Self watering for germination

[sashaeffer]

Going to try something that I saw on plantcare.com when it comes to seed germination.





Parrot Palm seeds that I got from a Florida palm club. To be fair they were sprouting in the zip lock bag they came in. Will see how they do in these self watering pop bottles and Sphagnum peat moss.






Mexican Fan palm seed did just fine with a self waterer, but I think these things would grow if you threw them on concrete!






Here using 20oz water bottles for self watering and covered heat tray.

All of these are "Bizzies"








Will keep advised on how they do!

[lucky1]

Scott, cool idea.

Palm seedlings--for me anyway--made it if I could control humidity by increasing airflow.

It'll be interesting to see how your germination rate increases with this method.

Barb

[sashaeffer]

I know so much depends on the species as well. Seeds are cheap, and I'm patient!

[lucky1]

Good for you Scott, that's the attitude!

[sashaeffer]

Looked to see why a couple of my watering bottle growing containers were tilted sideways (have 25 of them) and discovered that Bizzy roots had grown out of the hole in the screw on cap and was pushing against the bottom of the bottle. Can't remove cap without damaging the root so left in place and hopefully it will burst through in time on it's own. I did then remove the cap on all the other bottles that I have before the roots in others tried to do the same thing. The media the seeds are in(various ones to try) were saturated enough that it didn't fall out through the larger hole. I took the opportunity then to completely change out the water in the bottom.

The two largest did not have bottom heat, although they were in one of those free standing plastic green houses in front of a window. Others that had germinated, but not as far along are all in bottom heat. Hope they continue to grow into something that looks like a palm!

[lucky1]

Bizzie seedling roots are immensely long.
Steve (KNNN) in Kansas used 4-inch wide BIG-O and PVC pipe lengths about 2 or 3 feet long.

My Bizzie seedlings are in 14 inch tall Tree Pots.

Barb

[sashaeffer]

When can they be put in soil?

I don't have any green leaves yet

[lucky1]

My 3 are just strap leaves, purplish color.
in foreground here: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/9673737751/" title="007 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7306/9673 ... 5630_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="007"></a>

Why aren't they in soil?
More importantly, how are you going to get them out of there?

Barb

[sashaeffer]

The plastic bottles has very thin plastic so will just cut the sides and let it fall out. Some of the seeds are are just in loose peat moss, some are in just perlite, and others are in a combination of soil, wood shavings and perlite. With all the caps taken off the bottles now, I don't have to worry about the roots going through the holes I drilled in each of the caps(to draw water)

No one sells grow pots around here so will have to use 1 gallon nursery pots.

[lucky1]

Glad you'll be able to get them out with no damage to the roots, Scott.

Nobody sells tree pots around here either.
Ordered them from Stuewe in Oregon, good prices/service, and fast shipping.

http://www.stuewe.com/products/treepots.php

Barb

[sashaeffer]

First of many Bismarckia Nobilis popping through the surface of the self waterer.





Chameadorea Radicalus (2 in container) in just peat moss.




Seeds were bought from the Central Florida Palm society and started 9/22/13 I've had really great results with seeds from them.

[lucky1]

Congrats Scott on the germination.
Bizzies send up a very long first leaf.
And incredibly long roots, longer than Phoenix.
Some people use BIG-O pipe sections for the "pot", taping a cardboard "bottom" onto the pipe.

Yup, seeds from the Florida palm society are always fresh.
Members pick seeds and shipping occurs almost immediately.
They often tell you who the grower is, and you can contact them for specific info.

I remember getting my foxtail seeds from member Mike Dahme.
He was super helpful and gob-smacked that a Canadian would want foxtail seeds.

Barb