Rhopalostylis Sapida (Mainland Nikau) Seed Collection

[sipalms]

Hello folks. I'm going to be on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand next week (it's only a couple hours drive from me) and am hoping to collect some Nikau seed while I'm there. 

I'm also going to be going out to the stand of Nikau at Banks Peninsula in the coming weeks as well and would love to collect some from there too.

I've never done seed collection before and interested on how to go about it with Rhopalostylis Sapida? Any tips / photos appreciated, on collection and then how to germinate!

[richnorm]

It's a bit early but you might be lucky.  Maybe you can find some of last years on the ground?  They grow like weeds so no special care required. I wouldn't even clean them.  Just throw them in a pot of damp mix and wait.  Two choice varieties!

[sipalms]

29 minutes ago, richnorm said:

It's a bit early but you might be lucky.  Maybe you can find some of last years on the ground?  They grow like weeds so no special care required. I wouldn't even clean them.  Just throw them in a pot of damp mix and wait.  Two choice varieties!

Will see what I can find! What sorta temps and how long would you expect to germinate?

Here's a pic of some I planted a few weeks back. They're nicely shaded by a Red Beech tree to provide shade in summer and some shelter in winter (this beech is semi-deciduous). There's the dripline to stop them from getting thirsty through our dry summers. Probably too close together but I think they'll be slow growing there so probably no harm, and eventually once they're big enough I'll rearrange things a bit by either taking some out or removing the beech altogether...?!

There's 4x Chatham Island varieties, and the one on the back right hand corner in the first pic is a mainland Nikau. Noticeably different up close, with the mainland having more droopy fronds (less upright) and a darker green colour.

 

 

 

[palmad Merc]

I collected a whole bunch last April, I did clean the pulp off them as I had to to pass customs in Australia,and just put them in coco coir and perlite mix,no heat just outside,shaded area,took around 6 months for the first one to germinate.

[Albey]

On 3/1/2018 at 3:41 PM, sipalms said:

Will see what I can find! What sorta temps and how long would you expect to germinate?

Here's a pic of some I planted a few weeks back. They're nicely shaded by a Red Beech tree to provide shade in summer and some shelter in winter (this beech is semi-deciduous). There's the dripline to stop them from getting thirsty through our dry summers. Probably too close together but I think they'll be slow growing there so probably no harm, and eventually once they're big enough I'll rearrange things a bit by either taking some out or removing the beech altogether...?!

There's 4x Chatham Island varieties, and the one on the back right hand corner in the first pic is a mainland Nikau. Noticeably different up close, with the mainland having more droopy fronds (less upright) and a darker green colour.

 

 

 

Hi Si - How are your Nikau palms doing ?

[sipalms]

They got fried completely last winter 2018. So I let them sit fried until I got around to removing the beech and replacing it with a 6 metre tall Queen that I got down from Auckland. Believe it or not, the mainland Nikau mentioned above, in the back RH corner, had come away again lush and green by December 18 but I removed it anyway as not long term viable.

I still have a Chatham one planted in another part of the garden which is more sheltered, so I'll see how that goes.