Hello

I have Attalea rostrata and Acrocomia vinifera seeds for a couple of years now and have been totally unable to make them germinate,they were fleshly collected but none has sprouted all these years. They are simply doing nothing at all except slowly getting their thick shell corroded from a wood eating fungus but the micropyle cover and everything are intact,not damaged. I am germinating them in moist perlite at 22-26C for years now. I also have a clear,sealed container with some seeds on moist coir,in a high temperature variation greenhouse(reaching up to 60C in the summer sun heat) that also never germinated. Ok,these last ones may be heat damaged or cold damaged from the winters but all the indoor ones at 22-26C should be fine. What can i do to make them germinate? Even 2 of each would be a great improvement and i have more than 20 seeds of each.

How have you gotten seeds of these genus to germinate and after how long? Does anyone have any photos of how to de-lid such thick shell seeds as a last resort for germination?

These tough nuts are driving me NUTS!!!

Thank you very much in advance!!!

Acrocomia is really terrible to germinate. Until today only one seed that I planted germinated. Last year I got impatient and planted all seeds directly in soil and this one germinated. It seems they needs these thermal shock and intervals between soil wetter and drier.

You need to collect some seeds buried in soil under the mother plant, so they germinate faster.

Attalea has a better germination, between 6 months and 2 years (eg Attalea dubia). My seeds of Attalea phalerata took around three years, and stranger was that almost all Attalea phalerata seeds I had germinated (seeds with 2 years, with 3 years, 4 years, 5 years).

I have had some Attalea seeds (maripa, butyracea) take three years to germinate in pots, though others have not taken so long (four months for cohune). I have had Acrocomias germinate in mulch piles after three years. I have also cracked the quarter-inch thick shells of Acrocomias (aculeata and crispa) and removed the kernels and sowed them that way. The results were that one or two germinated within a couple of months. Removing the shell is tricky. I used a small sledgehammer, and there is danger that the kernel could be damaged.

I had several Acrocomia aculeata seeds many years ago and had heard that they were hard to germinate. Someone recommended that I just put them in a flower bed and forget about them. I did just that and all of them germinated within two years. I originally placed them a few inches apart and, after two years, they started coming up within a few months of each other. After growing for about a year, I dug them up and potted them individually.

Thank you very much for your replies! I see your experiences with germinating those have been lengthy as well....

What are the conditions you kept your seeds at? Did you sow in soil? At what depth? Where was the pot kept?

Do you think my seeds will eventually germinate at the conditions i am keeping them or should i change something?

Kathryn,

How moist did you kept their flowerbed? Were they left out during your winter as well? I have been pondering on doing just that but havent tried it yet. I think i will do that with 10 of each and see! Just need to select the proper area as i dont have any flowerbeds. Full sun or not?

Thank you very much in advance!

Cracking the shells in acrocomia sped the process up quite a bit. 2 years to germinate with a relatively high percent germinating.

Kostas, I had similar problems trying to germinate Attalea seeds when I lived in Florida. After two years with no germination, I gave up and tossed them in the trash. Since I moved to Costa Rica I have been studying the local Attalea rostrata and I have noticed that fresh seeds never germinate. The seeds need to lay on the ground for almost a year (exposed to the elements) at which point the outer shell comes off exposing a long oval brown/black seed. At this point they germinate quickly and unless I collect them at just the right time, most of them have already sent a root into the ground.

Hi Kostas,

Same as everyone else - I sowed 10 Acrocomia totai (seeds removed from shell) in May 2009 and finally had 1 germinate in June this year - so two years more or less...hoping some of the others arrive soon!

I used a fine bladed hacksaw with the nut held in a vice and carefully worked around the diameter until I thought it was nearly through. I then removed it from the vice and gave it a sharp blow with a hammer and they cracked open with the seed undamaged. The shell casing for A. totai is about 2-5mm thick and quite a few had two seeds inside.

Cheers,

Jonathan

Hello Kostas

Here you can read about Acrocomia aculeata (in English)

http://palmasenresistencia.blogspot.com/2009/08/acrocomia-aculeata-english.html

the secret to germinate these seeds is to plant them and forget......

Cheers

I've had 50% to 90% success with Attalea in Sphagnum Moss at around 90F (dubia and allenii)

Interesting note. My A allenii have all produced 4 seedlings per seed. Pretty efficient use of all the embryos.

My germinating Attalea seeds were in open 2 or 3-gal plastic pots containing a mix of two potting soils, one based on Canadian peat and the other on wood products. Seeds were buried below the surface of the soil in the pot. They are in a shadehouse where 150 inches of rain a year keep them moist, and temperatures normally range from 65 deg F. to 80 Deg F. There are no extreme temperatures here in Hawaii.

Kostas, as you note, the seeds of Acrocomias are hard to germinate.

Don't know anything about Attaleas, yet.

Once they grow, Acrocomias are very fast-growing, particularly if you give them plenty of water. To give an idea, I was told by one of our members in Florida that yonder Acrocomia started from seed about 7 years before and now stood 30 feet (10 m) tall.

They HATE drought. Let them get too dry, for too long, they just give up and die.

And, don't plant them where nudists will bump into them . . . .