Bismarckia Torcher Chamber - Heat & Speed Test

[Jastin]

About 6 months ago I thought of a way to hopefully speed up the growth of my bizzy. I planted this from a small 15 gal at the beginning of 2011. Before I constructed the bizzy house Steve (stevetoad) and I marked our spears and checked them after 7 days. His has been in the ground a little longer than mine, is bigger and lives in a hotter part of San Diego than me.

After 7 days both of our marks were the same - 1 1/8"! Pretty good I thought. Then....The chamber got built by yours truly.

This is it before

And with the frame up - the front two posts are 6 feet 6".

And the first row of thick contractor trash bags went around the bottom to add/attract heat.

[Jastin]

I installed a temp/humidity sensor at 5' inside the house to record stuff. Then the clear this plastic went up.

After it was up and sealed from top to bottom Steve and I marked it again. I could hardly wait to see what the results were going to be! The outside temp was 70 at the time and inside the house was 103 degrees! It would be the same temp at night as outside but got a consistent 27 degrees above normal temp at the hottest time of the day

After 7 days Steve got the same 1 1/8"

I got 5"!!!!!

[Jastin]

So after I rubbed it in steves face for a while ( I actually still do ) I knew I was on to something big, why not try to go for more speed! I had a metal electric heater so I threw that in there. I turned it off at night for $$$ reasons and got a little faster growth, kept it on for days straight and started getting 1- 1.5" a day!!! Oh yeah and here is the temp reading

I got addicted an wanted more growth, I thought to myself...if I could hit 2" in a day that would be amazing. So I bought a warm mist humidifier that blew boiling water mist right at the crown, I took the heater and put it right at the growing point so the heat would blow the mist right on the crown for more awesomeness

[Jastin]

Left everything on for 3 days and checked the growth....nothing....CRAP!!!! What have I done??? I'm so stupid, why do I always push it so much, it's going to die and I'm gonna have to start over...this was a mistake. Then I noticed the yellow crown of death.

[Jastin]

I shut everything off and opened up the bottom of the house to let it air out. Could the bizzy actually have a heat tolorance??? At 131.5 degrees??? But but but Matty said he knew someone that hit 140 in the green house and it was fine... then I realized I should take a temp reading at the crown with the heater and mist blowing with a meat thermometer...

HOLY DOO DOO! 190 degrees for 3 days straight right on the crown! I'm actually impressed but still mad that it was on its way out.

Then...it started to change from yellow to normal. I let the spear open up before continuing with the heat Torcher

[Jastin]

Here is the damage from 190 degrees at the crown for 3 days

And Steve said " your gonna cook your roots at 190 degrees" so I took a soil temp reading, still good

About 82 degrees

[Jastin]

So here we are today. It's moving at around 1" a day which is good for me. It's recovered. I'm going to leave the house on until it busts through the top.

I would love to have other people mark there's and see what the one day speed is. I was going to wait and post this but it's the hottest part of the year for So Cal and I want compare

Not the best but hard to take an overall shot inside

Love the color

[Gonzer]

Torcher Chamber

If you mean "torture chamber" yeah, you're lucky it survived.

[Jastin]

Torcher Chamber

If you mean "torture chamber" yeah, you're lucky it survived.

I knew I got that wrong, oh well, i'm taking english 101 this semester

[Walter John]

Have you thought of doing this with a more tropical species ? I'd be giving a try with a Latania or even Licuala perhaps.

[MattyB]

Very interesting heat test Jastin! And it looks cool too Well, it is a really nice colored Bizzie, that's for sure.

As you've shown, in the short term you've produced excellent vegetative growth. I suspect that, since you can't keep that house up for very long, after a few years, a non-heat-torchered Bizzie grown right next to that one will be pretty much the same size. Keep in mind that you may actually be growing a less robust Bizzie by not allowing it a slower growth rate in order to allow it to fatten up.

I'll try and remember to mark my spear this afternoon.

Why are you getting all Trioderob on this Bizzie's a$$? You're willing to exchange an entire summer's worth of enjoying and gazing upon a beautiful work of nature for a few inches of excelerated growth explosions? Is it because you got hit by lightning and now you have to subject everything and everyone else to extreme heat in order to "feel your pain"? That'll be $40 for that session.

[Jastin]

Have you thought of doing this with a more tropical species ? I'd be giving a try with a Latania or even Licuala perhaps.

Yes I have but I wouldn't want to keep a house like this up for a long time I was doing this test to get some faster growth out of the notorious heat monster

[Hilo Jason]

Great post Jastin! Nice to see it survived those crazy conditions it experienced for those 3 days!

[Kim]

You are far more creative than I am, dude. I never would have thought of cooking a palm unless I were planning to eat it.

[grant b.]

Torcher Chamber

If you mean "torture chamber" yeah, you're lucky it survived.

I knew I got that wrong, oh well, i'm taking english 101 this semester

I sorta thought you had typed it that way on purpose, as a play on words. I think you coulda just played that one off...

[Jastin]

Very interesting heat test Jastin! And it looks cool too Well, it is a really nice colored Bizzie, that's for sure.

As you've shown, in the short term you've produced excellent vegetative growth. I suspect that, since you can't keep that house up for very long, after a few years, a non-heat-torchered Bizzie grown right next to that one will be pretty much the same size. Keep in mind that you may actually be growing a less robust Bizzie by not allowing it a slower growth rate in order to allow it to fatten up.

I'll try and remember to mark my spear this afternoon.

Why are you getting all Trioderob on this Bizzie's a$$? You're willing to exchange an entire summer's worth of enjoying and gazing upon a beautiful work of nature for a few inches of excelerated growth explosions? Is it because you got hit by lightning and now you have to subject everything and everyone else to extreme heat in order to "feel your pain"? That'll be $40 for that session.

Haha Interesting Matt. Why would the "other bizzy" growing right next to it catch up? That would mean mine would have to slow down below the growth rate of the one next to it. I was thinking I was simulating a tropical desert climate to speed it up for a while. It will probablly only last a few more leaves in there before it grows out of it.

Also, I doubt that I have the fastest bizzy compared to Madagascar, Hawaii, and Thailand. All those bizzys are fat, so why would mine be skinny if it grew fast?

And lastly, I love to experiment, I just don't know how to spell and I'm not a poet ***sigh*** I miss the sight of my bizzy, but I can handle it for the exchange of a larger plant plus who else has had a bizzy at 190 degrees huh huh huh??? Your pinkey sized brain is no match for my lightning induced genius enhanced brain network HAHAHAHAHA!! Ohhhh yeah snap into it!

[Jastin]

Torcher Chamber

If you mean "torture chamber" yeah, you're lucky it survived.

I knew I got that wrong, oh well, i'm taking english 101 this semester

I sorta thought you had typed it that way on purpose, as a play on words. I think you coulda just played that one off...

I totally could have and thought about it afterwords

[Jeff Searle]

Yea you torched it alright. Maybe you could throw a few seedlings in the oven, bake at 400 for 30 minutes and report back to us. I won't get into all the specifics of naturally growing palms and why it's not 200 degrees, and why it just might kill stuff. Any other experiments over the horizon?

[Jastin]

Yea you torched it alright. Maybe you could throw a few seedlings in the oven, bake at 400 for 30 minutes and report back to us. I won't get into all the specifics of naturally growing palms and why it's not 200 degrees, and why it just might kill stuff. Any other experiments over the horizon?

I tried this cool experiment and 9 months later our second kid popped out! No more experiments for a while now. Here's the little guy

[michigan steve]

In michigan right now mine is growing about a half an inch every 2 to 3 days

[Tropicgardener]

I was going to say that you have too much time on your hands to do an experiment like that............but now I can see that you are going to be time poor with the little one there!!

[CardiffPalmNut]

Well mine grows about 1" every two days and I get to look at it. Go figure?

[Jastin]

Well mine grows about 1" every two days and I get to look at it. Go figure?

How big is yours? How long has it been in the ground? Thanks for the info! I need all the help I can get, I have such crappy soil! I figure it will speed up later.

[Stevetoad]

Finally the cats out of the bag! I was sworn to secrecy. I like the experiment, I'm sure the neighbors have been trying to figure out what's going on in there. It's crazy to see how fast this palm has been growing. Makes me wonder if it would work on others like psudophoenix. I would ask some questions but I've been in the loop the whole time.

[BS Man about Palms]

uuumm do me a favor and let ME FIRST buy any New Caledonia palms you try this on before they are Baked into a puff of smoke! haha

I will say, MOST palm deaths I see is from people trying to "speed them up".. I like my Signature..

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Wow Jastin

you are keen

Those temperatures can't be any good for any living thing !

you wouldn't want to try that with the Rhopalostylis oceana ! would fry at 100 f

[Sutter Bob]

Now I know what to do.

[Hammer]

I wonder if I got a magnifying glass and focused it on the palm...I bet its growth might literally be explosive!

The "tent" is very interesting and may have application for those of us interested in growing coconuts in SoCal.

[MattyB]

Pretty funny lightning man Jastin!

OK, I marked the spears on 3 of my Bizmarckia and measured them after 24 hours. Here's the results:

Bizzie #1: This is one of my smallest Bizzies and it stands about 3 feet tall. Probably about the same size as yours is pictured at the beginning of this thread. It's in poor, rocky soil on steep slope, gets watered once every two weeks with a hose and gets fertilizer once a year.

24 hour growth = 1/4" to 5/16"

[MattyB]

Bizzie #2: This is my largest and oldest Bizzie with a fatty base and stands probably about 8 feet tall. It's planted in 12" of topsoil and sitting on a solid rock shelf. It gets watered once a week by drip irrigation and gets fertilizer 2 times a year. It did have a gopher attack this Winter but it didn't seem to phase it.

24 hour growth = 3/8"

[MattyB]

Bizzie #3: This is an interesting one. This Bizzie is about 7 feet tall and much skinnier than my older large one pictured above. It's also pretty green for a silver bizzie. It's planted where my propane tank used to sit, which was a dugout hole that I backfilled with fill dirt and horse manure. Because it's fill, this spot is by far the deepest soil on my property and probably very rich due to all the horse manure. I water with a hose once every two weeks and I pee on this bizzie all the time.

24 hour growth rate = 1-1/8"

[MattyB]

So these results tell me that rich soil and ample fertilizer will get you excelerated growth rates as well. Maybe Bizzie is tolerant to lots of nitrogen too and they can be "pushed" if fertilized a lot.

[Stevetoad]

My bizzy has turned from white to green since i transplanted it a while ago. funny thing is it seems to be growing faster now that its more green. the not so funny thing is that its not opening spears. could it be that its putting more effort into growing roots or that theres not enought root to alow enough water to get into the plant? im getting really nervous about it not opening spears...

[Firepalm]

So I've seen this contraption in person and it definitely does make it grow faster. I live about a half mile from Jastin's place and have two Bismarcks planted from the same size as his about two months after he planted his. Mine are growing nicely, but are only on their third leaves of the year while his is on its fifth or sixth leaf. Also the coloring appears to be a little different since mine have a mint green colored new leaf with very red/purple petioles that slowly fade to a blue/gray as the leaves mature. His leaves in the chamber seem to be retaining more of the bright silver blue.

[CardiffPalmNut]

Well mine grows about 1" every two days and I get to look at it. Go figure?

How big is yours? How long has it been in the ground? Thanks for the info! I need all the help I can get, I have such crappy soil! I figure it will speed up later.

Jastin - its three years from a 15 gal plant before.

Today

[rprimbs]

Finally the cats out of the bag! I was sworn to secrecy. I like the experiment, I'm sure the neighbors have been trying to figure out what's going on in there. It's crazy to see how fast this palm has been growing. Makes me wonder if it would work on others like psudophoenix. I would ask some questions but I've been in the loop the whole time.

Pseudophoenix.....!! Now that's an idea! And I live inland anyway.

[newnick]

I marked mine 17 hrs. ago. The spear has grown 3/4" in that time. I just had a spear open earlier this week and it has grown 1/2" in the same 17 hrs. This palm was defoliated 2 yrs. ago from a freeze, so I happy that it is still alive. I'm not sure if it likes this area of the country because it is by far the slowest growing palm I have.

[newnick]

I checked after 48hrs. and have about 2" of growth, so I guess it's doing pretty good at a inch a day.

[Jastin]

The chamber was getting too small for the bizzy so i took it down. It's opening the 11th leaf of the year thanks to the hot house when I would normally only get 4-5 leaves a year. It is a little stretched but it will grow out of it. It was a fun experiment and I learned a lot about the growth habits and tolerances of the bizzy. The first picture is during the day. It's reflecting white so much I couldn't get the camera to adjust to get a clear pic. The rest of the pics are from the morning after, to get clear pictures. Scroll up to see how big it was 6 months ago.

[Jastin]