when and how to divide?

[Than]

Two Burretiokentia hapala seeds sprouted in the same pot and quite close to each other. When and how should I divide them? How risky is it? I'd rather just kill one if it's risky to lose both.

 

[Phoenikakias]

Give them to me! They need an experienced surgeon's precision...🤪

[Than]

1 minute ago, Phoenikakias said:

Give them to me! They need an experienced surgeon's precision...🤪

As Leonidas said in fluent ancient Persian: molon lavé!

[Phoenikakias]

7 minutes ago, Than said:

As Leonidas said in fluent ancient Persian: molon lavé!

That's the heroic spirit of a true palm aficionado!

[Than]

22 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

That's the heroic spirit of a true palm aficionado!

Seriously now, if they survive you can have one! I had 3 actually but one dried out.

[Phoenikakias]

2 hours ago, Than said:

Two Burretiokentia hapala seeds sprouted in the same pot and quite close to each other. When and how should I divide them? How risky is it? I'd rather just kill one if it's risky to lose both.

 

In coming May not sooner not later. No reason to be afraid of tangled roots, I think the sp is adjacent germinator roots grow in silk initially. At least this is the case with the Foxtail.

[Phoenikakias]

1 hour ago, Than said:

Seriously now, if they survive you can have one! I had 3 actually but one dried out.

Never make promises to kids and lunatics!

[Than]

I think I'll insert something between them now, before their roots meet. Some thin metal sheet or smth like that. So later I can easily repot them one by one.

[Phoenikakias]

I try to germinate seeds of Caryota obtusa,  Livistona drudei, Chamaedorea tepejilote and Wallichia densiflora. If I get more germinated seeds from each sp, I can spare some dor you too.

[Than]

2 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

Wallichia densiflora

Legacy for the next generations I guess, given how slowly that grows 

[Phoenikakias]

1 hour ago, Than said:

Legacy for the next generations I guess, given how slowly that grows 

There is a rule in our climate regarding the more exotic palms: fast grower fast goner.

[happypalms]

That’s an easy one to do. Just tip the pot out and hose away the soil. And pot up. I picked this one lanonia dasyantha large form seedling out with a fork easily, just  push in gently teasing and then just pull the seedling gently as you tease the soil lose, quite easy to do and it doesn’t disturb the others. 

[Than]

7 minutes ago, happypalms said:

That’s an easy one to do. Just tip the pot out and hose away the soil. And pot up. I picked this one lanonia dasyantha large form seedling out with a fork easily, just  push in gently teasing and then just pull the seedling gently as you tease the soil lose, quite easy to do and it doesn’t disturb the others. 

😶 They survive that??

[happypalms]

8 minutes ago, Than said:

😶 They survive that??

Too easy they will! 
I could tip the box of seedlings out on the bench pick out them out of the medium and pot them up. Yes you could go through all the fussing around and tension be super careful to the point where you do more damage than good, and then drop the whole tray making a mess of the whole lot. 
Best approach with seedlings just pot them up, I would simply tease out that sone seedling you have and pot it up in a small tube.

[Than]

1 minute ago, happypalms said:

Too easy they will! 
I could tip the box of seedlings out on the bench pick out them out of the medium and pot them up. Yes you could go through all the fussing around and tension be super careful to the point where you do more damage than good, and then drop the whole tray making a mess of the whole lot. 
Best approach with seedlings just pot them up, I would simply tease out that sone seedling you have and pot it up in a small tube.

Wow, I thought their tiny roots are very sensitive and they should be handled with much care! I have many lanonia dasyantha seedlings too, about same size as yours in that photo. I'll try to just pull one out and repot and see what happens! I hope you are right, it's gonna make my life much easier and I will have enough seedlings to give to @Phoenikakias

[happypalms]

Just now, Than said:

Wow, I thought their tiny roots are very sensitive and they should be handled with much care! I have many lanonia dasyantha seedlings too, about same size as yours in that photo. I'll try to just pull one out and repot and see what happens! I hope you are right, it's gonna make my life much easier and I will have enough seedlings to give to @Phoenikakias

I even use the white label tags to tease them out, even a pencil. You learn how to do it but always grab the seedling by the bottom, feel as you go if it’s to hard to pull out tease a bit more soil. I do hundreds of joeys this way individually as the get there first leaf. Many a gardening book will teach you the tease technique with seedlings, not chat GP. Books taught me all my gardening and growing skills, just look at an old school university lecturer he would have books and teach from them.

[gyuseppe]

On 1/29/2026 at 5:45 PM, Than said:

Two Burretiokentia hapala seeds sprouted in the same pot and quite close to each other. When and how should I divide them? How risky is it? I'd rather just kill one if it's risky to lose both.

 

friend and easy to divide, but wait until May when the temperatures are higher so they will put out new roots when you separate them

[gyuseppe]

On 1/30/2026 at 2:02 PM, Phoenikakias said:

I try to germinate seeds of Caryota obtusa,  Livistona drudei, Chamaedorea tepejilote and Wallichia densiflora. If I get more germinated seeds from each sp, I can spare some dor you too.

my friend, I'm also here for the Caryota obtusa and Wallichia densiflora.  If you  get more germinated seeds  

Livistona drudei  is not good for mi climate ,and I have Chamaedorea tepejilote 

[Phoenikakias]

58 minutes ago, gyuseppe said:

my friend, I'm also here for the Caryota obtusa and Wallichia densiflora.  If you  get more germinated seeds  

Livistona drudei  is not good for mi climate ,and I have Chamaedorea tepejilote 

I am surprised about the drudei, because a French grower in Frejus has a large one. I hardly can imagine that your local climates is so different from the one in Frejus.

[gyuseppe]

14 minutes ago, Phoenikakias said:

I am surprised about the drudei, because a French grower in Frejus has a large one. I hardly can imagine that your local climates is so different from the one in Frejus.

Maybe I made a mistake because I put them in the garden when they were still too small?

[Than]

@Phoenikakias 14C, strong southern wind and rain at the same time right now; what you said Roystonea hates: cold + wind + rain. Unless 14 C doesn't count as cold.. I hope.. 🥲

[Phoenikakias]

I think it should be alright, besides of course the sustained damage during the previous cold spell.

[Than]

Looks like I'm left with only hapala seedling. The second one looks like it's going to meet its Creator soon 😒

I put a sheet of plastic between them after i made a cut with a knife. Perhaps that's what killed it.

[happypalms]

On 2/8/2026 at 10:36 PM, Than said:

Looks like I'm left with only hapala seedling. The second one looks like it's going to meet its Creator soon 😒

I put a sheet of plastic between them after i made a cut with a knife. Perhaps that's what killed it.

Too wet! Next time you’re in the neighbourhood drop in for a week long crash course in palm seedlings!

[Phoenikakias]

4 minutes ago, happypalms said:

Too wet! Next time you’re in the neighbourhood drop in for a week long crash course in palm seedlings!

He does not have to, as long as he is open- minded to other people's advice.  Also analyzing own failures may lead to valuable experience. In his stage I had been a serial palm-killer.

[Than]

It's a bit tricky cos it is on a heat mat and I can never know when the bottom is dry. I almost lost Colocasia seedlings because the soil had become too dry at the bottom.

The hapalas I watered twice in a month.. oh well, I hope the remaining one makes it.

Lanonia dasyantha seedlings on the other hand seem all fine! I still have 6-7.

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, Phoenikakias said:

He does not have to, as long as he is open- minded to other people's advice.  Also analyzing own failures may lead to valuable experience. In his stage I had been a serial palm-killer.

We learn from our mistakes, problem is iam still making mistakes and learning, the amount of palms I have killed would fill a botanical and sum! 

[gyuseppe]

1 hour ago, Phoenikakias said:

He does not have to, as long as he is open- minded to other people's advice.  Also analyzing own failures may lead to valuable experience. In his stage I had been a serial palm-killer.

At the beginning I too was a serial killer of germinated seeds

[Than]

It's always the same thing, isn't it? Water. Too much and they die but if you let them dry, they also die. 

[Harry’s Palms]

40 minutes ago, Than said:

It's always the same thing, isn't it? Water. Too much and they die but if you let them dry, they also die. 

I have the same issue with seeds/ seedlings . Most are environmental victims . I keep the pots under the large palms for protection , whatever the the garden gets …the potted ones get . The exception is when the dry winds blow , I water the small pots more often. What had helped with mine is adding an orchid mix with vermiculite to the soil for a coarse mix . Harry

This is my spot where my newborns are kept . Under the young Rhopalostylus and the mature Syagrus . You can see the small pots next to the Syagrus trunk and under the frond of the Rhopie . I have had a few varieties do well there , even in very rainy conditions. I can line up several small pots here for germinating and growing. . I have no room for a greenhouse…….YET! I am working on a possible solution . Harry

[happypalms]

On 2/8/2026 at 10:36 PM, Than said:

Looks like I'm left with only hapala seedling. The second one looks like it's going to meet its Creator soon 😒

I put a sheet of plastic between them after i made a cut with a knife. Perhaps that's what killed it.

Too wet! Next time you’re in the neighbourhood drop in for a week long crash course in palm seedlings!