Real-time Borassus potting up!

[John in Andalucia]

I have 20 Borassus seeds from Kris, that for want of a better phrase, are buried up to their nuts and cooking in black, plastic tubes in the garden. We are up to 35°C /95F in the shade today, and I know that the soil temp for these seeds is reaching nearer 50°C /122F. I'm going to dig them all out, since they've been like this since Christmas. Having successfully germinated and potted two up the previous year, I know that as long as there is a spear and lateral root growth below the stem base, the cotyldonary petiole drying out will not be harmful to the seedling. In fact, the seed is just about done with, if I recall.

So I'm off into the garden! It's just gone 7.30pm here. Still +30°C but cooling quickly. Let's shake some Borassus and see what they look like!

[PalmatierMeg]

Take photos to post.

[John in Andalucia]

I'm back for 20 minutes..

These are them!

Here's the first one out..

Got some 5 year-old compost that's as good as humus..

Fresh potting mix..

..and vermiculite.

Got a few odd pots..

But I think I'll go with these.

Close up..

..and in the bag!

Back out now, to dig up some more!

[mike in kurtistown]

Here's the way I did it in the summer of '06. The black tubes are PVC from the local Home Depot.

[PalmatierMeg]

Strange looking things - like parsnips. I hope the germinated seed I planted in the back yard is doing that underground. Nothing has broken the surface yet. I also hope cold and freezing rain in Jan. didn't kill it.

[John in Andalucia]

Back indoors, 2 hours later. Not all good news. A fair number were undersized and rotted off. Photos coming..

[MattyB]

John,

I've tried similar techniques to raise the seed up on these deep remote germinators in order to prevent the growing point from being burried too deeply in the soil. My question is: Don't you have issues with the radicle drying out and thus cutting off the nutrient supply and killing or severely stunting the plant? I have a dry climate to maybe that's why it happened to me. I learned that I had to run that radicle along the inside of the raised tube and fill it with a light potting mix in order to keep it healthy while the plant was using it. Then once the seed detached on its own I could remove the raised tube and allow the plant to grow on it's own in the pot.

[John in Andalucia]

If they don't grow into nice fat parsnips, they tend to fall victim to fungus. Germinating Borassus during winter is also a problem for me. In hindsight I should have let these tubes have some sunshine back then. Instead I kept them in the greenhouse. No heat + moisture + undersized seedling = fungal attack. Best I can do is blast it off, dry the seedling then pot it in fresh dirt. In this weather, now exposed to the air, it should heal nicely.

Got this going on. Undersized, malformed..

..or just plain rotted off!

You can't know which are the slow ones and water those less, so it's pot luck really. Some seeds are just not strong enough. Here's a little fighter..

Just making the grade..

This is how they should look..

Ready for potting up..

Here are the motley crew!

So there it is, as it happened, proving that things don't always turn out as you'd expect. A gift from Kris, and I did my best. I lost 8, potted up 6, and I've got 6 "Big Mamas" which I hope turn out fine. I'll dig those up tomorrow!

[John in Andalucia]

John,

I've tried similar techniques to raise the seed up on these deep remote germinators in order to prevent the growing point from being burried too deeply in the soil. My question is: Don't you have issues with the radicle drying out and thus cutting off the nutrient supply and killing or severely stunting the plant? I have a dry climate to maybe that's why it happened to me. I learned that I had to run that radicle along the inside of the raised tube and fill it with a light potting mix in order to keep it healthy while the plant was using it. Then once the seed detached on its own I could remove the raised tube and allow the plant to grow on it's own in the pot.

Matt, I think the seed is spent once there are lateral roots forming. The one's I grew last year were at this stage when I chopped the cotyldonary petiole almost down to the stem base. They are growing fine. You can see them in post #3 first photo, on the right in the big pots.

[John in Andalucia]

John,

I've tried similar techniques to raise the seed up on these deep remote germinators in order to prevent the growing point from being burried too deeply in the soil. My question is: Don't you have issues with the radicle drying out and thus cutting off the nutrient supply and killing or severely stunting the plant? I have a dry climate to maybe that's why it happened to me. I learned that I had to run that radicle along the inside of the raised tube and fill it with a light potting mix in order to keep it healthy while the plant was using it. Then once the seed detached on its own I could remove the raised tube and allow the plant to grow on it's own in the pot.

Matt, I think the seed is spent once there are lateral roots forming. The one's I grew last year were at this stage when I chopped the cotyldonary petiole almost down to the stem base. They are growing fine. You can see them in post #3 first photo, on the right in the big pots.

To update what I said above, Matty, here is a photo of my first two Borassus from last year. I cut the seeds off the day after taking this photo. They had only been potted a week, although I guess it's better to wait until there's a green shoot emerging. I'll put these latest batch of seedlings back in the greenhouse in full shade where they'll get misted 3 times a day with 35°C heat. Once the leaf spear breaks through the seeds are coming off! David (Alicehunter2000) was the one who told me they were good to remove when he saw this photo:

[MattyB]

Good to know, thanks. Great spontaneous thread!

[BS Man about Palms]

[Kris]

Dear John

Nice work & Great visuals...

Keep us updated !

Lots of love,

kris