Mass germinating queen palm seeds ?

[TropicsEnjoyer]

I need help finding the best method to germinate a whole lot of seeds. I recently stumbled across someone throwing away 2 infructescences and took them home with me. I have a minimum of 150 ripe seeds. Total seeds maybe 400. Just looking for an effective way to get them going without doing a crazy amount of work. I don’t want to wait too long to avoid them going bad. 

[happypalms]

As a grower who germinates a lot of seeds, I shall share my technique for seeds on mass. 
Choose a medium that is suitable such as coco coir with perlite even straight perlite or coco coir is sufficient for queen seeds, even a good quality potting mix will do. Two method’s,  for community container or box’s I use styrofoam box’s with lids, community containers I would use a ten inch pot. Place seeds evenly about 1cm apart. Sow to the depth of the seed and cover them and push firmly down to get good contact with the medium. The medium should e just ever so slightly moist ( squeeze a handful and if drops of water come out it’s too wet). Place a plastic bag over the container or box’s place in a warm place or bottom heating 28 degrees Celsius, sit back and wait. 

[Harry’s Palms]

Clean them and germinate in good soil with vermiculite. They can take a year to germinate. Harry

[TropicsEnjoyer]

Thanks both of you for the advice. I was hoping @happypalms would reply I know you’re the palm farmer around here with your thousands of seedlings. I’ll need to find a box to put soil in and get started, ideally soon.

[happypalms]

2 hours ago, TropicsEnjoyer said:

Thanks both of you for the advice. I was hoping @happypalms would reply I know you’re the palm farmer around here with your thousands of seedlings. I’ll need to find a box to put soil in and get started, ideally soon.

Go and buy one of those plastic tubs from the hardware store, they have a lid as well, but watch those ones on the heat mat after a little time the bottom of the substrate mix drys out and the root dry out as well. But they work well for humidity and are see through so make it a bit fun seeing the roots. An easy way and fast wat to clean your seeds is a small power wash used to wash cars with, place the seeds inside a small gauge wire cage and in a few minutes work clean seeds.

[JohnAndSancho]

Speaking from personal experience, the sooner you start them the better cuz the damn weevils are gonna find em. 

 

But I like Happy's idea. Go to Wally World and get you one of the 41qt (maybe 2) sterilite containers, mix a batch of coco coir and perlite, I'd personally VERY CAREFULLY drill a few holes in the bottom of it for drainage, find you something to hold up some plastic up (I used an old curtain rod on these papayas), throw it on a heat mat and sit back and wait. 

 

[Darold Petty]

@happypalms, would you recommend the same treatment for Howea seeds, including the bottom heat ?  Thanks

[TropicsEnjoyer]

i was doing some research and saw a youtube video with an interesting method to clean butia seeds. They used a drill with that circular wire brush attachment, with the seeds in a bucket of water, and made it a sort of blender except it just scraped the fruit off. I’m not sure if I have the drill extensions or the right circular abrasive attachment but I thought it was cool.

also, is dirt not good for seed starting, like dirt and perlite vs coco coir and perlite or something? i’m trying to use what i have for the most part. generating heat will be my biggest issue 

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, Darold Petty said:

@happypalms, would you recommend the same treatment for Howea seeds, including the bottom heat ?  Thanks

Yes the same for Howea, plastic bag or lid over them. This lot in the pictures no bottom heating just in a warm place. Wait 12 months or more, red Howea seeds are less viable as well. Good luck! 

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, TropicsEnjoyer said:

i was doing some research and saw a youtube video with an interesting method to clean butia seeds. They used a drill with that circular wire brush attachment, with the seeds in a bucket of water, and made it a sort of blender except it just scraped the fruit off. I’m not sure if I have the drill extensions or the right circular abrasive attachment but I thought it was cool.

also, is dirt not good for seed starting, like dirt and perlite vs coco coir and perlite or something? i’m trying to use what i have for the most part. generating heat will be my biggest issue 

A good quality store purchased potting mix should be ok and have no fungal issues. If you really want to go the extra mile you can bake it in the oven that will kill all the pathogens, but for queen seeds they are bullet proof, the first palm I ever germinated 36 years ago. I just used soil from the garden. Don’t worry about germinating them the biggest problem you will have is if all 400 germinate that’s a lot pots and soil and space to put them. But yes if you want a sterile medium perlite is your best bet, myself personally I would not worry too much about medium I have them popping up all over my property from the neighbours tree! Good viable seeds will germinate once they do remove the bag or lid and don’t overwater them, or put up they germinate.

[Than]

@happypalms how long can seedlings stay in a medium with no nutrients like coco coir and perlite?

[happypalms]

14 minutes ago, Than said:

@happypalms how long can seedlings stay in a medium with no nutrients like coco coir and perlite?

Up to 6 months or more,I never fertilise them in the original germination box. With some varieties some pop up way ahead of others and it can be six months or more before others appear. I have a box of masoala that are pretty old in the original germination box. I potted up a few a few months ago, they germinated 12 months ago. You just have to watch watering them run them on the dry surface side it’s still quite moist underneath.

[Than]

48 minutes ago, happypalms said:

Up to 6 months or more,I never fertilise them in the original germination box. With some varieties some pop up way ahead of others and it can be six months or more before others appear. I have a box of masoala that are pretty old in the original germination box. I potted up a few a few months ago, they germinated 12 months ago. You just have to watch watering them run them on the dry surface side it’s still quite moist underneath.

So they get enough food from the seed for up to 6 months? Wow.. 

[Phoenikakias]

8 hours ago, happypalms said:

 red Howea seeds 

 

 

 

What, what?

[Jdash]

you don't need to do anything special, just take a pot of good draining soil, throw them in there. keep soil moisture by watering it when it looks dry, keep it where it'll be warm.  low effort for those seeds, bc you can collect thousands and thousands every year with out much effort. when it comes to more limited species, i'd say much more care and effort is recommended. i doubt you'd even have to clean the fruit flesh off the seeds to get good results, just make sure they all lay flat, done.

[happypalms]

10 hours ago, Than said:

So they get enough food from the seed for up to 6 months? Wow.. 

I don’t have any problem with my seedlings going yellow there’s enough energy left in seed, even when the rats eat the seed they still seem to be fine. 

[happypalms]

4 hours ago, Phoenikakias said:

What, what?

Yes Howea seeds eventually turn red with a bit of black, they seem to get overripe by this stage, green yellow ones have a higher percentage germination rate. 

[tim_brissy_13]

10 hours ago, Than said:

So they get enough food from the seed for up to 6 months? Wow.. 

Probably much longer for most species. I’ve had seedlings in a sterile mix for at least a year before with no ill effects. 

[happypalms]

2 minutes ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Probably much longer for most species. I’ve had seedlings in a sterile mix for at least a year before with no ill effects. 

Longer if you look at that box of masoala seedlings. 

[Than]

3 minutes ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Probably much longer for most species. I’ve had seedlings in a sterile mix for at least a year before with no ill effects. 

That's convenient. I always worry the seedlings will starve and therefore add some potting soil in the mix too.

[Harry’s Palms]

12 hours ago, happypalms said:

Up to 6 months or more,I never fertilise them in the original germination box. With some varieties some pop up way ahead of others and it can be six months or more before others appear. I have a box of masoala that are pretty old in the original germination box. I potted up a few a few months ago, they germinated 12 months ago. You just have to watch watering them run them on the dry surface side it’s still quite moist underneath.

I have some Howea seedlings I germinated over 2 years ago and they are still hanging on to their seed. They have not been fertilized at all and look fine. Harry