Does giving trachy seed baggies a cold treatment help with germination?

[Zeni]

Few months ago I bought some T. princeps x T. fortunei seeds, but only 4 out of the 50 or so popped. They were fresh seeds from this season and I used a heating mat.

I was thinking of putting the baggy with the remaining 46 seeds outside for January and February and then trying it again with the heating mat in March. Would this help?

PS. None of the seeds rotted and I used an adequate water to soil medium ratio. Also the baggy goes inside (non-freezing part of fridge) on frost nights (not often) or when it goes above 10 C / 50 F.

Edited January 17, 2023 by Zeni

[steve617]

T. Princeps can take a couple years to germinate so perhaps with this cross it may take longer than Fortunei. I've done baggie method on Fortunei and had the sprout in less than 2 months. I also had them not sprout. I lean to think on the cross hybrids could be just a germinating issue. Most hybrids I've had less luck of germinating. As for putting them in the cold kind of makes sense to try but I'm not sure about that. I will add my pure princeps seeds I've had since last March and hadn't had the first sprout. Also they have not rotted like I've seen with Takil. I also use a heat mat around mid 70 F. degrees. This year I've had great luck with Waggie, Fortunei and Hybrid of the two.

Edited January 18, 2023 by steve617

[Zeni]

6 minutes ago, steve617 said:

T. Princeps can take a couple years to germinate so perhaps with this cross it may take longer than Fortunei. I've done baggie method on Fortunei and had the sprout in less than 2 months. I also had them not sprout. I lean to think on the cross hybrids could be just a germinating issue. Most hybrids I've had less luck of germinating. As for putting them in the cold kind of makes sense to try but I'm not sure about that. I will add my pure princeps seeds I've had since last March and hadn't had the first sprout. Also they have not rotted like I've seen with Takil. I also use a heat mat around mid 70 degrees. This year I've had great luck with Waggie, Fortunei and Hybrid of the two.

Thanks. I posted this to make sure whether it was safe to give them a cold treatment in a semi-moist baggy with temperatures between 1 C to 8 C mostly (34 F to 46 F) as I am still a bit of a newbie to palm growing.

Actually have been doing the cold treatment since January 1st and was wondering whether this was okay. I kept frost away, just low temps slightly above freezing.

I will update this thread somewhere in late April to judge whether this works or not. My common sense tells me it should help, but who knows. 😁