Licuala grandis

[Dypsisdean]

A friend from another plant forum emailed me with the following question:

"Speaking of palms, do you grow any Licualas?  Our L. grandis is setting seed but I don't know how long it takes or how you tell when they're ripe.  I don't want to miss out on collecting them, but they are in an out-of-the-way spot where I don't check them that often.  They look like shiny little green peas right now, do they turn yellow or something when they're ready?"

Does anyone know if these are self pollinating? And if so, when they are ripe. Any germinating info would be nice also.

She will be checking for responses. If we can help her, she may decide to stick around.  

[paulgila]

i've seen licuala in bali with red fruit.can't help with germination--sorry.

[Jeff Searle]

Licuala grandis are ripe and ready for the picken when they turn a orangish-red. The fruit will eventually get soft to the touch and begin to drop off. Plant them approx. 1/2 inch under the surface of the soil in a small pot. It's pretty basic. After they start to germinate, the hook will be set then, and we can reel her in to the IPS.

[Dypsisdean]

Thanks Jeff,

I still have a lot to learn about the "true tropicals."

[Norm]

Here are several L. grandis set out in September, 2004.  As best I can recall, germination took place in 30-60 days.  Ditto everything said by Jeff.

[Palmarum]

This is the first batch of ripe fruit on my Licuala grandis in 14 years. It is the second time it has flowered. They are ripe, and soft to the touch, with a varied color. They were ant pollinated.

Ryan

[Trópico]

I'd say is harvest time!

I picked up some green seeds from L. species in PR and they took about 3 months to even start to put out a root and another month for a first leaf.

Then I picked L. grandis from Colombia that resembled the ones in the picture above. I am still waiting for germination but I know it will take a while. We'll see.

[bgl]

I collected some L. grandis seeds earlier this year. Put them in a germination container on Feb 22 (06) and they germinated a few months after that, but the seedlings still only have one leaf as of today. About 3-4 inches tall.