germination comments by our visitors
For general germination instructions click here.
Also see plant cultivation comments below.
Seeds from this species ...
... are average to germinate and need up to 6 months to sprout.
Only recently picked seeds should be used, harvested generally around late October SW or September in SE. Reddish colour is best although orange seeds will suffix. Pick seeds as they mature and store in a cool dry place. If needs ask the plant owner, as removing a seed bundle takes time and destroys 95% of viable seeds. Make note of various palms in the area if you don't frequent the area as Butias are notorious for self and cross pollenation. I live in southern CA so I consider March to be a stable 20C at night and it's about 6 weeks before heat starts to rise. Do a little research on your area. Srape dirt and a little bit of coating of the seeds with some steel wool, then plant in 50 50 vermiculite pumus using 4"x4"x8" pots. If you live more than 20 miles from a large body of water or you don't have a lot of time to look after seedlings use more vermiculite. The trick to get a good germination percentage is to water early in the day and only when the pots are bone dry. Do not over water. It can take up to 4 months. Good luck
Submitted on 30/09/2007 by Mike obplsd@yahoo.com
... are easy to germinate and need up to 3 months to sprout.
I put these seeds in a plastic bag with slightly moist germinating soil at a temperature of about 25 degreeds celsius. Three months later 8 out of 10 seeds germinated and most of them are twins or triplets!
Submitted on 22/06/2007 by Kai Kuné fishyboy2@hotmail.com
... are very easy to germinate and need up to 1 month to sprout.
Easy to germinate, at least in mild climate. They are sprouting around the tree trunk by themselves like weed. I have made over 200 seedlings from just pulling the new plants from the crevices in the mather trunk. I have not taken any special actions to repruce it and still get more than I can handle.
Submitted on 04/04/2007 by one of our visitors
...very easy to germinate and need up to 6 months to
sprout.
Had them at constant 30C for about six months and nothing happened. Moved them to indoor location at constant
20C and eight of ten germinated within one week.
Submitted on 27/09/2005 by Jack Sayers jack_sayers@sbcglobal.net
...difficult to germinate and need up to 6 months to
sprout.
i have soaked butia seed for 24hrs and then planted in the beds consisting media of soil, cocopeat, sand in
a composition of 1:1:1. Three months later i found nothing happend then i took 10 seed and a little jerk given
to soften the seed coats. then i have planted them in a small coffee cups and put them under controlled conditions
maintaining 80% humidity round the clock. still no results found and waiting with a hope that i will get my
seed germinated within a month so.
Submitted on 13/06/2005 by satyaprakash neeleshsatya@yahoo.com
...difficult to germinate and need up to 6 months to
sprout.
Palms are usually very easy to grow to me, but this palm species was pretty tough to grow. I put the seeds in
the desired temperature (65-80 degrees) I let them grow for 3 months in 70 degrees soil, and nothing happened.I
decided to raise the soil temperature to 80 degrees. I waited 2 months and the seeds still didn't grow. So I
just gave up, and placed the seeds aside to grow on there own, and in one month, the seeds started to grow.
So if you have problems growing certain types of palms, just be patient and let the palm grow on its own time.
Submitted on 08/03/2005 by one of our visitors
...very easy to germinate and need up to 1 month to
sprout.
An easy palm to grow. Unlike some palms, I found that Butia seeds like cool, tempertatures, around 45-60 degrees.
It worked like a charm for my 5 Butia seeds.
Submitted on 08/03/2005 by one of our visitors
...difficult to germinate and need up to 3 months to
sprout.
One out of 10 seeds sprouted until I got a new batch of seeds. Again only one of 8 sprouted. Sowing in cocpeat
with heat source beneath. Seeds need to be fresh to get good results.
Submitted on 16/06/2004 by Cheri Wilson Reininrabt@aol.com
...very easy to germinate and need up to 3 months to
sprout.
Have had really good luck germinating these palms from seed, almost 100%! I soaked the seed for about 48 hours
in luke warm water, changing it every 8 hours or so. I then placed the seed in a mixture of peat and cactus
soil and planted them about 1" deep in a plastic storage box with a "snap on lid" and placed them in my gas
oven. The pilot flame keeps a gas oven at around 90 degrees constant heat, perfect for germinating many types
of palm seeds. I have also germinated sugar palms and cardboard palms (cycads) this way. I usually have roots
in as short as 4 weeks, but sometimes up to 10 weeks in almost all plantings. The heat is free and I feel its
better than using heater cables. If you have a gas oven, give it a try, I have found it almost fool proof. An
alternative method is to use a 10 gallon aquarium with a glass cover and Mason jar filled with water. Place
an inexpensive aquarium heater inside the water filled jar and adjust the heater to about 90 degrees. This provides
both heat and humidity for the planted seeds ( use small peat pots and a seed germinating mix for sowing). I
have found this works well too, not unlike a jungle climate. Good luck!
Submitted on 27/12/2003 by Bill Killinger williamcharles18@aol.com
...easy to germinate and need up to 6 months to sprout.
I took the long and patient approach to germinating these seeds. I cleaned all the seeds using a coffee can
half filled with water and about 2 cups of builders sand. I used a whisker(sp), the type used for mixing eggs
for an omelet, with the handle cut off. The stem of the whisker was inserted through a hole in the lid of the
can, and attached to a cordless drill. just turned it on and let the sand clean the seeds. I then rinsed the
seeds several times, and used a thermos with very warm water to soak the seeds overnight. I planted the seeds
in a flat made from cut out 250 gallon plastic container. I guess a kids pool would do. The seeds were planted
about 2 inches apart in a peat and sand medium. Holes were cut in the bottom of the flat for drainage. I put
the flat in the sun and left it over the winter, watering as needed to keep the medium moist. that was in November.
In March through May the seeds started sprouting. I got maybe 65 to 75% germination. Then I transferred the
seedlings to 1 gallon pots. And grew them out for sale there. They would probably grow faster if transplanted
to the field, and given water and fertilizer as needed. I have a new batch now, and maybe I'll try that in the
spring. Happy Growing
Submitted on 07/10/2003 by Joe Danford the.tinman@mchsi.com
...easy to germinate and need up to 3 months to sprout.
I had 10 seeds 4 of which germinated within 6 weeks. They were in a propagator at about 27-30 C. I haven't given
up hope on the others!
Submitted on 20/07/2003 by one of our visitors
...easy to germinate and need up to 3 months to sprout.
these seeds can be germinated much quicker by cracking open the shells and planting the endosperms (soak, after
cracking, for a day or two before planting).i use a 50% sand 50% peat mix for starting these seeds and have
good success.
Submitted on 02/03/2003 by Tim Lane abyssquick@aol.com
...easy to germinate and need up to 3 months to sprout.
Planted 1" deep in ordinary potting soil, covered container in plastic, kept warm (80-90 degrees). 1st
seed up after 3 months.
Submitted on 01/03/2003 by Steve Flynn sflynn22@mac.com
...easy to germinate and need up to 6 months to sprout.
Easy to germinate, but potentially quite slow. Planted the seeds directly into 4 inch pots, about three seeds
in each. I got quite a few twin and triplets from each seed, with each eye sending up a plant in some cases.
I used no bottom heat.
Submitted on 23/12/2002 by Van vandringar@hotmail.com
...very difficult to germinate and
need up to 1 year to sprout.
Bought at an other palm seed dealer in august 01,no germination
now ,5 month later. I broke the nut and found in average 2 seeds.
Most of them rotted within the next weeks. One day presoaking, germination
at elevated temperature(38-40°C)used Kokohum slightly moist
to moist. I will try next time with seeds from here.
Submitted by Jens JensBluetling@onlinehome.de
...very difficult to germinate and
need up to 3 months to sprout.
After years of trying to germinate these seedsand my own trees producing
fresh seeds in zone 8 in Virginia, I was determined to produce my
own Butias.I had tried every method possible, with poor resutls.
After all I was able to germinate every palm seed I had ever grown
except for this one.After reading somewhere that Butia's or hard
shell seeds need heat(high) heat and moisture to break down the
shell of these palms which occurs naturally in tropical enviiroments,
it occured to me that I was not getting the seeds hot enough. I
first used several differant mediums to germinate the seeds in and
several differant pots and flats. I placed all my potted seedlings
in my cold frame greenhouses in our hot summer weather. The temperature
in the plastic covered cold frames reached as high as 90-100 degrees
for the better part of May, June and July. I moistened the pots
daily so this would create damp moisture to break down the hard
outer shell. Finally in late July seedlings started poping through
the soil mix. I removed the pots as they started germinating. In
the tall pots where I had layered the seedling I had atleast 85
percent germination and in the flats maybe 10%. I removed the pots
so that the high heat and light wouldn't burn the newly sprouting
seedlings. I immeadiately transplanted each seedling as they appeared.
I have atleast 700 hundred Butias seedlings. I returned the pots
with the still ungerminated seedlings back into the greenhouses
and have continued watering daily. They are still coming up. Some
of the seeds were even two years old. For the soil mediums, I used
two differant types. One had half sand, potting soil with some pine
bark in it. This medium did fare. The second medium I used half
potting soil and vermiculite, a fifty fiffty ratio. This medium
in 3 galoon tall pots have the highest germination rate. The roots
of the Butias had grown huge. I did water all pots with 20.20.20
every other time I watered and I figure that the vermiculite helped
retain the fertilizer longer and consequently helped the root systems
develop better. I was 100% pleased with my results. considering
I don't not live in the tropics.
Submitted by Kathy Denton palmlady@gte.net
...very difficult to germinate and
need up to 1 year to sprout.
Very slow and challenging to germinate. Remove the mesocarp of the
seeds harvested in autumn, clean well, store during the winter at
18°-23° in a paper bag or box in a drawer. Respecting 100-150
days of dormancy is important to help the seeds germinate well.
In early spring (march-April) prepare a substantial part composted
pine bark, part peat, part garden earth mixture, bake the mixture
half an hour to kill all micro-organisms. Fill in pots with that
mixture, sow the seeds to one time their diameter, water with diluted
fungicide, then cover with glass provide bottom heat (38°C-42°C),
water if the soil seems dry. Germination can occur 6-8 months later.
Leave pots that have not germinated yet in a cool room for the winter.
Then, in the early spring water again and provide bottom heat :
the remnant seeds can then germinate
Submitted by one of our visitors
plant cultivation comments by our visitors
Also see germination commnets above.
Plants from this species ...
... have not yet been commented on. Be the first to write a comment:
If you wish to read more on palm cultivation, we highly recommend Ornamental Palm Horticulture
by Timothy K. Broschat and Alan W. Meerow, available in our bookshop.
Ratings and comments reflect individual experiences and the views of our visitors. They do not necessarily describe the most
appropriate methods, nor are they necessarily valid for all seeds or plants of this species. Germination and plant cultivation
success depends on many different factors; nevertheless, these experiences will hopefully aid you in your effort to get the
best germination results from our seeds and the best growth results from your plants.
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