months?

I hope I get a Halloween surprise next year.

In the meantime I guess I will just forget about them -- seems to take so much longer when you are always checking them out.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Gene, I finally tracked down a decent sized plant too!  I recieved it via Fedex yesterday...  I thought you would like to see some pictures of this beauty!  I'm sure you are as fascinated as I am by the extremely rare palm!

:cool:

Size 11 US for reference

Flower!

[Gbarce]

Wow WOW WOOOW!  That is one heck of a plant!!

And blooming size with seeds too!!  You won't have any problems with seed freshness anymore and your germinations should shorten very drastically from now on - maybe down to just a month?  fingers crossed.

Everybody always pays attention to the mottling but your palms also looks like it has broader leaflets...hmmm

Congratulations on the find!!  

Is that your Christmas treat to yourself?  I wanna get myself a Licuala Cordata next but that one seems to be impossible to find.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

(Gbarce @ Dec. 20 2007,11:39)

QUOTE

Everybody always pays attention to the mottling but your palms also looks like it has broader leaflets...hmmm

Well, there isn't alot of choice out there...  and I, like the rest of us, love the plants with really distinct mottling...  But I have a theory... Less mottling + broader leaves = faster growth and more seeds.  I have a feeling that this palm like so many others has alot of variation in their offspring...  Hopefully some offspring will have distinct mottling!  

[bgl]

Bill,

That's a great looking palm. Must have cost a small fortune...! ???

Decided to check on some of mine. Here's one of them.

Bo-Göran

[bgl]

And another one with ripe fruit. A tad out of focus. Should've known better by now and taken at least two photos...

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Those are beauties!  How old are they?  I think mine is about 13-15 Hawaiian years old...

[bgl]

Can only guess at the age. They were in 1G pots when I bought them almost 4 years ago, so they were probably 5-6 years of age. They were nice sized 1 G plants. So, my guess would be right around 10 years today.

[Al in Kona]

This is the 2nd year now that this plant of mine has produced seed.  I just recently took this pic showing the ripe fruit.  This time I got over 20 seeds (more than last year).  The plant is still in a 4-gallon size container and it has been fertilized lightly with Nutricote time release 360 fertilizer.

[Gbarce]

Is the mottling also a function of the kind lighting you give the palm?  

I see pictures of palms with a lighter base color somtimes so the mottling becomes more distinct.  Mine is kind of dark green on lighter green and I was thinking it may be beacuse its in a rather bright location so it its Chlorophyll is more active.

As Will said this would equate to faster growth and faster seed production.  But if I wanted a showier plant I should  put  them in deeper shade?

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Gene, my palm is flowering and it made me think of this thread. Didn't notice your query about mottling as a function of light intensity last time we spoke here. But now that this palm has been in my hands for a while and has grown a few leaves I thought you might notice a difference in leaf mottling... Even though I have this palm off to a very shady spot in my shadehouse, I'm sure it is brighter than what this palm was growing in prior to my owning it. Mottling is more apparent now... Seems mottling is a direct function of exposure... Do you think it is Mapu's way of camoflaging in it's dappled light habitat?

Check it out!

New Flowa, new spear!

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Should I be putting out fruit fly bait now or wait a couple days? Anyone have a suggestion for pollination?

[surferjr]

Hi Guys,

I'm no expert at this but just to get an idea for those of you wishing to grow Mapu from seed, I ordered 10 seeds about 2 months ago. I placed them in heat (85F) n plastic bags and 2 had germinated within 1 month. Another has germinated after 2 months. Dont know if I'll get anymore out of this batch as the seeds were not fresh but I'll hold onto them all for about 1 -2 years. They only need the heat to germinate...I've heard that these guys actually do better when temperatures are slightly cooler (75-80). So far, one of them has a spear coming up which is about 3/4 of an inch long.

Considering how rare and how hard, how slow, and not to mention how expensive the seeds are (I paid 40$ USD for only 10 seeds), I'd say prices are somewhat reasonable. In the rare event that I get all 10 to grow I would have to charge at least $4.00 to cover the costs of the seeds alone. To pay a person minimum wage to take care of these palms each day, and to have half or a quarter of them die before selling age, and add the time it takes to reach selling age, you will have to pay a pretty penny to get your hands on one of these. I'd say just grow them from seed if you can.

Mike

Wow Mike,

I purchased several hundred seeds and did not see any germination for 18 months than they went off like wild fire and now 3 and 1/2 years later I've notice a few seeds have germinated when none have done so for over 10 months! :hmm:

Edited June 25, 2008 by surferjr