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Palm seedlings. What now?

wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
in Plants
We visited a National Trust garden in Devon back in the summer and we got a packet of seeds harvested from one of their palm trees (trachycarpus fortunei) as a souvenir. Their instructions were to put the seeds into individual pots and wait 12 months for them to germinate. Instead I soaked the seeds for three days in warm water then put them into damp coir in a sealed tupperware container in my lizard's vivarium which is the warmest place in the house. The first two seedlings have popped up after three weeks. Now I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do with them. This container has no drainage so I'll need to prick them out and leave the others to germinate. Any idea what soil is best to use for the next stage? I've only got John Innes at the moment but I could just use more coir and feed them more often. I wasn't planning on dealing with these until next year so I've been caught out a bit.

If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.

Posts

  • Desi_in_LondonDesi_in_London Posts: 731
    Not based on own experience re growing from seed on this one but some dim and distant semi-childhood experiments with other palms ( in warmer climes) - my instinct would be that you just take the pot  out of the lizardarium , keep on a windowsill indoors covered with a fruit punnet or cold coffee cup or transparent other food container that has holes in for air flow, and just leave them be through winter.

    I have a mature (messy) one outdoors, it is hardy in London but your seedlings def need to be indoors until atleast next summer and quite possibly after that. The laggard germinators may take several weeks/months more at this lower temperature.

    They grow quite slowly, so if you are careful with watering might be ok just in the same pot over winter indoors. How many seeds did you sow? ( ie if not too dense, once enough get to the first leaf stage then gently separate out and pot on into child-portion yogurt pots (with drainage). If v densely sown then you will have to make a call re when to try separate at risk of damaging the other remaining seeds/nascent roots. I would not be pricking out yet - more when the leaf is looking like a biggish blade of grass -but if someone has tried this in the UK please give more weight to their advice!

    any sensible medium ( coir/ random potting mix etc ) should be fine , wouldn't use john innes unless is a seedling one. You don't ned to feed either yet for a good while I would have thought.
    Kindness is always the right choice.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    I've made them a little cloche from a plastic bottle for now. The lid is off for ventilation. They don't seem to be growing much at the moment so I'm not sure if the drop in temperature has slowed them down? I can't remember how many seeds I had now but it was around 10. One of my neighbours has a very neglected plan that's outdoors all year round so hopefully when they're bigger I can keep them in a sheltered spot in the garden. Until then they might have to live in the greenhouse but they've got a long way to go yet.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    We had a very small one years and years ago that was our "christmas" tree indoors. Sons very disappointed but once the very deliacte gold decorations were hung on the fronds...all was OK. It did look great. This palm is in our garden and at the height now of over 20 feet. Magnificent palm and loved by us all.
    Growing from seed....well you have a long challenge ahead but so well worth the time.
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