Germinating Palm Seeds and Bird of Paradise

[greenthumb]

I had a terrible time germinating Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia) seeds. I tried and tried and couldn't ever get them to germinate. I had been covering the seeds with germination mix, and that was my problem. Once I just surface-sowed the seeds (simply pressing them into the germination mix and leaving the top half of the seed exposed to light) I got great germination.
It also helps to take a nail file or some other small file and nick the seed coat. This will allow the seed to imbibe water and you'll get much quicker germination.

Sorry, I can't offer any help on the palm seeds.