Palms seeds are generally harvested mature with husk or fruit on them. Due to the surface molds that develop and potential germination inhibitors, we generally clean the fruit off. Many of the varieties with a husk can not be cleaned or are partially cleaned due to the mechanical difficulty of removing the husk. A good example of this is Howea forsteriana.

Most palms benefit from being planted as soon as possible after harvest; and even if they do store for some time, best results are obtained when planted fresh. You can check for freshness by cutting the seed and looking at the embryo. With most palms, a firm moist white embryo is indicative of good seed. As time passes, the embryo will pull away from the seed coat and turn yellow and calcify.

We recommend floating off any light seed, then soaking the remaining seed overnight. We float all of the palm seed we harvest during cleaning. There are a few varieties that all float, so it is good to check with us if you have a batch with a lot of floating seed.

Most palm seeds germinate well in a sand, peat and perlite germinating media. For some, organic matter can be beneficial (Oak leaf mulch). Seeds of many species germinate in two to six months, especially with bottom heat (28°C or 82°F), however, there are some varieties that can take as long as one to two years.

Scarification and other means of accelerating germination are possible for some species. In most commercial facilities though, special treatments are too labor intensive and expensive to do.

Although this column is too short to delve into the requirements of many species, I will try to summarize some of the main genera that we handle.

These are general guidelines and certain species and seed lots can surprise everyone. The palms that germinate in 2-4 months under normal greenhouse conditions are:

Archontophoenix, Beccariophoenix, Chamaerops, Dypsis (perishable), Livistona, Phoenix, Ravenea (very perishable), Rhopalostylis, Trithrinax, Thrinax, Washingtonia, and Wodyetia.

Those that germinate in 4-12 months but benefit from bottom heat are:

Chamaedorea (husk), Bismarkia (needs large containers), Butia, Licuala, Pinanga (perishable), Syagrus (Arecastrum), Voanioala and many of the tropical genera.

Seeds that take 1-2 years to germinate are: Brahea, Ceroxylon, Howea (with husk), Jubaea, Hyphaene, Hystirx, Parajubaea, and Trachycarpus. We have acceptable results without bottom heat.

Most seed failures are due to the seed being too old, improper harvesting or handling. Many times it is difficult to harvest and ship the seed where the plants are found. With some palms we are ecstatic to get germination of 10% to 30% , such as, Jubeaopsis, Halmoorea, Orania, some of the under-story Dypsis.

The most common problem in propagation is watering, especially with seeds that take a long time to germinate. You can add sand to the germination media to facilitate drainage, if you tend to over water. Palm seed and germination media would, under ideal conditions, be moist to the touch but not constantly wet.

It is very satisfying to achieve excellent results from a batch of palm seed!