Using Mammals to Improve Sabal Palm Germination

Thinking of growing cabbage palms from seed? You might consider following in the wake of some raccoons. Many animals seem to love cabbage palm fruits, and raccoons in particular seem fond of entire meals of nothing but cabbage palm fruits. The seeds pass through undigested and you can often find small piles of seeds after the raccoon’s digestive system is done with them.

While the raccoons enjoy the fruit, tiny bruchid beetles enjoy the seeds. Kyle Brown found extensive predation on cabbage palm fruit by these extremely small beetles and this has been confirmed by other researchers.

Here’s what Dale D. Wade and 0. Gordon Langdon had to say on the subject: “Predation of cabbage palmetto seeds by a bruchid beetle (Caryobruchus gleditsiae) is the major cause of seed loss and regeneration failure (3,32). When seeds are carried off by animals, the probability of predation by this insect is greatly reduced. Seeds falling into water also escape this predation because they tend to be covered by sand or organic debris, so that germination occurs when temperature and moisture conditions become favorable. However, infestation of the fruit while still on the tree is substantial and can reach 98 percent (5). Seeds exposed to the sun for long periods do not germinate well (3).”

White “dots” on these cabbage palm seeds are Bruchid beetle eggs.
Decomposed raccoon scat reveals dozens of cabbage palm seeds

Lee Amos of the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast tipped me off to a project involving Sabal palmetto‘s western cousin, Sabal mexicana. Matthew Miller, writing in the COOL GREEN SCIENCE blog, describes how managers are using coyote scat to achieve Sabal germination rates of 97%.

“But it wasn’t the mere presence of seeds in the scat: they were unblemished, without the damaging marks of beetle predation. The coyotes beat the beetles to the seeds. And once they passed through the coyote’s digestive tract, the seeds were no longer appealing to the beetle. Pons found old seeds that bore no marks of beetles.”

So, if you want to grow cabbage palms from seed, you might keep your eye peeled for a raccoon’s former palm fruit feast.