Brown seedling - normal?

[palmgrower5]

hello everyone, I am a new palm enthusiast and am trying my first batch of growing seeds (bought from rarepalmseeds). I made the mistake of not labeling these, so not sure which ones are which! I will not make that mistake again....

first question is can anyone identify the ones growing with a brown tip? I would have expected this to be green so not sure if that's natural for this seed OR I have a humidity or heat or other issue?

there is a heating pad under these and I keep them moist (don't think I am over watering). The seeds I planted are listed below (some in a community pot, some individually). I planted them 6 weeks ago

Roystonea regia

Carpentaria acuminata

Beccariophoenix Madagascariensis

Dypsis baronii

 

 

[happypalms]

Nice one. A big rookie mistake not labeling. Even I have done that before thinking you can rely on memory. Next time try a coco coir perlite mix you will get much better results in germination. The dypsis brevicaulis in the picture are from rps, also try bottom heating and deeper containers to germinate in. Good luck and a few nice little palms will be on there way in no time to your collection.

[palmgrower5]

Thanks for the advice!! So the brown germinating palms in two of the three photos are normal? It’s ok if they are not green? 

[happypalms]

38 minutes ago, palmgrower5 said:

Thanks for the advice!! So the brown germinating palms in two of the three photos are normal? It’s ok if they are not green? 

Not really ok brown is not a good colour for a new seedling. They may be dying a nice lime green to dark green is the colour of healthy new seedlings. 

[palmgrower5]

 thanks - any thoughts on possible reasons based on the photos? There's a ~30 degree celcius pad underneath and they are covered to keep the humidity in

[palmgrower5]

also would you recommend removing the heat mat now that they started to germinate? current temperature is ~25 degrees celcius daytime and ~17 degrees celcius night time

[meridannight]

Some palms come up with a reddish-tinged cotyledonary sheath and ligule. So if it's kind of brownish-reddish and firm it's normal. If i's brown and mushy then it's rotting. Can't tell from the images they're not taken close enough to understand detail. The leaves have to come out green, but those first reddish/brown nubs are not leaves, so that coloration can be perfectly normal. It depends on species and light conditions.

 

[Fusca]

@meridannight is right.  I have recently seen new germination of Heterospathe negrosensis and Archontophoenix cunninghamiana with a reddish color on the cotyledonary sheath so it's likely normal.  Can't tell you which of yours might do that.  However I can tell you that one will grow its first leaf as a grass-like strap-leaf is Roystonea regia (pretty sure it's the only one of your seeds).  And I believe that the Beccariophoenix has the largest seed of the ones you have.

[palmgrower5]

Thank you for the quick replies and super helpful responses! Will post updates as I see more growth hopefully 

[Johnny Palmseed]

Most of the seedlings look ok so far. I agree with the above that they may just be red tinged vs brown. Most of the time, it’s easy to get seeds to germinate but can be difficult to keep them alive. So you can get away with poor soil and overwatering until they germinate. You can easily transplant them into more suitable soil later if you wish. If you do that, take pictures of the seedling with the seed and I’m sure you will get IDs for them if you post here. Generally speaking, the heating pad is useful even after germination as long as you make sure it doesn’t get too hot. Good luck with your plants - it can be a rewarding experience.