Propagate Royal Palm From Cleaned Seed

Wear gloves, clean the pulp off royal palm seed, and sow it in a warm, moist mix that drains.

Wear gloves, clean the pulp, and sow the seed

royal palm grows from seed, not from a frond or a trunk cutting. The fruit pulp has calcium oxalate crystals that sting skin, so wear rubber gloves before you clean it. [1] Rinse the pulp off in water. Ripe seed gives a better stand than green fruit, even if it is a little slower to show. [2] Sow in a pot that drains, not a shallow tray, in a mix that stays evenly moist. [3] This palm is grown from seed, not from a cutting. [4]

1. Put on rubber gloves. Pick ripe or half-ripe fruit, or buy fresh cleaned seed.
2. Rub the pulp off under water and rinse until the seed is clean. Do not skip the gloves.
3. Fill a draining pot with a peat-and-perlite or similar mix that stays moist but drains.
4. Press the seed in about an inch. Label the pot. Sow soon after cleaning.
5. Water once to settle the mix, then keep it evenly moist, never soggy.

Keep the mix warm and moist until it sprouts

Keep the mix uniformly moist and very warm, about 85 to 95 F. The embryo is still finishing when the fruit drops, so many lots take five to eight months. Do not throw the pot out after a few weeks. When the second grass-like leaf shows, move the seedling into its own container. Wait for frost-free weather before it goes in the ground.

1. Set the pot where the mix stays near 90 F, or use a heat mat.
2. Keep the mix evenly moist. A swing from bone-dry to soggy rots the seed.
3. Expect sprouts in five to eight months. Some lots take longer.
4. After the second leaf, pot the seedling on and grow it in bright sun.
5. Plant it out only when the ground stays frost-free. The plant-out is Planting Royal Palm.

After the seedling is growing, sun, water, and fertilizer stay on How to Grow Royal Palm.

If nothing has sprouted after a few months, keep the mix warm and moist. Wait through the five-to-eight-month window before you give up.