Brahea 'Clara' from seed

[JeskiM]

Back in October I sowed 10 seeds, that I purchased from a seller on Etsy, into a "communal" pot.  Yesterday I noticed the 1st sprout, and today I noticed a 2nd sprout.  (Circled in red).

These will be thing I will be watching:

(1) How fast they can go.  I also have a B. armata that is 3 years old in a 1 G for comparison (2nd picture with the communal 'Clara' pot behind it.

(2) If the palm(s) is/are actually a 'Clara' or not

(3) What my final germination rate will be for these first 10 seeds. (I have a second pot with 20 seeds (from different sellers) in it that I sowed in March, but haven't seen any germinate yet).

(4) What variations may be from seedling to seedling.

(5) How long can they stay in there till I individually pot up (or place directly into the ground with a cage around them).

Has anyone else grown these from seed and what were your experiences ?

-Matt

[JeskiM]

Here's an update:

It's been just over a month since the pics above.  At this time I now have 7 seeds that have sprouted in that pot and 1 seed in a second pot.

The 1st seed that sprouted is now starting to push it's 2nd leaf.  The 1st Leafs on the two seedling in that last pic are 7 and 8 inches long.

At this rate I would expect to go into winter with either 3 or 4 leaves on these first two seedlings.

Here's an updated pic.  My cell "phone" camera doesn't do the silver color of these leaves justice ... these leaves are far more silvery then the pics show.

- Matt

[Alberto]

I also cultivated a Brahea clara from seed a lot of years ago. It is a slow growing palm, like Brahea armata is for me..Tomorrow I' ll take a pic. The parent plant was this one, growing in France:

[Fusca]

1 hour ago, JeskiM said:

Here's an update:

It's been just over a month since the pics above.  At this time I now have 7 seeds that have sprouted in that pot and 1 seed in a second pot.

The 1st seed that sprouted is now starting to push it's 2nd leaf.  The 1st Leafs on the two seedling in that last pic are 7 and 8 inches long.

At this rate I would expect to go into winter with either 3 or 4 leaves on these first two seedlings.

Here's an updated pic.  My cell "phone" camera doesn't do the silver color of these leaves justice ... these leaves are far more silvery then the pics show.

- Matt

Very nice Matt!  Were the clara seeds basically the same size/shape as armata seeds?  I haven't tried germinating clara.

@Alberto I hope yours and Matt's turn out as nice as the one in France!

[Josue Diaz]

All brahea (with the exception of maybe the hybrid armata x brandegeii called Frankenbrahea on this forum) are slow. Even plants that are well watered and fertilized are slow for me in Central CA. It's a labor of love. 

[JeskiM]

@Fusca It's been a few years since I did any Armata from seed, so I don't have a side-by-side compare of the two batches of seeds. But, from I recall, I'd say that the Clara's seed seem to be about the same size of what I remember of the Armatas.

@Alberto Looking forward to seeing a pic of yours.

So far I can say that the Claras are certainly faster than a lot of other palms I tied from seed, such as Sabal. They seem to be as fast as some W. Filifera that I started a few years ago.

The pot they are in is exposed to a lot of sun. The temps since they have germinated have been mid-upper 90s with mid 70s for lows, and it's been pretty wet.

I'll keep updating this thread as time goes on.

I plan to separate the palms into their own pots around February when any growth should be at a low point "dormancy".  

I may plant one of them in the ground come spring. I can easily protect a seedling from animals, so it would be interesting to see if one that went into the ground earlier than the rest does better (or not).

-Matt 

[Alberto]

I have only one B. clara and it is a slow growers.  Pic made at dusk

[JeskiM]

Time for an update.

The first community pot yielded eight seedlings. They all put on between 4 and 5 leaves in their first year of growth.

In early February, during a mild patch of days I decided to separate them into their own pots with a mix of decomposed granite and FoxFarm Ocean Forest potting soil.

Each plant had 2 to 3 long roots that were circling the bottom of the community pot. They were tangled a bit, but I was able to separate them all with minimal damage.

A couple days after the transplant we had a big cold snap where it hit 15 F at my house and they spent a week in my garage.

Each plant dried off about 2 of their older leaves and the entire plant started to take on the dry, struggling look where the leaves "thinned" up.

Finally, within the last 10 days they appear to be waking back up and hopefully will move past the trauma of the transplanting and cold/dry that they endured. The leaves are clearly showing growth again and better color.

Overall, I think 4 to 5 leaves, for plants that germinated in June/July is pretty good growth. They stopped their 1st year of growth around end of November.

Here they are now.

- Matt

[JeskiM]

Here's a better pic of one of the plants.  The leaves are around 10 inches long.

- Matt