Are there any particular things a beginer like myself should keep in mind when flirting with danger and attempting trying to grow palms when you have a blue thumb instead of green one? What I'm saying is I am the novice you where a long time ago and need your guru gardener mentorship to help me have some palms that actually live this time.

I'm think of growing either some
Queen palm
or King palms for starters?

What do you think would be the easiest palm tree to start growing first?
Thank you.

-Joan

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I have banana and palm trees for trade.

Good drainage, don't burn them with sun, don't overwater them, don't over fertilize them. Both kings and queens are excellent starters. I have germinated thousands of them and planted them everywhere and given away hundreds. For kings and queens, plant them in an area with good sun and these two will take alot of water and alot of fertilzer after established. If you push them hard, they will become quite robust. Just be careful and don't push to early. Remember the saying when planting palms--1st year they sleep, 2nd year they creep, 3rd year they leap.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other palm questions and I will help you as best as I can. I have germinated many species of palm so I have somewhat of a broad knowledge of palm/cycad seedlings.

Are you growing from seed? Are you planning on growing them outside or inside.
The easiest for me to germinate(sprout) are Sabal, Washitonia, chameadorea, and a few others.
Good luck on your attempts, and have patience when starting from seed, cause they can take a little while(anywhere from a week to over a year depending on species)

Hi. I am new to the site and love banans and palms. I live in NW Ohio (Zone 5) and am curious if there are any palms/bananas that will grow outside in this region and if so, where I can get seedlings. Also, I have been looking for cocos plumosa palm seeds and have looked every where for them and want to grow those inside my house. Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks!!! Bob

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Am interested in banana trees, cold hardy palms, trop. plants/trees I can raise inside during winter

Bob- I live in Toledo (OH) and work at the Zoo. We grow bananas here in the summer (Musa basjoo) but dig up the rhizomes and store them inside during the winter. I personally have some M. basjoo and a M. sikkimensis on order, I'll post later in the summer how they are doing. Both are reportedly hardy to -20F with mulch, but I would just store them in the garage or basement. As far as palms go, the needle palm is also reportedly hardy to -20F, but I don't know of anyone in zone 5 growing these yet (I'm working on it *wink*). If you can create a microclimate closer to zone 7 (pretty hard to do), then I bet you could grow these. A more realistic approach, and one I've seen done in Pennsylvania, is to grow some Christmas palms in a pot to take indoors during the winter. They don't get very tall and will probably remain shorter than an average ceiling if planted in a pot. As far as acquiring seeds go, Google and eBay are your friends (as well as this wonderful site).

I actually ordered some queen palm seeds as well as travellers tree seeds and have them planted. What the instructions didn't tell me is how often I need to water the seeds. I have them in pots here in the house in a suny south facing window and water every two days as I am not sure how often to water them I erred in my zone reference in my last posting. I am Zone 6, not zone 5. I also have a windmill palm about 8" high that I am wanting to try outdoors as well as two needle palms that are on order and should be here by May. At a website called "gardenweb" there is some one in Chicago Illinois that has a Windmill Palm planted outside and has gone thru two Chicago winters and Chicago is zone 6, too, I think. My idea is to put a heat tape (like used on plumbing) in the ground in the area where the palms will be. It will be needle--windmill--needle about two feet from the front of my house (Faces South) in front of my dining room windows. Thanks!! Bob

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Am interested in banana trees, cold hardy palms, trop. plants/trees I can raise inside during winter

Palm seeds should be germinated in spragum moss in a sealed plastic baggie. Put just enough water in to make the moss slightly damp but not wet. Store baggie in hot attic during summer or on top of warm object or heat mat. I don't think seeds will germinate in soil. I have had reasonable success using this method but have had mixed results after planting new sprouts in soil. Some seeds take 6 months or more to germinate so don't think you will see any results in several weeks. Just remember heat and not light is necessary to get the seeds to germinate. Good luck.

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