New Germination

[Kumar]

Hello Everyone, It has been a long hiatus from palmtalk, mostly due to a mountain of work. I wanted to write earlier but having nothing to write about thought that i'd wait till I visited my palms in Calcutta so that I could put up some photos as well.

Here I display some new germination. These are all from seed sent to me by Joel (Guanabana13). He had sent me Howea, Rhopalostylis and Heydscepe in April this year. At the time I had planted some and thrown a few extra ones around the place. For months I saw no progress and had written them off (along with my germination skills). That is why this time I was pleasantly surprised to see so many seedlings, that too in the early days of the dry season when rainfall is nil and the ground is hard.

I am not certain if the IDs are right. If not, please correct me.

This one is one of two heydscepes that I dehusked and potted.

These are what must be either rhopalostylis or howea. They are all over the place. I must warn that dozens of roystonea seeds have also spouted but these seeds are white so I presume they are not the latter.

[Kumar]

These are some vigourous roystonea seedlings (class of 2011).

And my 'control' caryota urens have also spouted. These are of the batch (#2 of 2011) from which I had sent seeds to those who were interested.

[Gary]

that seed doesnt look like hedyscepe but does lookl like wodyetia

[richnorm]

that seed doesnt look like hedyscepe but does lookl like wodyetia

I think the leaf is wrong too, wouldn't it be hand shaped if Hedyscepe?

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Doesn't look like a baby Hedyscepe to me !

Rhopalostylis and Hedyscepe in Bombay's climate i am not a betting man but the odds would not be great for long term survival - too hot and especially at night ! Sorry to be a downer but i would love you to prove me wrong !

If the first seed is a foxtail it will grow like a runaway train in that tropical climate !

[Kumar]

It's not wodyeta for certain. The seed was green, about two inches, looked like a small coconut and I physically dehusked it to get the seed that can be seen in the first photo.

Could the smaller ones (photos 3 and 4) with the white seed be Howea or Rhopalostylis ?

[Gary]

It's not wodyeta for certain. The seed was green, about two inches, looked like a small coconut and I physically dehusked it to get the seed that can be seen in the first photo.

Could the smaller ones (photos 3 and 4) with the white seed be Howea or Rhopalostylis ?

attached is seed pics typical of species-biggest seed is hedyscepe[note centre strip which is normal]medium size seed is howea and small red seed is rhopalostylis [fresh]

[Kumar]

With some embarrassment I can confirm that the first seedling shown right at the top is an oil palm. I had carried a couple of seeds back from Thailand in February and after eight months it has germinated. There is an arenga seed right beside it, caked with mud that is still inactive.

[bukezi]

nice pictures kumar

Edited December 1, 2011 by bukezi