Windmill Palm Help

[Dee]

Hello,
New to the forum and have exhausted myself looking for answers so I hope someone can help.
I have germinated about 5 palms seeds that I brought home from a trip to California this past February. I followed the baggie method and so far, have transplanted 3 of those seeds into pots.The other 2,now show signs of rooting so I will soon be putting them in pots. Of the 3 in pots now, one has a 4" leaf coming out of it.
I live in Toronto, Canada, not the warmest of places in the winter,and have heard that these are the most cold hardy of palms so I am trying to see if I can grow one that I can eventually be put outdoors.
I have read conflicting reports on when to fertilize the plants so would like to know if I should be applying a fertilizer to all of the potted seeds, or only to the one seed that has the leaf.And what kind of fertilizer I should use.

Any help would be greatly appreciated..

Thanks

[ruskinPalms]

Hey DEE.

Here is the break down for seedlings. The seed itself is the windmill palms food for the first month or so. Just like most other seeds. One example is the coconut palm. The coconut provides the food for the first three months. So you wouldn't want to fertilize your palm seed soil mixture. You want that as sterile as possible by using perlite, vermiculite, or peat moss. Or just your basic paper towel. When you pot up your seedling is when they will need fertilizer. The food from the seed will be diminished therefor in need of food. You will need to adapt them to the cold. I wouldnt place them in the Canada Cold until they are at least a year or two old. When they reach that old I would still provide protection outside so they can adapt. You can use a cover system like a box and heat wire. Or you can wrap the palm up with burlap or any other material besides plastic. Then place a box or bag on top. This way the palm can experience cold weather. The time that is best is when they are about 4-6 years old to test the waters. I would still use some protection. You don't want to loose 4-6 years or patience just to loose your windmill during one winter. That would be sad. Germinate more seeds so you have more to play with and do trials.

[LPN]

Fertilize later when the windmill palm has a few leaves and is well rooted into the quart pot or a 1 gallon.

[PATH007FINDER]

love to see palms growing in the snow please post some pictures when palms are established

[Dee]

Thanks for the replies.
@ Ruskin....
I have since planted the rest of the germinated seeds in more pots. I am planning to wait a couple of years to actually put the palm into the ground and even then, I will protect it during the winter months. In 1 pot, my 4" leaf is now about 12 " and I now have a second leaf coming from that plant. I also have just the tiniest of a brown tip coming out from the soil in another pot. That one however, is very slow and not growing very much at all. I attribute that to the changes in the weather. It is now the end of October and it is getting cooler now. I don't usually fertilize plants in the slow season (fall and winter) so I assume that the palm doesn't need fertilizing at this point until the spring???
I will therefore wait until then and see what April will bring.

Thanks again for the information.