Germinating Palm Seeds Mold

[Justin31703]

Hello, so I purchased a bunch of different varieties of palm seeds, the varieties are: Sabal palmetto, Syagrus romanzoffiana, Phoenix roebelenii, Dypsis lutescens, Adonidia merrillii, Pritchardia pacifica, Sabal causiarum, Ptychosperma elegans, Veitchia arecina, Roystonea regia, Coccothrinax crinita, Coccothrinax spissa, Coccothrinax scopiara, Coccothrinax fragrans, Thrinax radiata, Wodyetia bifurcata, and Caryota mitis. These are all fresh seed and they all sink when soaking.  So a few weeks ago I soaked them for 24 hours in a water and peroxide solution and planted them in containers with with moist sphagum orchid moss. I week or so after I noticed some white mold growth on all the seeds so I took them out and soaked them in peroxide for a two days and let them dry., they still sunk and I luckily lost no seed, after that I replanted after soaking them in a 10 parts water 1 part bleach solution to kill off and remaining mold if there still was any. Then I decided to replant by using the baggie method. For that I mixed Palm and cactus soil and perlite and lightly misted it. A week later I am starting to see green mold growth starting on the seeds again. Besides that the seeds are still looking good, not rotten and still sink. Is there and recommendation on how I stop having this mold growth and do you have any planting suggestions on how to do it better? Should I use community pots instead? 

-Justin

[Justin31703]

Any suggestions? 

[kinzyjr]

@Justin31703

I'd try the community pot with some open air.  A quick wipe down with some dilute bleach may help as well.  Do you have any photos of the seed?

[NatureGirl]

Have you cleaned all the fruit off the seeds? Some Seeds that are bad will still sink. An easy way to check is to cut one open and check for embryo. If they are good and are still molding, you are keeping them too wet. Embryo is usually found quite near the surface. I cut at least one of all my newly acquired seeds open. 

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Sounds to me the focus insofar has only been on the seeds.

Perhaps you need to sterilize the growing media (cook dirt in the oven) and use super pure water (reverse osmosis)?

[meridannight]

For the sake of sounding too obvious -- did you also sterilize the media, and use sterile container/bag for the seeds? Did you wash your hands before handling the seeds/media or use gloves for example? Just cleaning the seeds is not enough, the whole process needs to be sterile, everything coming into contact with the seeds needs to be sterile, i.e. the medium, container, water, your hands, etc.

[Justin31703]

Thanks everybody for the advice. There’s not much too see in the photo below because I cleaned off the mold, put them in peroxide and let them dry. But those were the seeds giving me the most trouble.  I’ll make sure to sterilize everything from now on not just the seeds. 

[WaianaeCrider]

Perhaps that's been my problem over the past 20 years.  LOL  I just clean them, toss in a pot w/some potting soil and put them in the shade house.  Most of the time nothing happens.  LOL  Sometimes something grows in an area where I just "dumped" out pots that I thought were not going to sprout after a few years.   LOL

[kinzyjr]

4 hours ago, WaianaeCrider said:

Perhaps that's been my problem over the past 20 years.  LOL  I just clean them, toss in a pot w/some potting soil and put them in the shade house.  Most of the time nothing happens.  LOL  Sometimes something grows in an area where I just "dumped" out pots that I thought were not going to sprout after a few years.   LOL

I got tired of waiting on a few extra Jubaea seeds I ordered and tossed them in my bone pile in the back.  Come back a week later and two were poking up through the grass.

[WaianaeCrider]

7 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

I got tired of waiting on a few extra Jubaea seeds I ordered and tossed them in my bone pile in the back.  Come back a week later and two were poking up through the grass.

Had the same w/some cycads about 10 years ago.  LOL

[Frond-friend42]

On 10/15/2020 at 1:16 PM, Justin31703 said:

Any suggestions? 

Sterile media includes things like perlite, coco coir, vermiculite, sphagnum/orchid-fiber moss, peat moss. Some boil their coir. Then it has to contain minimal moisture, so squeeze the excess out. Damp or moist but not wet. Some swear by perlite and others by moss.  Regular soil is not sterile.  Good luck. Green thumbs can be learned.

[Frond-friend42]

A lot of people on this site recommend/use daconil. I have used it to periodically treat seeds waiting to germinate. It seems to clear away fungus pretty well.

[Rickybobby]

You sure the seeds are fresh ? When I get moldy seeds I usually toss them