Foxtail Palm Seed Question

[MrTropical]

Hey everyone. I received some Foxtail Palm seeds today, and I would like to know what is considered “good” and “bad” seed. Several of the seeds I received have soft spots on their ends, and one has what appears to be slight peeling on its end. Is this normal? Thanks for any input. 

Photo of the seed with slight peeling on its end: 

[Harry’s Palms]

Did you do the float test? They have to be soaked for at least a day or so before planting. I have had them soak for 2-3 days ( change water daily) then after a few months they should germinate , it takes a while without heat . Harry

[MrTropical]

7 minutes ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Did you do the float test? They have to be soaked for at least a day or so before planting. I have had them soak for 2-3 days ( change water daily) then after a few months they should germinate , it takes a while without heat . Harry

Not yet, I received these earlier today. I will do that now though. 

Thank you Harry! 

[Harry’s Palms]

I would still give them a try but definitely soak them before germinating. Harry

[MrTropical]

15 minutes ago, Harry’s Palms said:

I would still give them a try but definitely soak them before germinating. Harry

Will do. 

I just put all of them in a small bucket with several inches of water and nearly all are floating. This is the largest seed I have ever performed a float test on, so I'm not sure if it's too early to tell, if larger seeds are more prone to floating, or if this is indeed a bad sign. I will wait 24 hours to see if this changes. 

[Harry’s Palms]

I have had the last batch I planted float . I planted them anyway and I just noticed the first one popping up . I planted 8 seeds . The first batch got eaten by rodents , I think they are like candy to whatever ate my first batch . As soon as they got their first leaf , the varmint ate just the stem. Harry

‘the first ones got eaten within a month , all at the same time , they left the leaf! The stem was eaten. This was taken after they sprouted. I had buried the seed just slightly covering the top so no seed was visible. 

[MrTropical]

10 minutes ago, Harry’s Palms said:

I have had the last batch I planted float . I planted them anyway and I just noticed the first one popping up . I planted 8 seeds . The first batch got eaten by rodents , I think they are like candy to whatever ate my first batch . As soon as they got their first leaf , the varmint ate just the stem. Harry

‘the first ones got eaten within a month , all at the same time , they left the leaf! The stem was eaten. This was taken after they sprouted. I had buried the seed just slightly covering the top so no seed was visible. 

Maybe Foxtails are prone to floating? I was looking at some older threads on PT. Found one from 2010 that mentioned some species will naturally float, but are otherwise viable. Foxtails weren’t mentioned, but Royals and other crownshaft palms were. 
 

Sorry to hear that about your seeds. I know how it feels. I had a varmint of some sort attack one of my community pots with Needle Palm seed over the winter. Unfortunately, all of those seeds disappeared. 

[MrTropical]

Well, it's been just over a day, and I did not seen any changes in the floaters versus non-floaters. So, I have begun the germination process...



I will post updates as they come!