Is it hard to Cross all palms?

[Palmfarmer]

Probably Depends on species I assume. but lets say I wanted to make completely vanilla Mule Palm. I searched around and it says it was extremely hard to create viable Mule seeds. to me the recipe seemed delicate and tedious. What makes it such a challenge and is there easier crosses one could make.

 

I remember seeing something similar to flowchart that showed which family each species of palm belonged too anyone has that photo? 

[Merlyn]

  On 9/16/2024 at 6:54 PM, Palmfarmer said:

Probably Depends on species I assume. but lets say I wanted to make completely vanilla Mule Palm. I searched around and it says it was extremely hard to create viable Mule seeds. to me the recipe seemed delicate and tedious. What makes it such a challenge and is there easier crosses one could make.

 

I remember seeing something similar to flowchart that showed which family each species of palm belonged too anyone has that photo? 

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I'm sure it's delicate and tedious to make any hybrid, just because you have to protect the flowers from unintentional pollenization.  And then you have to get the right pollen on there at just the right time.  I've never tried any of it, so that's just a guess.

Regarding the chart, it's the phylogenetic tree with the closest current data on genetic relationships between palm groups:

[tim_brissy_13]

Dioecious palms tend to be easier I’ve found simply because there is less risk of unintentional pollination and mother plants don’t have male flowers which need to be removed. That being said, it really depends on the compatibility between species and a number of factors I don’t fully understand. Intergeneric hybrids exist, yet intrageneric hybrids are not always possible (more often than not). I’ve spent 2 years trying to pollinate my Chamaedorea oblongata which Chamaedorea woodsoniana pollen and it looks like again it has failed. Yet I’ve just potted up 3 seedlings grown from seed off my female Chamaedorea costaricana with only a male C klotzschiana nearby (they are therefore C costaricana x klotzschiana F1) with absolutely no effort (unintentionally pollinated). C woodsoniana and oblongata are in the same subgenus, yet costaricana and klotzschiana are not - there’s a whole mystery to it which I haven’t figured out.