Windmill Palm Seed Viabilty

[JNeutron]

I harvested some Windmill Palm seeds in November and put them in a brown paper bag in garage over winter.  The green seeds turned their usual purple but are now quite dry on very crisp seed pods.

Will these seeds still germinate… or should I have started germination sooner?

[Fusca]

They're probably OK and still viable provided that they were pollinated.  Trachycarpus are dioecious palms (have male plants and female plants) so both sexes need to be nearby to produce viable seeds.

Edited May 5, 2023 by Fusca

[JNeutron]

Thanks… I just learned something new from you about separate male and female trees.  I may be in good shape… as my group of three Windmill Palms have produced “offspring” at the base of these trees, but I was never certain if they were from self- seeding… or from root runners.

I’ll try my luck at germinating some of the harvested seeds.  In the past I’ve had success with germinating Christmas Palms and Foxtail Palms from purchased seeds using heat blankets under the germination tubs…

[PalmatierMeg]

Trachycarpus are temperate palms. You will get better results if you do not use a heat mat. Also, they are solitary palms so do not produce "runners" or offsets.

[JNeutron]

Thanks… the green seeds produced every year look very healthy and tree(s) producing seed are quite prolific.  I’ll try my luck at germinating in a more temperate environment on my shaded lower deck (w/o heat pads).  Hopefully my seed has not dried out too bad in the garage paper bag over the winter.