I sacrificed a Butyagrus seed

[JT in Japan]

Many of you will know the pain, given the high cost, of losing a mule seed. I bought a batch from a solid dealer, and had good experience with the last batch from same, so I have high expectations for a high rate of germination.

But I'm anxious about maybe not having the ideal community pot set-up, and I'm also curious. So I decided yesterday to cut one of the seeds, just to see if it was rotting (soil too damp), or dried out (too much direct sun) or anything. Here's the result. Do you agree that this is looking very healthy?

1 down, 249 left to sprout!

JT

 

[JT in Japan]

Btw, they've only been in the community pot since July 24/16, so roughly 7-8 weeks.

[PalmTreeDude]

Does not look like any rot, looks healthy to me. 

[palmfriend]

Same to me, JT.

Sometimes I think you can feel (maybe by instinct) if something is wrong with seeds or a  plant.

If the color is somehow intense, it should be alright.

best regards

 

[Pal Meir]

The first question is if the embryos are still intact and the endocarp holes not mouldy? If you have mouldy embryos the endosperm could be so fresh and white but you won’t get the seeds sprout.

[Mohsen]

14 hours ago, JT in Japan said:

Many of you will know the pain, given the high cost, of losing a mule seed. I bought a batch from a solid dealer, and had good experience with the last batch from same, so I have high expectations for a high rate of germination.

But I'm anxious about maybe not having the ideal community pot set-up, and I'm also curious. So I decided yesterday to cut one of the seeds, just to see if it was rotting (soil too damp), or dried out (too much direct sun) or anything. Here's the result. Do you agree that this is looking very healthy?

1 down, 249 left to sprout!

JT

 

It looks healthy and been really sacrificed,

you still have another 249! What are you going to do with 249 mules??

[Pal Meir]

Butia and Jubaea have a very long viable endosperm; the only problem is the embryo: if it dried out, got mouldy or infected by other pests. So don’t look at the endosperm, it says nothing.

[Pal Meir]

Here an example with a seed of Lytocaryum hoehnei: The ruminate (!) endosperm is intact and healthy, but the embryo has dried out (for some reason):

[JT in Japan]

12 hours ago, Pal Meir said:

The first question is if the embryos are still intact and the endocarp holes not mouldy? If you have mouldy embryos the endosperm could be so fresh and white but you won’t get the seeds sprout.

Thanks for the detail, Pal. Noted on the embryo, and so far, so good. I'll patiently wait.

jt

[Josh-O]

looks great!

I have over 300 in community pots

[JT in Japan]

16 hours ago, Mohsen said:

It looks healthy and been really sacrificed,

you still have another 249! What are you going to do with 249 mules??

Well, I hope raise them to be large healthy palms, and populate my little corner of Japan with a new, robust breed.

:-)

[JT in Japan]

Here are a couple mules from my batch last year. Exactly 1 year old. Doesn't look like great growth, but I have no basis for comparison. Many of them last year were doubles, so that was cool.

[JT in Japan]

Here are a couple mules from my batch last year. Exactly 1 year old since I first potted them. Doesn't look like great growth, but I have no basis for comparison. Many of them last year were doubles, so that was cool.

[Phoenikakias]

Have you cut it in the air with a katana?

[Pal Meir]

40 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

Have you cut it in the air with a katana?

If you mean me  I was using a Chinese jiàn 劍:

[Alicehunter2000]

Lol

If you put a mule in the ground you may see explosive growth....that's always been my experience. ...much happier in the ground 

[JT in Japan]

9 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Have you cut it in the air with a katana?

In the past, I've asked my friend O'Ren to come over and cut my seeds.

[Phoenikakias]

Spare her for the Parajubaea seeds lol