Orange Crush Germination

[corkycory]

So today i ventured into my closet and i briefly looked at me orange crush containers which i have had for almost a year (the ones Bo sold ) and had almost given up on. Well i noticed a container full of little stems...or leafs..(?) well the thing is all of them are a yellowish color, is that right? I usually provide a visual with my palm questions but the camera appears to be lost around this time.. and if the yellowish color is fine what should i do with my little orange crushes i.e. what kind of pot, shade, water etc...

Thanks in advanced

and thanks again Bo for selling the seeds for such a great deal :DDD

[bgl]

You're welcome, and I'm happy to hear you finally got germination! I wouldn't be too concerned about the color at this point. Based on your description I'm a bit uncertain whether they in fact opened up the first leaf or not. If not, then wait for the first leaf to open, and after it's fully open you can certainly begin to move them up into individual pots. I moved mine straight into 1G pots, even though they were certainly small enough to fit into 4 inch. The roots are tiny, so be careful when you transplant them, and if they're too small it might not be a bad idea to leave them in their current container for another month or two. Difficult to judge without knowing their actual size. One important thing: the seedlings definitely do NOT like soil that remains wet. I lost a bunch of them because of this. Use a mix that's light (i.e. not heavy), and that drains quickly. Good luck!

[newtothis]

bo are you going to be sharing seeds again? i missed out on this deal and would LOVE to have one! what time of year do they fruit?

[bgl]

Several of mine are about to produce fruit and seeds very soon (in another month or two), but for the time being I'm probably not going to get into the seed business. Clearing a seed shipment, even when perfectly clean, for legal shipment from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland is a time-consuming and bureaucratic process and it seems I have already enough things to keep me busy.... But I believe seeds will be available from other sources.

[bgl]

Here's a photo if this is of any additional help. The date on the label, 26 Sep 2006 was when I planted the seeds. This photo was taken on 30 May 2007, eight months later. These seedlings are ready to go into individual pots, but as I said above, the roots are still tiny at this size so you have to be careful.

[quaman58]

Bo,

I've got some young ones (2-3 leaves) also. Thanks for the tip about light soil; I suspeect mine is a bit heavy. What's your opinion about light? Sun, filtered light, shade? What do you think is ideal? These look to be similar to Acanthophoenix rubra to me, very small, very fragile at this age. Any help is appreciated!

Bret

[bgl]

Bret,

I would definitely keep the seedlings in filtered light. I have all mine in my shadehouse (60% shadecloth). I intend to put them out in full sun once the plants are about 1 ft tall or so, but "full sun" here is different from SoCal. You may need to be even more cautious. Not knowing how many you have, I would suggest you separate them into 2 or 3 different groups once you get them up to 1-2 ft tall. Keep some of them in filtered light, but move some out in a more exposed situation and you'll be able to observe how they react and do an easy comparison.

Bo-Göran