Try this site it has lots of info. And I don't know them and I am not trying to sell anything for anyone. I just think they have a lot of good info.

Here is a link that might be useful: cycadpalm articles.

Some help here from a little birdie who speaks to me on occasion when the need to help arises:
Coontie seeds are easy to germinate, you just have to do the right things. One time, 97% germination took place in a 3 week period on a batch of 3000 seeds. Soaking the seeds for a couple of days this time of year is NOT the way to start unless you want to rot your seeds. For BEST results, you should hold them for another couple months until it warms up a bit. You want to keep the orange seed coat on them because this keeps them from drying out on the inside. Put them in a nursery pot so that if they get wet, the water will run off-it also keeps enough air on them so they do not get moldy (like they would in a sealed baggie).
Around April, clean all the orange fruit off the seeds right before you plant them. Use a pocket knife if there are 100 seeds or less. Once they are cleaned, you can soak them in water for a day. Plant them in coarse sand-you do not want to bury the seeds. The sprouting end is the pointy end-if you look closely, the butt end will have 2 or 3 little dots on it, which is a scar where it was attached to the cone. Plant them half way buried in the sand with the top half or sprouting end up above the sand. Keep these in the shade and lightly water every few days, but you only want your sand slightly moist, just where the end is in the sand. If 85F or more, they will start coming up in a few weeks. If warmer, like 90F, you might get germination right in the water where they were soaking. The seeds will be standing straight up-when you see a seed sprout, just lean it over sideways, and the root will come out and naturally go down to root deeply in the sand. Plant in 3 gallon containers and put about 30 in a community pot. The multiple seedlings use up more water so that the medium does not get too wet and rot the seeds like they would do if one to a pot. These seedlings can stay in that pot for 2-3 years until the roots and stems are thick enough to allow them to thrive on their own. Taking them out too quickly might damage the thin roots, and besides, they grow thicker in sand than they do in potting soil and have less chance of rotting. Good luck with you seeds.

Bunster, thanks for sharing your method! Several cycad websites have germinating methods, but they aren't specific to coonties, so they are slightly different than yours. Many of these websites advise scarification of the seed with a file or knife. Since you didn't mention it, I'm going with your method. Coontie seeds are plentiful right now, I think I'll scoop up another bucketful. But temps here are too low to plant them, 45 expected tonite.

Bunster, I just got two cones from my mother's cooties. I am so glad I found your instructions! I am going to hold them until April or May, when it is warm enough, and then plant them according to your directions. Thank you, again, for taking the time to post them.

Palmcityfl, how did yours turn out? Did you get germination? How many plants did you get? I hope you had some success.

Carol

Thanks for the great information on germinating the seeds.

Thank you for the information. I read it about a month ago. In July and follow directions. As stated, while keeping the seeds in water a number of them began to germinate right in the water. A tubular shape titi began to come out. I used those on proority in this large aluminum tray with about two and half inch of cursed sand. Those tities began to get larged and looks like the titi is buried themself in the sand, I've never seen anything quite like this. One of the buried titi has began to open itself and apparently the first tiny leaf is coming out. The other titi have not done this yet. Is right now night but I will take a close picture of it so people will know what to expect. Am exited i have three rows wide by about six rows long. Appears like the titi will become the root and will continue to use the seed as food while it grows and continuos to put leafs out. The first leaf looks like is less than a quater of an inch. I have four llarge trays growing.

I have so many seeds that am willing to trade some seeds for any South Florida native seedling or grown plant that is host to South Florida butterflies or plants that will feed wild birds like Carpenters, Cardinals, Painted Bondie or any other type birds. I already have alot of wild coffee so please get me something else. I have a large supply of seeds and maybe able to get much more from my friends' locations. You can contsct me through Facebook or email me at franco33139ca@hotmail.com

This is teriffic. Like to see more Coontie plants growing in peoples garden specially if you try to attract Atala butterfly. I want to see them become abundant again.

Carlos

Bunster and Franco, although your posts are more than 5 year apart I have enjoyed reading both of them and am now excited about starting my own seeds. Today I collected 4 and will keep them in a nursery pot until sometime in March. By then I will have collected more and can start the soaking process, and perhaps get new plants.

Is a lot easier than I thought would be. I have hundreds of seeds. I didn't used any chemicals. I took of the Orange fruits with a sharp knife and scratched it very little in the sidewalk. I have given many seeds away for others to plant.

We are in Vero Beach and are actively engaged in helping to restore native habitats. My wife is particularly interested in propagation of natives. We have read your post with interest. Good luck with leaving a legacy. I certainly understand your desire!

the reason you have less pine trees now is that they are being forced out by hardwoods, there is less fires here now, in fires hardwoods burn and pines stand protected by their layered bark.

picked up a bag of coontie seeds today,

thank you all for great advice

Maria

Franco, are you still out there? How is your Dade county coontie project going? I praise what you are doing. There are so many introduced coontie variations being planted where native stands still exist, it is getting harder to find the real thing where it is supposed to be. I see my germination article was shown and it looks like bunster is somsomeone who I have talked on the phone with, so everyone has some good information.

I just collected a bunch of orange seed pods yesterday 2/8 so after reading this I will keep for awhile before proceeding. Other directions I'd read suggested soaking seeds to remove the orange casing. I think I try your method. I was happy to find the seeds as my own counties are apparently all male specimens. We need to keep coonties coming

I am propagating Coontie in Indian River County. First thing to know is that it is a very slow grower. It will be 5-6 yrs before you have a largish shrub. On the other hand it is tolerant of transplanting and minor mishandling.

I removed the red outer covering by hand. Either gently cut the cover with a fingernail or small knife and peel or rub off the rest. The pale colored seed is hard and quite large. Knowing which is the root end and which is the shrub end is critical so watch what you are doing! One end is pointy and the other end flatter.

You can plant immediately into a sand/compost mix or soak in shallow water (about 1/4 inch) until growth appears before planting in growing medium. Coontie has a long tap root so be sure and select a deep pot. You can plant directly into the ground but keeping track will be much easier in pots. Store in a shelterd place with bright light or filtered sunlight. Keep soil damp but never wet. Add compost or a light fertilizer at regular intervals. Transplant into deeper pots every six months.

You may know that Coontie is the only FL native host plant for the Atala butterfly. I get a thrill every time I see this tiny, beautiful butterfly flying around Coontie. With the recently increased planting of Coontie the threatened Atala butterfly numbers are increasing.

Lake County here, north of Orlando. My original Coontie was a hitchiker from Volusia County, in a pot with something else growing. It has produced dozens and dozens of seeds over the years.

Seeds are pretty easy to start. Most of mine were just soaked in water for a few days and then scraped some skin off and stuck 1 inch down in a pot. Several months later a leaf or two will appear. You can just keep transplanting to a bigger pot or stick them in the ground.

Feed a time or two each year. Mine all grow in natural soil with lots of leaf mold with just partial sun, mostly filtered shade.

I'm too far north for the Atala butterfly but since these are natives to this area, I keep planting them.

I wish more people would plant these seeds as they're pretty easy and the plants are beautiful.

I'm in Miami and have a little over a dozen coonties. It took almost 10 years, but the atala finally found them. That's the good news. What I hadn't thought about is what the coonties look like when atala feed on them. Does anyone have any ideas of things that can be planted with coonties so the area is still attractive? Or should I just move them to an area where it doesn't matter what they look like? Most of mine are in a relatively shady area that is also pretty dry.

I'm planning to pair some coonties with a Sweet Almond bush. Atalas love the small white flowers on this. It's not native, but it works well here in south florida and can be pruned to suit your needs - tall or wide.

I'm in North Port, Fl and gathered Coontie seeds to try germinating them. I found them in Port Charlotte at the Harbor Freight store on 41. When I got them home I used a paring knife as others have suggested, and after a day or 2 of drying soaked these 48 seeds for two days. I just transplanted them in sand with the butt side down just barely covering all with sand. Right after I transplanted all 48 seeds, the sky opened up and began to rain, so I didn't even have to water anything in. I hope this is a good sign of seedlings to come, with the help from the rain. I read the history about how the Indians figured out how to cook Coontie without getting ill. I have lived here in Florida since 1965, so wanted to try and do something for such a special plant that was considered a staple of a long forgotten people. I enjoy gardening and have 4 host plants for certain butterflies, but decided to help this plant also. Good luck to anyone who gets a calling to help regenerate this tiny, special specimen. God Bless You all for doing anything at all to make this a better planet! I'm not sure how much longer I will be around to check and see if anyone has added anything, but maybe someone will carry the torch too!.