Bactris gasipaes fruiting in Jupiter FL

[redant]

Love hate relationship with this palm, planted  about about 12 years ago, love the looks but hated it's millions of spines. In 2009 it died back from the cold, nothing was green on it but being a clumper it came back from the dead and is now fruiting. Love the looks of this palm but it's soooooo spiny.

 

Edited March 24, 2017 by redant

[Palmarum]

Congrats,

That is quite an achievement, especially for Jupiter. Admirers of spiny palms have a unique outlook on life. More so when they need to be cleaned.

Did you ever get the walnuts?

Ryan

[redant]

13 hours ago, Palmarum said:

Congrats,

That is quite an achievement, especially for Jupiter. Admirers of spiny palms have a unique outlook on life. More so when they need to be cleaned.

Did you ever get the walnuts?

Ryan

Yeah several good winters in a row and the plant really took off.  What do you mean about the walnuts? 

[realarch]

Bactria gasipaes is becoming more widely grown here on Hawai'i island as a cash crop for the local and mainland hearts

of palm market. Most, for practical purposes, are the spineless variety and I had visions of having a couple here in the garden 

to harvest for the tasty meat. I've found, at least in my garden, that these can be messy palms, either dropping lots of fronds or 

fruit and they grow like rockets with the clump getting bigger and bigger.

I've enjoyed a couple of harvests, but now the meat is easily obtained in local markets so, mine are coming out in a couple of weeks, too much maintenance. 

Tim

 

[redant]

8 hours ago, redant said:

Yeah several good winters in a row and the plant really took off.  What do you mean about the walnuts? 

Oh haha the Costco list, yeah got the walnuts, a couple of cases of wine, you know how Costco works. In for olive oil and out with 65" TV.

[Eric in Orlando]

Congrats on your palm!

How cold did it get there in 2009-10? Are you inland Jupiter?

Our clump of Bactris gasipaes died back too after the 2009-10 winter but came back from the roots vigorously. It had previously died back during the 2000-2001 winter after3 nights between 27-31F and several other nights around 33-34F. It has never flowered or fruited yet. I have a Bactris glandulosa var. baileyana nearby that has fruited. It seems to have the same hardiness as B. gasipaes. 

[SubTropicRay]

With so many smaller Bactris species, I wonder why they are almost nonexistent in cultivation. 

[Palmarum]

2 hours ago, SubTropicRay said:

With so many smaller Bactris species, I wonder why they are almost nonexistent in cultivation. 

For the same reason there are not more Aiphanes and Calamus in cultivation, the spines. I don't see a seed collector fighting their way through spine-laden stems, leaf bases and leaves to grab a hand full of seed, that they do not think anyone will want. It is a shame, as there are many interesting and cool looking species out there that could be grown. Small Calamus that do not grow a trunk or stems, miniature Bactris, Aiphanes that grow like a shrub, etc. I would grow them, but I like spiny plants.

Ryan

P.S. - Did you know that the large, spiny rattan palm genus Daemonorops was lumped in with Calamus? There are now about 504 species of Calamus.

[Eric in Orlando]

4 hours ago, SubTropicRay said:

With so many smaller Bactris species, I wonder why they are almost nonexistent in cultivation. 

 

Bactris mexicana and B. setosa are great species that are hardier, they have taken upper 20sF here with no damage. 

[Eric in Orlando]

1 hour ago, Palmarum said:

For the same reason there are not more Aiphanes and Calamus in cultivation, the spines. I don't see a seed collector fighting their way through spine-laden stems, leaf bases and leaves to grab a hand full of seed, that they do not think anyone will want. It is a shame, as there are many interesting and cool looking species out there that could be grown. Small Calamus that do not grow a trunk or stems, miniature Bactris, Aiphanes that grow like a shrub, etc. I would grow them, but I like spiny plants.

Ryan

P.S. - Did you know that the large, spiny rattan palm genus Daemonorops was lumped in with Calamus? There are now about 504 species of Calamus.

 

That is interesting that Daemonorops has been lumped into Calamus. I came across that on Kew's website backchecking some names.

I like spiny palms too!

 

 

 

 

[redant]

12 hours ago, Eric in Orlando said:

Congrats on your palm!

How cold did it get there in 2009-10? Are you inland Jupiter?

Our clump of Bactris gasipaes died back too after the 2009-10 winter but came back from the roots vigorously. It had previously died back during the 2000-2001 winter after3 nights between 27-31F and several other nights around 33-34F. It has never flowered or fruited yet. I have a Bactris glandulosa var. baileyana nearby that has fruited. It seems to have the same hardiness as B. gasipaes. 

I don't remember it being below freezing as much as the length of time it was as 33,32 or 34 degrees. Something like 15 nights of really cold nights and not very warm days. I lost about 15 of 30 or so coconuts during that time. I'm about 5 miles from the beach, across the river from the boy scout camp. If you know Jupiter you kind of get where I'm at.

Edited March 28, 2017 by redant