27 replies to this topic

[bgl]

My new garden here in Leilani Estates is just in its infancy, which is pretty exciting in itself, so it'll be a while before any of the palms have grown up to size. With my new house recently having been completed (see my thread in Ohana Nui) I have been somewhat sidetracked lately. An unfortunate consequence of that has been that the weeds have taken off. MUCH faster than the palms. So, I am issuing a serious weed warning - don't be shocked (even Bill/BS Man may be impressed! ) - lots of weeds in these photos. LOTS! That's the bad news. The good news is that now that I am finally in my house and ON THE PROPERTY it's easier for me to deal with the weeds and I have started doing just that. Plus, planting a few palms here and there! About 250 are in the ground at the present time. I am going to post photos taken when these palms were planted (in early 2011) and then a second photo showing the same palm, or the same area, today, April 11, 2012. The first photo shows the very first palm to be planted, a Dypsis prestoniana. That was on January 3rd, 2011 and it's the larger one to the right. The smaller prestoniana (to the left) was planted the next day. Second photo shows the same palms and the same area today.

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[bgl]

Interestingly, it's the smaller of the two prestonianas that has performed really well. These two photos aren't taken from the same angle, but the first photo really shows what a tiny palm it was when it was planted and it wouldn't surprise me if it's going to outgrow it larger sibling. This palm is actually not on my property, but on my neighbors, Dave and Greg's, land (and yes, they agreed to that). Well, not exactly. That's what we thought. Then we had the property line surveyed and found out that the actual property line is a few feet away. So this palm ended up being planted squarely on the property line between Dave & Greg and Kim (and no, she didn't know that at the time! We didn't either!)

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[bgl]

There's a little berm between me and Dave & Greg. Actually, another one of these little funny events. It ended up entirely on Dave & Greg's land, but again, they were happy to have me plant a few palms on top the berm (3 Clinostigma Hawaiian hybrid, 4 Licuala ramsayii and 8 Calyptrocalyx elegans) as well as 13 Licuala peltata var. sumawongii on my side of the berm (still their land). Here's what the berm looked like on Jan. 7th, 2011 before anything was done to it, and what it looks like today from the exact same angle. Sorry about the somewhat dark photo.

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[bgl]

And here are some of the L. peltata var. sumawongii. They are planted in full sun and have performed extremely well. First photo taken on Jan. 9th, 2011.

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[bgl]

And I can't resist a couple of photos of my palmy neighbors! Dave and Greg weren't into palms. Then Kim bought the property right next to them and began planting palms. And I bought the two acres behind them and began planting palms. You could say they were sitting ducks! Yes, they joined HIPS (Hawaii Island Palm Society) and began planting palms all over their place. Actinorhytis, Areca vestiaria, Attalea, Tahina, and lots of other palms. Photos are taken on top the berm facing due east and that's their house on the left. First photo on Jan. 12th, 2011 and as can be seen, all the tall weed trees on the right are GONE!

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[bgl]

And turning a bit to the right, still in the same location on the berm, this is more or less facing south. Dave and Greg on the left and Kim's property straight ahead. First photo also on Jan. 12th, 2011.

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[bgl]

The largest palm I planted was a Marojejya darianii, and it went in the ground on Jan. 25th, 2011. Later on I added some Alcantareas in front of it, and more bromeliads will be added to the slope in front of the Marojejya.

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[bgl]

I had a number of Tahina spectabilis. Six larger ones in 10G pots and about the same number in 5G pots. I planted the six larger ones in early February 2011. The photo shows the same individual, but obviously not from the same direction. These palms have done extremely well, and some of them now have fronds that are about four feet in diameter. First photo taken on Feb. 9th, 2011.

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[bgl]

Again, a case of not having a close-up of this palm after I planted it. For a very good reason - it was absolutely pathetic looking! But Clinostigmas do EXTREMELY well once they go in the ground. The very sad looking C. samoense in the distance is indeed the very same as the one in the second photo. First photo taken on March 1st, 2011.

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[bgl]

And this is "Carpoxylon Circle" - with a Clinostigma samoense in the center island, surrounded by 12 Carpoxylon macrospermum. (And yes, those weeds will be gone VERY soon! )

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[bgl]

And I am going to finish off with a very recent planting. 23 Bentinckia condapanna went in the ground over the last four days. These are fast growers. I bought them from Floribunda almost exactly a year ago (early May 2011) and they were in 4 inch pots. I moved them up into 2G pots and they were definitely ready to go in the ground now.

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[bgl]

I planted 17 on my own property and one on Dave and Greg's property, only a few feet away from the property line. (Yes, they were more than happy for me to do that!). I still had five more so I did the obvious - a guerilla planting of these five condapannas on Kim's property! Here are three of them, and I'm guessing the little guy in the second photo is VERY happy!

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[Pedro 65]

Thanks for the update Bo, Wow, 17 Ben Condapanna as a group planting, will be a sight and a half soon and forever more. Not surprised at the smaller Prestoniana growing faster, smaller palms get a fantastic root system happening as soon as they hit the earth, unlike a larger palm in pot with a very restricted root system seem to take a while to adjust to "freedom". Bo, what is added with your Nutricote? or is it pure Nutricote? it obviously works with the growth you get.I look forward to future updates of your gardens, all the best with it. Pete

[Kim]

Hey, did I give you permission to plant palms on my property?!? Oh .. yeah .. I guess I did. Five extra Bentinckia condapanna gratefully accepted, thank you, sir. Love those "then and now" shots; it's astonishing how quickly the wee-- , er, excuse me, the PALMS grow! Seriously, it's looking extravagantly palmy, and I'm a bit jealous of your "in ground" palm count.

[Lowey]

Some nice growth there Bo, great to see those before and after type shots, keep the pics coming please as you get on top of the weeds and plant more stuff
"Carpoxylon Circle" looks like it will be a great feature and all those B condapanna will look amazing.

[bgl]

Pete, thank you! And I actually planted a total of six Dypsis prestoniana. They are spread out along my property line with Dave and Greg. Should be a nice look pretty soon I hope! The Nutricote I am using is 13-13-13 with micronutrients, 180 day time release. The palms seem to like it!

Kim, thank you! Yes, I do recall verbal permission being granted for those five condapannas! But if you change your mind I can easily move them back to my little group of 17! I know, fat chance! And after my guesstimate of 250 palms in the ground, I decided to do an inventory. And the exact number is 254. Not counting your five condapannas!

Bruce, thank you! Yes, "before and after" shots are always fun, and once I get the weeds under control the current views will be greatly improved.

And for those who are observant - yes, I decided to change the name of this thread!

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Very Impressive growth Bo ! .


Have you planted any Piggafetta yet ?

[Stevetoad]

Lookin really nice! What are you going to do to get rid of the weeds?

[Jeff Searle]

Bo,

I'm enjoying all the pictures of your new garden. I know it must be exciting! And love seeing some of the very cool species that have already been planted.

I hope some well thought out and planned walkways, sitting areas and some garden art will be included as you progress. Maybe a hammock hanging somewhere will eventually be in order. Actually, I would like to send a small donation to help finance ( probabaly the first in Leilani Estates) a zip line to go across your property. I think this would be an excellent way to eventually view all of your palms.

Take care and keep planting!
Jeff

[redant]

"And I can't resist a couple of photos of my palmy neighbors! Dave and Greg weren't into palms." Living there and n ot into palms, how weird. At least they finally got the bug!

Really amazing how well palms do there, it's almost magical. I's going to look great I'm sure.

Whats your fertilizer of choice I see recently spread beneath the palms. Looks like a nice expensive Nutricote or something like?

[BS Man about Palms]

Do you have any before and after pics of the weeds?

[Gtlevine]

It's amazing Bo. If I had to start over at this point in my life I would need to choose a different hobby, i'd be dead before I got back to where I am. Hawaii is sure the place to grow palms fast. Look forward to seeing the trunking Lemur's soon.
Gary

[realarch]

Good for you Bo, you've made quite a bit of progress. The growth of the palms and the weeds are insane, how well I know. Between you, Greg & Dave, and Kim, that's quite
a palmy 4 acres.
That Tahina is unreal and its growth rate is quite fast. It's starting to grow out of that 'low flat' stage.
I can see a palm tour coming up in the future.

[bgl]

Thanks everyone for your comments!

Troy, no, I havn't planted any Pigafettas and I probably won't. Yes, they are incredibly impressive palms and they are super fast, but I intend to be very selective with what I plant. Even though this will definitely be a "palm garden" (well, probably more like a "palm and bromeliad garden with lots of other plants as well") I don't anticipate incorporating a lot of different species. I did that in my old garden and it was a great to be able to do that. This will be more about using various palms, and other plants, in combination with each other and generally in group settings. I just finished planting the last three (of 16) Licuala ramsayi this morning that are combined with a similar number of Clinostigma samoense.

Steve, weeds - I am going to use a number of different approaches. Up to this point I have primarily been pulling them out manually, which is not as impossible as it may seem. But I will also use Round-Up (or a generic equivalent) as well as weedwhacking where appropriate. This is all a very gradual process and right now my focus will be on the bigger stuff. The weeds that have grown from zero to 20 ft in the last few months! Yep, that's what happens here. Some people think that gardening in the tropics is to relax in the hammock and watch everything grow. Yes, you can do that - except the weeds will outgrow everything else!

Jeff, I appreciate all your well thought out ideas! And yes, this is very exciting. There will be lots of Dypsis, Licualas, Pinangas, Clinostigmas, and a bunch of others. And Dypsis! I already have a number of walkways in place. Now I just need to weed them... And zipline...hmmm...I'll tell you what - after you put one in place at your nursery, let me know how it works out and we'll take it from there!

Redant, well, more and more people here in Leilani Estates seem to be getting into palms these days! I wonder how that happened! About fertilizer - see my #16 above.

Bill, you're not paying attention here? Did you see all the weeds in the current photos above? OK, forget that. I'll add another 'then and now' in the next post. Completely dedicated to you and your love for weeds!

Gary, starting over can be a great experience! And you don't have to choose a different hobby - just move to Hawaii! And yes, looking forward to trunking Lemurophoenix, makes two of us!

Tim, oh, this is just the beginnging (yeah, you already knew that!). Give me some time for weed elimination so that the palms will actually be VISIBLE and then we can talk.

Bo-Göran

[bgl]

OK, this post is dedicated to BS Man About Palms! When we liquidated our nursery a year ago I ended up with a bunch of palms, all of which unfortunately had been neglected for some time. That included 25 Chambeyronias in 5G pots. Yellow and very unattractive. But I like Chambeyronias! So, I planted them all in a group, sort of stretched out on a little mound. That was mid July 2011. The first photo was taken on July 18, 2011. (EDIT - for some reason the photos posted in the wrong order. I'll just leave them - should be pretty obvious! ) The second photo was taken a little while ago. Today, April 12th, 2012. Since I planted the Chambeyronias I have added a bunch of bromeliads (I know, tough to find them among the weeds!) and 7 Areca catechu "dwarf" (a few are visible). I should point out that I had this area completely weeded about three months ago. So, this is what has happened in the last 100 days or so. And an area like this must be hand-weeded since there are so many plants in close proximity to each other. It may look like an endless job but in about four hours or so I can have this entire area completely weedfree. So Bill, when can I expect you?

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[_Wal]

Good for you Bo, you've made quite a bit of progress. The growth of the palms and the weeds are insane, how well I know. Between you, Greg & Dave, and Kim, that's quite
a palmy 4 acres.
That Tahina is unreal and its growth rate is quite fast. It's starting to grow out of that 'low flat' stage.
I can see a palm tour coming up in the future.

Agree Tim, it's the Tahina that captured my attention the most. I don't think I've seen a bigger one posted yet and after planting "Troy's Tahina" recently, I'm now wondering what's going to happen over the next couple of growing seasons, size does matter

Thanks Bo, good luck with the weeds

[Jastin]

Great pics Bo! Are the weeds easier to pull because it rains a lot and the soil is loose?

[bgl]

Wal, thanks a lot! And yes, it's very exciting to see how the Tahinas grow and develop and it will certainly be even more exciting over the next few years.

Jastin, the rain isn't really a factor, but the soil certainly is. In areas where I have added cinder-soil, the weeds are very easy to pull up. In other areas that are rockier, some of the taller weeds (6 ft and up, generally) can be pretty tough because the roots tend to find their way down into the cracks and crevices. And many times I have to use a pickax to loosen up the rock so I can pull out the weed.

Bo-Göran