Propagate Blue Latan Palm From Fresh Seed

Grow a new blue latan palm from one fresh seed. Sow it in a deep pot, keep the mix warm and barely moist, and do not break the first root.

Sow one fresh seed in a deep pot

Blue latan palm does not make rooted suckers, and a frond cutting will not grow. Seed is the way to start a new plant, and latan seed stays alive only two or three weeks after you clean it, so sow at once. [1] Pick unblemished fruit that is glossy brown, with a woody pit around the seed. Clean off the pulp. Soak the seed in warm water for a day or two, and change the water daily. [2] Sow one seed in a deep pot, because this palm sends a long white root down before the first leaf shows. [3] [4]

1. Pull ripe fruit from a mature female cluster, or buy fresh seed. Do not pick green fruit.
2. Rinse off the pulp the same day. Do not bag cleaned seed for later.
3. Soak the seed in warm water for one to three days. Change the water each day.
4. Fill a draining tree tube or a pot at least 8 inches deep with a sandy mix.
5. Press one seed in about an inch. Label the pot. Sow at once.

Keep the mix warm, and do not break the first root

Keep the mix barely moist and warm. Fresh seed may show a thick white root in a few weeks, then a leaf a week or two later. Some lots take a month or two, so do not throw the pot out after a few days. That first root is the seedling. If you snap it, or if the pot is too shallow and the root has nowhere to go, the plant dies. Do not knock the seedling out to check. Wait until several leaves are up before you move the plant to a wider pot, and wait for frost-free weather before it goes in the ground.

1. Slip the pot into a plastic bag, or use a covered tray, so the air stays humid.
2. Set the pot in a warm room, or on a heat mat, so the mix stays warm.
3. Keep the mix barely moist. Soggy mix rots the seed.
4. When a white root shows, leave it. Do not poke it back, and do not lift the seed to look.
5. Once a leaf shows, take off the bag. Wait for a few leaves before you pot up.

After the seedling is growing, sun, drain, and watering stay on How to Grow Blue Latan Palm.

If a white root shows and then stalls, check that the pot is deep enough and the mix is barely moist. Do not lift the seed to look.