Dwarf Catechu

[MDPalm]

Found these little guys on ebay. They were advertised as dwarf, I am hoping they are but if not I will still love them. They arrived pretty dry but have seemed to perk up a little since then. Any tips on caring for them or when I will know if they are a true dwarf?

[avanza]

plant its, wait and see around 5 years.

[fan palm]

Lack of petiole and blunt leaflet tips are a good indicator.

[Geoff]

I was going to say those already have more petiole than most dwarfs do, but I have seen some with short petioles.

[Jeff Searle]

I hate to say, their not going to turn out to be a good form of dwarf most likely. And it's a shame people are selling these as such. I can tell you'll give them a good home, grow them out and enjoy them.

Value.....$5-10 per palm. ( South Florida )

[Really full garden]

I agree.The petioles seem too long.When my dwarf Areca catechu produced their first leaves it was obvious they were different.Mine came from Thailand.

[MDPalm]

Thanks for the replies. These came from Thailand too. They were $15 each, so I figured it was worth a shot to see if I can grow them and see what becomes of them.

[PalmatierMeg]

Dwarfism occurs along a spectrum - your plants might be thought of as semi-dwarfs. Let them grow out and see what you get.

Did your seller provide a phytosanitary certificate?

[MDPalm]

There was no certificate. I was looking for a small palm with a trunk that would live in a pot and that I can bring inside during the winter. This seemed to fit the look and size I was hoping for, I will see what I end up with.

I have not found many of these for sale, are ones that are 4 foot + readily available in south Florida?

[PalmatierMeg]

They are difficult to find anywhere. And expensive if you find them. For a 3-4' trunking specimen plan on shelling out many 100s of $, maybe $1,000+

[Jeff Searle]

They are difficult to find anywhere. And expensive if you find them. For a 3-4' trunking specimen plan on shelling out many 100s of $, maybe $1,000+

Meg,

Your pricing is very accurate. And more importantly, paying this amount of money for a really good form.

[PalmatierMeg]

They are difficult to find anywhere. And expensive if you find them. For a 3-4' trunking specimen plan on shelling out many 100s of $, maybe $1,000+

Meg,

Your pricing is very accurate. And more importantly, paying this amount of money for a really good form.

Unfortunately, I can't afford that large an outlay. If only.......

[Really full garden]

This is my little forest of Dwarf Catechu.These are only 1m tall overall and with about 30cm of trunk.They are 10+ years from seeds.

[PalmatierMeg]

How wonderful!

[LJG]

With luck, it'll look like these. These are at Nong Nooch.

[Jeff Searle]

That was one of the most memorable times of the entire biennial for me. And maybe because I'm partial to the Dwarf forms of Areca catechu as one of my favorite palms that I not only grow and sell, but enjoy them planted in my yard.

[Really full garden]

I consider mine to be "bucket list" palms.

[LilikoiLee]

We are also fans of the dwarf catechu. Fake ones are fairly common on the Big Island and are mostly sold at the big box stores. We purchased our (true) dwarf catechu from a reputable nursery about five years ago. They were in two gallon pots and about a foot tall. The largest is now taller than my 6’ husband Mike. The fact that one is growing much slower than the other is probably because there is less soil between it and the blue rock ‘foundation’ of the Big Island.

Here's a close up of the trunk and petiole of the larger of the two palms.

Lee

[Geoff]

There are indeed 'degrees' of dwarfism in this species.. here are two juveniles with differing degrees… one on the left is the typical completely petioless form, and the right has very short ones (sorry the picture should have been taken from below, but you still can tell there is a difference in these leaves)… both are definitely dwarfs, though.

[realarch]

Geeze Mike and Lee, those look fantastic! Mine are 'chunky' in both height and width because of shallow soil, a lot like your smaller one. They are such awesome palms with such great scale.

They have absolutely NO petiole.

Tim