How to Germinate Windmill Palm Seeds
- 1). Harvest fresh windmill palm fruits from the plant in late autumn. The kidney-shaped fruits are about nickel-sized and blue-black-skinned. Germination is highest from seeds produced from the latest growing season.
- 2). Fill a pail with water and place the windmill palm fruits into it. This soaking ferments the fruit flesh, making it easier to obtain the seeds for planting. Soak the fruits for 24 hours.
- 3). Pour off the water from the palm fruits. Rotten or foul-smelling fruits do not need to be worked, as the seeds likely are not viable, according to the International Palm Society.
- 4). Collect all the harvest windmill palm fruits and immediately dip them in a small container containing a 10 percent bleach solution. To make the disinfecting solution, mix one part bleach to 10 parts water. The seeds do not need to soak in the bleach solution. This is done to simply kill any pests or pathogens that may be on the seed surface.
- 5). Fill a seed tray with sterile (clean) potting mix, so that 1/4 inch remains under the top rim of the tray. The seed tray should have many drainage holes in its bottom and the potting mix should have a crumbly, loose, porous texture. Any seed-starting potting mix or houseplant potting mix with peat, sand and perlite suffices.
- 6). Tamp down the potting mix in the tray so that the surface is even, firm and smooth. Lightly scratch the surface with your finger or a pencil tip to create texture to capture the palm fruits.
- 7). Sprinkle the windmill palm fruits across the surface of the potting mix in the tray. Don't worry about spacing.
- 8). Lightly cover the palm fruits with more potting mix, just enough to cover them. Do not plant the fruits too deeply. You want soil to just cover and mask them from view. Gently tamp the soil down with your hand to bring the soil particles in direct contact with the fruits.
- 9). Spray the soil surface with water from a hand-held spray bottle. Get the soil evenly and deeply moist.
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Move the tray of windmill palm fruits to a warm location in your home or greenhouse, where temperatures range between 70 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. - 11
Spray the soil as needed to keep the soil evenly damp. Do not overwater as you don't want to encourage fungus on the soil surface. According to Floridata, the seeds of the windmill palm within the fruits will germinate in eight to 12 weeks. Move the tray to a brightly lit area once seedlings emerge since they need light to create food from their first embryo leaf.