Hemp palms cannot be propagated vegetatively. You can only get new offshoots if you sow hemp palm seeds. However, you have to be patient until you get a cutting to plant in the garden. How to grow cuttings from hemp palms.
How do you grow hemp palm cuttings?
To grow hemp palm cuttings, you need hemp palm seeds. Place them in lukewarm water to swell, sow them in seed pots with potting soil and keep the soil moist. Once the plants are 10cm tall, move them to larger pots and continue to care for them. The offshoots can be planted outdoors after 3-4 years.
Harvesting seeds for cuttings
If you maintain multiple hemp palms, there is a good chance you can harvest your own seed for cuttings. You need one female and one male plant each. You can distinguish between them by the flower colors. In contrast to the male plant, the female plant bears light green flowers that look rather sparse.
Fertilization can only occur if both sexes are flowering. This doesn't work when it comes to in-room care. It is also safer outside if you do the insemination yourself. To do this, stroke the male and female flowers several times with a brush.
The seeds then form in the inflorescences, which you let dry before you can sow them.
How to sow hemp palms
Prepare growing pots (€8.00 on Amazon) with growing soil for the seeds. Place the seeds in lukewarm water for at least a day to allow them to pre-swell. You can also roughen them up slightly with some sandpaper.
The seeds are sown approximately one centimeter deep. Place the plant pots in a warm, bright place and keep the substrate moist.
Further care of the offshoots
- Put in new pots
- water regularly
- do not fertilize
- overwinter in a pot or bucket
As soon as the offshoots have reached a height of ten centimeters, plant them in slightly larger pots and continue to care for them like adult hemp palms.
You have to overwinter hemp palms in pots for the first three to four years. Only when the offshoots are strong enough will they survive frost. Then you can plant them directly in the garden.
Tip
It takes at least four years for a hemp palm to grow from a seed. It takes up to a year to germinate the seed. The young hemp palm needs another three years to grow into a robust offshoot.
