Not sure of which Sabal you have (S. palmetto, minor, or another). Assuming it's the standard Florida Sabal (S. palmetto). You do realize that Sabals (even in the tropics) are notoriously SLOW--ESPECIALLY WHEN YOUNG (growth seems to pick up once they are more mature). There are relatively faster growing Sabals. I find S. texana to be a much more robust plant (sorry Florida). Mine has maxed out in the largest container I have.--A wonderful species! (Sabal louisiana is also faster growing--compared to 'palmetto'.) A more tropical species, S. mauritiiformis is also relatively fast and attractive (but hard to find.) I got a little bored with the slow growth of my containerized S. palmetto so I planted it in the ground (my first Sabal experiment). If you think S. palmetto is slow try growing S. minor. I got so bored with this one I threw it into the compost pile!

About puny seedlings and small seed size; it's not theoretical since two folks I know have done the following. They took the dried seeds after fermentation and divided them into three seed sizes, getting rid of the flat whitish immature ones, and them planted separately by seed size. And both found there was no difference in time of germinaton, vigor, etc. I haven't done it myself and still, at least when sending seeds to others, crumble the clumps, sit there and pick out the largest ones to send. LOL But I do believe that such differences can be due to seed depth when sowing seed , that is, it takes longer for seedlings to come up when the seeds are lower in the artificial mix, And since watering, etc,can sends seeds to a deeper level, there you go, since there's no way of controlling for that as far as I know. Carolyn

My soil is roughly 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 vermiculite in a 14-16" raised bed. The native clay soils here are the reason for that. Good location and at least 8-10 hours of sun per day. The plants are green though I did lose one. I am under the assumption a critter found it because the soil looked disturbed and not much was left other than the roots. The rest appear to be taking their sweet old time. Temps at night have been 50s and maybe lower. I love the way everyone wants to help here! So cool for a newbie like me to learn! Edit: Is there a simple fix I can do to keep temps up over my plants overnight? Like using gallon jugs that are halved or something? Temps here at night are looking to stay about 60 for the next ten days. This post was edited by ApacheRosePea00 on Sun, Jun 1, 14 at 19:25

I have apricot seedlings growing in pots indoors under artificial light. Lights are on for 16 hours and off for 8. I have green leaves and they are about 6 to 10 inches tall but will not put on any new growth. I started them outdoors last summer and brought them indoors in September. They were doing great but now just seem stunted and will not grow. Regular potting soil and water every 3 to 4 days as needed. Any ideas on how to get them jump-started? I tried some all-around fertilizer also a month ago and still nothing. Thank you!