Sabal Minor gold mine!

[JohnAndSancho]

Ok, I was waiting to get a prescription filled and just wandering around town. The Senior Citizen Food Bank of all places....I stopped and hit reverse and went back. Asked if I could grab some seeds and got a nice little haul. Also wondering if y'all think any of these are transplantable because they're totally neglected and ignored. 

 

Also as far as germination goes, would a community pot with a baggie on a mat speed things up? Should I do the same with my Serena Repens seeds? 

Anyway, pics of some palms that I think are pretty even if nobody else cares about them here. 

 

And I picked that inflourence clean. There was only one other one and it was already dead and gone. 

[SeanK]

Any with characteristic leaves I would not touch. Split leaves you can probably pot up and keep warm over the winter. I move some smaller ones in August when the ground was still warm. To late to plant outside now.

[JohnAndSancho]

2 hours ago, SeanK said:

Any with characteristic leaves I would not touch. Split leaves you can probably pot up and keep warm over the winter. I move some smaller ones in August when the ground was still warm. To late to plant outside now.

I've got a Dr appt tomorrow. I mean these things are literally just growing wild along the fence. I'll ask but I doubt anyone would care. Maybe I go ahead and throw my shovel in the car to be optimistic. There's a few strap leaves over there and nobody would miss them. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Ok I did not go back with my shovel, and I didn't count the seeds but there were 2 baggies worth (with dirt) by the way I baggie them. 1 John baggie of seeds usually turns into 2 John community pots, but I like to leave more room for growth than some of y'all. Fresh off the tree so they were super easy to clean, literally soak for a few hours and squeeze. And judging by the number of sprouts and seedlings everywhere along this fence line I think it's safe to assume they're viable. 

[MrTropical]

Nice haul! I've had success with multiple varieties of Sabal using the baggie on a mat method. Serenoa seems to respond well to that method too. I started mine on September 17 and now have two germinated seeds. 

When I was living in western North Carolina, I also had success with repurposing lunch meat containers for my Sabal germination efforts. With ample heat and moisture, you'll get sprouts in a month or two, in any container or baggie. They are not picky about their place of birth. 

[JohnAndSancho]

4 hours ago, MrTropical said:

Nice haul! I've had success with multiple varieties of Sabal using the baggie on a mat method. Serenoa seems to respond well to that method too. I started mine on September 17 and now have two germinated seeds. 

When I was living in western North Carolina, I also had success with repurposing lunch meat containers for my Sabal germination efforts. With ample heat and moisture, you'll get sprouts in a month or two, in any container or baggie. They are not picky about their place of birth. 

I think my serenoa got delayed because I had fiddled with the temp probe on the thermostat trying to germinate a coconut. Anyway lol that foolishness is now behind us, and I've had Sabals pop for me in as little as a couple weeks when they're fresh and some (.....that I'm not even sure are actually Sabals or no clue to their freshness) still on the mats for months. 

[happypalms]

Start digging John that’s a gold mine for sabals alright. To put it in perspective 300 seeds say you get 200 up, thats  200 pots plus soil and space to put them then watering and maintenance. $30 bucks for a  140mm container that’s easy to post. Sounds to me a bit of business growing palms is on the cards. Tip from me do it by the hundreds, by the time you grow them and start selling them you will wish you had a couple of hundred of them. 💴💴💴

[JohnAndSancho]

11 minutes ago, happypalms said:

Start digging John that’s a gold mine for sabals alright. To put it in perspective 300 seeds say you get 200 up, thats  200 pots plus soil and space to put them then watering and maintenance. $30 bucks for a  140mm container that’s easy to post. Sounds to me a bit of business growing palms is on the cards. Tip from me do it by the hundreds, by the time you grow them and start selling them you will wish you had a couple of hundred of them. 💴💴💴

I've got to get a couple more 2x4s to build another table and I'm already doing a very very rough draft of a business model for grant applications in my head. 

[happypalms]

3 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I've got to get a couple more 2x4s to build another table and I'm already doing a very very rough draft of a business model for grant applications in my head. 

Hmmm 🤔 happypalms stickers. Now if I sponsor John and sancho (place nursery name here), that’s free advertising for happypalms and you and sancho get a sponsor. Now that’s smart business! 

[JohnAndSancho]

Sancho's Green Paws. Now if we can just find a way to get around the idiotic import tariffs on everything here..... And maybe by the time that happens I'll have something to export back.

 

I still want a kangaroo, I saw they can put them in boxes. I saw it on an old Bugs Bunny cartoon so I know it's how it really works. 

[TropicsEnjoyer]

On 10/30/2025 at 12:37 AM, MrTropical said:

Nice haul! I've had success with multiple varieties of Sabal using the baggie on a mat method. Serenoa seems to respond well to that method too. I started mine on September 17 and now have two germinated seeds. 

When I was living in western North Carolina, I also had success with repurposing lunch meat containers for my Sabal germination efforts. With ample heat and moisture, you'll get sprouts in a month or two, in any container or baggie. They are not picky about their place of birth. 

What heat do you keep your serenoa seeds on? I made a moss cup for some of my silver seeds outside but they didn’t sprout in 2 months of warm weather and now it’s cold so I have to bring them in anyway. I’ll have to try baggy with them I suppose, after I clean off the bits of mold.

[MrTropical]

1 hour ago, TropicsEnjoyer said:

What heat do you keep your serenoa seeds on? I made a moss cup for some of my silver seeds outside but they didn’t sprout in 2 months of warm weather and now it’s cold so I have to bring them in anyway. I’ll have to try baggy with them I suppose, after I clean off the bits of mold.

I use your typical Ferry Morse heat mat. Nothing fancy.



I have had some seeds outside as well since mid-September and none of those have sprouted. I used to be all about community pots, but I'm starting to like the baggie method more now. I'd definitely give it a try.  

[JohnAndSancho]

2 hours ago, TropicsEnjoyer said:

What heat do you keep your serenoa seeds on? I made a moss cup for some of my silver seeds outside but they didn’t sprout in 2 months of warm weather and now it’s cold so I have to bring them in anyway. I’ll have to try baggy with them I suppose, after I clean off the bits of mold.

Just throw them in a cup with a little water and peroxide to kill it off and throw them in baggies. 

[JohnAndSancho]

I think I've mentioned in another thread that I've been driving past a house with a minor FULL of 4 or 5 inflorescences so heavy they're dropping to the ground and nobody has ever been home. Well, today I decided to just roll past and there was a woman in the driveway setting up Halloween decorations so I asked. 

 

She told me it wasn't her house, it's her sister in law's brother's mom's house (I am still trying to work the logistics of their actual relationship out in my head), but she said the homeowner would be back in 30 minutes and home all weekend. I told her I had groceries in the car and live out in the country. She said she wasn't sure how her sister in law's brother's mom was about her plants, but she asked me what I meant and I pointed. And she says "oh this *expletive* right here?" And I'm like, "yeah, that *expletive." And she says I don't think she'll even notice. 

 

Anyway long story short I drove off with another full FULL LARGE inflourence of genuine Clarke County proven cold hardy Sabal Minor seeds and if I can come up with an excuse or feel like going to town tomorrow I might get more. I've got more than enough for myself already. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Forgive the bad photo as I was trying to be stealthy here but can anyone identify from this photo if this is just regular minor or a different variation? It's underneath the sign to the mall and I uh I may or may not have walked off with an inflourence or 2 as they were towering above the cluster of palms and there's dozens more. I stopped by the carwash where I got palmetto seeds last time since their landscapers were there and they wanted nothing to do with helping a short man reach palmetto seeds. 

[JohnAndSancho]

[JohnAndSancho]

I'm guessing just normal minor. There's easily 20 more inflorescences out there but in case what I did is illegal then these are definitely not my pictures and I definitely won't be up there again next Wednesday if anybody definitely doesn't want me to snag some more and I definitely don't already have more than I could definitely use in my lifetime. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Cup on the left is from the house I passed by on Halloween. Cup on the right is what I snagged from the mall today. Plus I already have 2 baggies on the marinater mat from what I grabbed by the food bank. Let me think of all the people who I think I owe favors to and see if they're interested before I throw these on the freebie forum. 

 

I can always go back with my loppers and a trashbag.