Saxman (removethis) wrote:

Somebody in a gardening centre advised that after having eaten one's dates
at Christmas, to then sew the pips in compost for some nice palms in the
new year. Has anybody here done this and have they any advice?

I succeeded germination only once, in cottonwool kept permanently moist
on a sunny kitchen window sill.
This is where is all went to pot: when trying to gently disentangle the
germinated stone from the cottonwool, I broke the sprouting root!
Morality, use a germination medium that you will transplant with the
stone!!

What is *incredibly easy* and successful, is germinating, and growing
on, citrus fruit. They give beautiful plants with glossy evergreen
leaves, and if you're lucky incredibly heady scented flowers. If
you're even luckier and have a greenhouse or conservatory, maybe even
fruit.
I have grown from pip-hood a splendid 4 ft tall grapefruit, now about
10 years old (it's had a few accidents, mostly frost related, from
which it has always recovered, I assume that explains the small size
for the age). I keep it in a very large pot outdoors all year round,
in a suntrap right up against the house. So long as I keep an eye out
for scale insects - which LOVE the young shoots - and some kind of
black mouldy stuff which comes in occasionally in winter, it seems to
be quite happy.

Cat(h)
Herds twirl slow