Planting under a pine tree?

[Palmgrover]

Im thinking of planting my D. pembana under the filtered shade of a 20ft. pine tree in my yard.

My question is will the falling pine needles be a problem in the growth of my Dypsis?

Can you plant this  palm or any other palm for that matter under a pine?<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k285/palmgrover/IMG_1072.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

Thanks for your help.

[Palmgrover]

Sorry about that, wrong picture...

[quaman58]

I hate pine trees. Unless they're in someone elses yard --very far away. My neighbor has too many unkept ones that lean downwind over my yard. The results, if left unchecked are palms soon recognizable only by the dome of pine needles that cover them. Add to that the roots that will try to suck every last drop of moisture away from your beloved palms. I'm not sure about the increased acidity caused by the needles, but it's probably bad. Did I say I hate pine trees? They make great furniture though...

Bret

[paulgila]

what are you trying to say bret?how do you really feel about pine trees?

i've been trying to get bob to lose the pine tree for awhile to no avail

[STEVE IN SO CAL]

Bob...I've had two bigguns cut down. They were the nastiest, needle shedinest, root crowdinest, driveway bustenest trees I had. At first I felt guilty, but once they were gone, I really was glad...best thing I ever did. If Paul and I agree on this ,  YOU MUST BE WRONG... :cool:

Nice Pembana, BTW

My next victim is a huge Magnolia that fills my rain gutters and pool with leaves....I'm sure I'll feel bad at first, but I'll get over it  ::

[paulgila]

there you have it.

[Jim in Los Altos]

Underneath a huge 50 year old deodara cedar I have growing very healthy Rhopalostylis sapida, Howea forsteriana, Livistona chinensis, Dypsis decaryi, Arenga engleri, Chamaedorea cataractarum, C. tepejelote,  Chambeyronia macrocarpa,  Licuala peltata,  Pritchardia affinis, Lytocaryum weddellianum, Parajubaea cocoides, Archontophoenix cunninghamiana, and Phoenix roebelenii, and other palms as well as phlodendrons bromeliads, and giant bird of paradise. I leave a thick bed of needles as a mulch and only feed occasionally and the palms and companion plants under this big cedar are very green and growing well. If it weren't for this old tree, I would have very little canopy in  my front yard. I sometimes curse the sometimes plentiful pine cones though.

[Rusty on Pine Is.]

Palmgrover, since the soil underneath of the tree will be more acidic,  I would want to check the ph requirements of the Dypsis before planting....... i.e. what is it's soil type in habitat?

I used to have a large Slash pine before Hurricane Charlie, and the soil is the richest in the garden....it was a bit messy, but had a great natual mulch layer of needles, which seemed to slightly offset the pine's water gulping away from other plants....i miss the trees shade and the Tillansias that grew on the branches.

Rusty

[Daryl]

My neighbour has a row of slash pines along our dividing fence line. Trouble is the prevailing wind comes from that direction, so I am always cleaning up his pine needles. I don't know what is messier...slash pine or eucalypts!

My Livistona mariae definitely doesn't like the pine invasion, and is one of my slowest palms. The Caryota mitis nearby couldn't give a hoot about any damn pine and is really cranking...I guess it depends on the species...

Daryl.

[Palmgrover]

Thanks for your thoughts on this guys.  I too am not the biggest fan of pine trees and there mess but there are a couple of reasons for keeping it.  First I have very little shade in my yard and I have to try to use it were I can.

And second "my ranch hand" will not allow the removel of said pine ...  This being said i need to work with it.

Jim,  your reply is very incouraging to me, and I would love to see pictures of your yard.

Rusty,  how and where would I check the ph requirements for my Dypsis pembana, and then check my soil under my pine?

Steve, Paul  I'm shocked ???

[palmmermaid]

I have 5 beautiful Gaussia maya palms growing under a couple of our native slash pines.  I have begonias underneath the palms.  They are all doing well.  I thik if you look in the Encyclopedia of Palms in most cases it tells you the soil type of the palm's native habitat.  I think if the book indicates a humusy soil in habitat, underneath your pine will be fine.  Humusy soil tends to be more acidic because of the tannins released from decaying vegetative matter.  I also put horse manure in all my plantings.  One good thing about horse manure is that it is not hot like chicken or cow manure.  All of my plants seem to love it.  I recently made a begonia garden and mixed horse manure and used stall shavings in the soil and the begonias are really thriving.

Good luck with your Dypsis!

Kitty

West Palm Beach, FL

[Walter John]

(palmmermaid @ May 08 2007,22:05)

QUOTE

I have 5 beautiful Gaussia maya palms growing under a couple of our native slash pines.  I have begonias underneath the palms.  They are all doing well.  I thik if you look in the Encyclopedia of Palms in most cases it tells you the soil type of the palm's native habitat.  I think if the book indicates a humusy soil in habitat, underneath your pine will be fine.  Humusy soil tends to be more acidic because of the tannins released from decaying vegetative matter.  I also put horse manure in all my plantings.  One good thing about horse manure is that it is not hot like chicken or cow manure.  All of my plants seem to love it.  I recently made a begonia garden and mixed horse manure and used stall shavings in the soil and the begonias are really thriving.

Good luck with your Dypsis!

Kitty

West Palm Beach, FL

5 beautiful Gaussias with begonias ? Come on Kitty, we must have a pic of that.

[Rusty on Pine Is.]

Rusty,  how and where would I check the ph requirements for my Dypsis pembana, and then check my soil under my pine?

I have really have to confess complete ignorance on 98% of most Dypsis and what they need individually…I am still “Dypsis challenged” …..

But the good news is that you are in the best place to get that info…..there are some pretty knowledgeable folks right here one this board that can help you…there isn’t a time I don’t come here that I don’t come away with a wealth of info.

You can check the soil ph with meters, although the cheap ones are not highly accurate, but buying a good one is a good investment, and they don’t wear out…you’ll have it for years.

There are also places like the Co-operative Extension Service that will do a soil test for you.

Rusty

[palmmermaid]

(Wal @ May 08 2007,08:12)

QUOTE

(palmmermaid @ May 08 2007,22:05)

QUOTE

I have 5 beautiful Gaussia maya palms growing under a couple of our native slash pines.  I have begonias underneath the palms.  They are all doing well.  I thik if you look in the Encyclopedia of Palms in most cases it tells you the soil type of the palm's native habitat.  I think if the book indicates a humusy soil in habitat, underneath your pine will be fine.  Humusy soil tends to be more acidic because of the tannins released from decaying vegetative matter.  I also put horse manure in all my plantings.  One good thing about horse manure is that it is not hot like chicken or cow manure.  All of my plants seem to love it.  I recently made a begonia garden and mixed horse manure and used stall shavings in the soil and the begonias are really thriving.

Good luck with your Dypsis!

Kitty

West Palm Beach, FL

5 beautiful Gaussias with begonias ? Come on Kitty, we must have a pic of that.

I will try and get a picture posted today.  My gaussias are still small but they have been there for more than 2 years and 3 hurricanes.

[Trópico]

Palms will go along nicely with pines! I say go for it!

I have growing in my yard Slash pine (var. densa), Loblolly pine, Spruce pine, and Longleaf pine, also Colorado blue spruce. I have the pine bug too. I think pines/spruces/firs are the palms of the north. Mine are not heavy shedders and I prefer their canopy to an oak probably, which sure can be messy! And their mulch is one of the best.

[Daryl]

I forgot to add earlier...the slash pine needles here don't ever seem to break down...maybe there is some organism missing in our soils?

Daryl

[redant]

My property was extremely infested with slash pine when I bought it. 3 hurricanes and an infestation of pine beetles as reduced the population greatly. My ranch hand would kill me if I removed any of the healthy pines so I have learned to live with them. There are some plusses to the pines. The type of shade there offer is great for palms, the perfect mixed sun that palms thrive on, not to dark, no to blazingly hot. My pines are very old, very tall so the canopy is high which is great.

Now about the needles and soil. The pine needles do add allot of acid. I have two D. Pemba. One I planed from a huge whole I dug away from the pines, in an area that has just a smidgen of needles around it. I amended the soil greatly there and planted the Pemba, it's doing fabulously. The second I planted in is very close to where I have many pines and the soil is dark with pine needle mulch. A thick layer of pines needles is always in this area. The Pemba looks terrible, it's suffering from what looks like frizzle top, short stunted fronds that never develop. I have given it excess MN and MG but it's not helping. I added some lime recently to see if that helps, to early to tell. I have may other palms that thrive in this soil, seem unaffected by the pines acid. Foxtails for one love this stuff but my experience is D. Pembas don't.  

[BigFrond]

(Palmgrover @ May 08 2007,07:11)

QUOTE

Thanks for your thoughts on this guys.  I too am not the biggest fan of pine trees and there mess but there are a couple of reasons for keeping it.  First I have very little shade in my yard and I have to try to use it were I can.

And second "my ranch hand" will not allow the removel of said pine ...  This being said i need to work with it.

Jim,  your reply is very incouraging to me, and I would love to see pictures of your yard.

Rusty,  how and where would I check the ph requirements for my Dypsis pembana, and then check my soil under my pine?

Steve, Paul  I'm shocked ???

Hehehe... You can kill the pine slowly by pouring concetrated Roundup on the root base.  ::   A dead tree must be remove. ::

[MattyB]

Bob, when I toured Bob Hastings' garden in Spring Valley his entire canopy (several acres) is pine trees.

[Kris]

Dear Steve  

Magnolia's are my favouriates,can i see your tree,is it the pink

coloured flowering variety ?

Thanks,

Kris  

[MattyB]

As you can expect there's pine needles that drop but for the most part I think everything is depending on the great canopy they provide.  As long as you keep the area watered then I think your pembana will be fine.  You have pretty wet soil anyway right? (by the way, that's my new house in the background   )

[paulgila]

if you look REALLY close you can see some crackheads

breaking in to steal the plumbing pipes & wiring.

[elHoagie]

Maybe Fred Zone 10A will reply, but he has a lot of big pines in his garden.  He has at least 100 species of palms, and they all seem to do fine under the pines...

[MattyB]

(pohonkelapa @ May 08 2007,09:14)

QUOTE

if you look REALLY close you can see some crackheads

breaking in to steal the plumbing pipes & wiring.

 

[Scott]

(pohonkelapa @ May 07 2007,20:34)

QUOTE

what are you trying to say bret?how do you really feel about pine trees?

i've been trying to get bob to lose the pine tree for awhile to no avail

Pine trees are so Northern Hemisphere!

[ZoneTenNut]

I've got a large percentage of my 150 or so palms, planted near or under palm grove canopy. These are the native SoFlo slash pines and offer great frost, wind, sun, and heat protection. I can't attribute a single instance that I know of, where the palm is negatively affected. I don't however, have sun loving palms planted under the canopy and the canopy from this type of pine tree is high and mottled, so much light still comes through. Our sandy soil is alkaline so the decomposing pine needles help to improve the soil. The needles are messy though and after a windy day, the lawn, driveway, and roof are full of the needles. For me thats the main drawback, but I feel the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

Roger

[Palmgrover]

Thanks, Kitty ,Roger, Matt, Frank, Jack and Doug. I fell so much better about planting palms under  my pine tree now.  I may even go as far as to plant my Euterpe edulis under there also. It really needs to be planted in the ground soon also.

I'll post some photos of the new plantings when there in the ground.