A couple months back someone tweeted a photo of a Licuala Cordata palm.

I decided I had to get one. I mean look at it:

But apparently these things are rare and expensive.

After searching around I found some seeds on Wish(!?) of all places, so I ordered some.

They look like coffee beans!

To start germinating them, you soak them in warm water for two days to get them livened up.

Next you put them in a pot with about a 60/40% blend of cactus soil and this super light foam-like substance called Perlite.

Keep things airy and easy-draining.

Put it in a ziploc bag, and place it out on a warm, partially sunny porch and wait.

About a month later, the seeds have grown roots and are pushing out of the soil!

But wait, where are the leaves?? Did the seeds think they were underground the whole time in the bag?

This palm is a remote germinating plant which essentially means the root is what grows the leaves.

The seed just shoots the root down and bails!

When they get to this stage they need to be repotted into a long skinny “tree pot” for the roots to go down further.

Same soil blend, super-skinny pot.

These tree pots are really top-heavy, so I had to crudely tie ‘em up to keep them from tipping.

Now the palms are out, exposed to the elements and continuing to grow.

A week later and leaves are popping up!

Seems like they’re loving the new pots and exposure to more sunlight. Nice!

Another week later (Today):

Larger leaves! Hopefully the fans will start opening up in about 2 weeks, but seems like they need to get a bigger first. Very cool.