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After a good day of digging holes. See Lilikoilee's post of this weeks' planting. Mike

Dear friends, I like to initiate a discussion on how to germinate Exocitic palm from seeds purchased Online. I request able members with considerable experience and success in acheving high rate of seed germination to contribute.. So as it would encourage new members and palm lovers to easily grow them at their home. Please classify in the following method _ Palm variety name_germination period_Temperature Needed & stratification if needed,etc Kindly join this discussion,so as to benifit all our members. One Man One Tree.. Love, Kris Achar (Kris to my friends).

We have a new friend from Kerala on Palmtalk; Vipin I am happy to say welcome on Palmtalk to Vipin and share pictures I did in a journey some years ago in this lovely country. (where one could find Bentinckia condapanna in the mountains!) I loved this country, his population, nature and landscape, The most well know is the backwaters landscape with lovely water and coconuts sceneries You also can notice that the Malabar Coast is eaten by the ocean every year, soil and coconut disappearing with monsoon storms.

Hello everyone, I am new to germinating and I was hoping for any advice - on my system on general. I've had pretty good luck with a 50:50 mixture of peat moss and sand in Ziploc bags that have been sealed and kept moist. Then i put the sprouted seeds in one gallon containers and try to keep it moist. in general at this stage is it good to just keep them moist and in the dark - or should I put it in the Sun, partial Sun, or shade? So far my Canaries have began to sprout leaves above the soil but my R. Sapida palms don't seem to be doing anything...

I've gotten really curious about the green bismarckia. Unfortunately, I've never gotten consistent answers on the whole green versus silver debate. Version 1 of the story says they are just as hardy and grow under the same conditions as the silver form, see http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/pix/BisGre.shtml. Ed Brown in Jacksonville Florida reports that the green ones have far outperform the blue one in terms of hardiness (See post #9 here:) The green one is much, much more common in Antanarivo where temps are quite cool compared to the silver bismarckia habitat, and there are many quite tall and large green bismarckia all over Antanarivo. Some have suggested that because of the lack of wax, the green one is much more efficient at photosynthesis and happens to grow faster and better in cooler climates. Even Jeff Marcus reports that the green one is far easier to grow on the humid Hilo side of the big Island because the seedlings have much more fungal resistance. Version 2 of the story says the green ones are much, much more tender than the blue ones and happen to be slower and more tropical in their requirements. Some sort of green form made the rounds in Southern California and failed, so people here have pretty much given up on them. I realize that the blue one is far more desirable from an aesthetic point of view, but if I can find the green type that fits under version 1, it would actually be a better choice for a more heat deprived USDA 10a for someone who would like a ginormous palm. I am never gonna find out unless I play around a bit. I ordered a bunch of bismarckia seeds, the green form and the blue form. I have the green and blue ones in exactly the same conditions, at around 27C. Lo and behold, the green ones took 2 weeks to germinate, and the blue ones are still sitting there doing nothing. So far the only other germinators are livistona muelleri and archont. purpurea. Anyone else played around with the green ones?

Well, I will try to take pictures of the setup later, but I'll describe them now. I'm using 6.5L tupperware-type containers that are clear plastic. I've drilled a small hole in the side of one of the containers to insert my thermocouple for my heating mat thermostat. I used a grommet and perlite debris to seal the entry hole for the probe. The containers are half-filled with moist perlite. I've place the Butia seeds on the top of the media where I can monitor how wet the seeds are. I have the heating mat/ thermostat combo hooked up to a timer that powers the combination from 7:30am until 5:00pm each day. The thermostat is set to 90F. I've read everybody's recommendations on Butia germination, and this is the best combo I can think of. It should keep humidity near 100% and temps around 90F during the day. Ambient temperatures in the greenhouse bottom out at 72F at night. Any other thoughts?

Cocos nucifera Roystoneas (regias?) Sorry for the poor quality, the photos were taken from the car.

Here we have some archontophoenix cunninghamiana (very common on the island) And also one Chambeyronia Macrocarpa And in the last pic we can see some washingtonias robusta, phoenix dactyliferas and hyophorbe verschaffeltii.

Digging holes with a chainsaw. Now that has got to be fun, for real.

My previous palm trimmer is AWOL, so I was forced to go with another guy. I have a collection of tropicals (namely crotons, philodedrons, and aroids) beneath most of these palms, so its really an art to slice into the jungle without damaging anything below. Here's some pictures of the little guy who was as nimble as heck! Huge Foxy Lady loaded with seed has to be trimmed. Can you see him with all of the seed? Seed lying in street in preparation for hauling away. In the driveway it was about 50 lbs. and was 6' x 6' x 4'. And to think is all from only one palm. Only 33 more to go. Did you bring more trailers? LOL Livistona decora (decipiens) is a tough one to trim. Cluster of very tall Veitchia winin over the pool and deck. Only 6 coconuts to trim free of seed and lower dying fronds. Call me OCD with my plants... Five hours later, this is the result. It was not free of some damage. He trimmed 76 palms all together, and it's inevitable, I guess. Some stepped on understory palms, and misthrown fronds. I can't really complain, as this is like precise surgery.

If all you are doing is cutting grass, a zero turn radius mower like the one Troy suggest, is definitely the way to go. They can't be beat for speed and maneuverability. However, they cost a lot more than a regular rider and the hydraulic transmission is VERY expensive to repair if it breaks. If you are pulling things like trailers, especially heavy trailers, they are not ideal. Stick to reliable motors like Husky or Kawasaki even high end Briggs and Straton. You will find that the motors last very long with little maintenance. It is the other things that cost money, like belts and pulleys, replacement wheels and damaged mowing decks. Try to get a used high end mower and stay away from the box store bargains. Your 2.5 acres will reduce them to scrap in a year. Are you able to get John Deere products there? They have some decent mowers that should suit you.

Near my place of work.....

How 'bout a calendar for next year - "The Men of PalmTalk." The women couldn't resist macho like that.

Here is a pic of the baggie showing the sinker roots on steroids:

I see a hand chipping bar for breaking up lava rock. The spade is a useless tool for South Florida "soil". An electric chipping hammer is a must.

Here we go:

weight, size, density

Any thoughts on using sand instead of perilite? Does it make a big difference?

- A few photos showing the side road, as it waits for customers on the second weekend. That is Randy coming on the golf cart. - The main entrance to the shadehouse. Something smacked the pole holding up the sign last weekend, causing it to drop a little bit. - If something could not be restocked, other plants were just spaced out more to fill the gap. - The landscaped Beccariophoenix alfredii grows ever larger, sale after sale. I will get a post asking for a photo of this palm, but it has not been posted yet. Yes, I do know the signs are backwards. It is to protect them from fading during the week. Ryan

- Licuala grandis - 10 gal. $175.00 - 7 gal. $85.00 - 3 gal. $45.00 - 1 gal. $15.00 - That was all the requested photos for now, but I am sure I will get more. The last photo from the day shows Jeff Searle on the left directing the placement of the landscape plants just before lunch time. Ryan

- Pelagodoxa henryana - 25 gal. $650.00 - 7 gal. $350.00 - 3 gal. $100.00 - The 25 gallon represents a specimen size the nursery has not had in a long time. I call it the 'instant gratification' size. - Kentiopsis oliviformis - 10 gal. $135.00 - 3 gal. $35.00 Ryan

- I have a few early ideas for individual and group photos, but did not have the time to take them today but I will get them. If you have any more requests, keep sending them in. Ryan

A two-week to sale notice and update: as of today, I got the first drafts of the plant lists and have started processing them. I got the palm/cycad list and it looks extensive as always and the croton list will be a record breaker for sure. I will post a notice when I have them ready for posting and emailing/messaging. I got a temp list going now as to who wanted a copy as soon as I got it ready, so let me know if you want to be on the list. - The sales area is in a constant state of flux as everything is being moved around, cleaned, reorganized, etc. so the only place that looks mostly ready is the main shadehouse. Before I left the nursery, I took a quick set of photos inside the shadehouse and down the sidewalk. They show the palms and a few other plants that line the sidewalk and represent about 80% of the total plants that will be here. The others still have not yet been pulled and/or relocated. As many may know, this is an ongoing process that seems to continue up to the first sale day. - The white tent, or the 'casa de blanco' is up and ready. The hub of the hubbubs and den of the denizens during the sale. I'm still tempted to add curtains and velvet ropes around it one year, and add a hottub to the inside just for the fun of it. After doing that, I don't think certain people would ever leave. Ryan