Burretiokentia vieillardii

[steve99]

 

When I made the decision to grow a Burretiokentia vieillardii finding one became the obstacle.   I eventually sourced a seedling at the PACSOA show in Brisbane a few years ago.  So it's been in the ground a few years now and seems to be travelling along quite well.  Early on, it suffered a bit from the hot sun but now its hardened up.  Anyone growing one of these?  

 

[Daryl]

Steve, I grew a few from seed back in the early 80s ...i lost all of them in one of the droughts...they certainly need lots of water and it appears if they dry out they get very stressed and die. My largest was flowering and then succumbed to a very dry spell and competition from other plants...it hung in there for a while and started pushing a spear, then game over...

Yours is looking good there so obviously likes its spot in the ground...you don't see any for sale anymore

Edited December 9, 2017 by Daryl

[Daryl]

The final chapter...

[Cocoa Beach Jason]

I tried one of these in my yard and it just melted in the florida summer.

[richnorm]

Easy grow here so far. Mine are about the same as yours.  They are happier once planted out.  

[Tracy]

13 hours ago, Cocoa Beach Jason said:

I tried one of these in my yard and it just melted in the florida summer.

I'm not growing vieillardii, but I am growing some Burretiokentia hapalas.  They seem to do best in part sun even in my milder climate, and they grow well outside of the summer season.  Given that, I'm not surprised they don't appreciate Florida summers.  Daryl is right, they do appreciate their water.  The hapalas seem to flower relatively young here too.

[comic097]

Nice going Steve, your right you don’t see em around for sale, I’ve just put down seeds so fingers x 

[Sir Oxylon]

I have B. vieillardii and B. hapala in the ground in Melbourne. The B. hapala is a much stronger grower and is more ornamental than B. vieillardii. I think its both of these reasons why B. viellardii is much less frequently grown. I can't explain why B. vieillardii would be more finicky than hapala: B. vieillardii is pretty much the most common palm in New Cal very widespread over a range of different conditions including high altitude while hapala is localised in the north.

[quaman58]

I agree with the comments above. It's been a much slower grower for me than the others. It's holding a nice crown & has some trunk, but at nearly 10 years old, it looks nothing like Daryl's must have looked like before its decline. It could be because it's planted in close proximity to a large Syagrus (queen palm). Perhaps not enough available water, even though it's on multiple emitters. Yours looks the picture of health Steve.

[richnorm]

11 hours ago, Sir Oxylon said:

I have B. vieillardii and B. hapala in the ground in Melbourne. The B. hapala is a much stronger grower and is more ornamental than B. vieillardii. I think its both of these reasons why B. viellardii is much less frequently grown. I can't explain why B. vieillardii would be more finicky than hapala: B. vieillardii is pretty much the most common palm in New Cal very widespread over a range of different conditions including high altitude while hapala is localised in the north.

I have found the opposite to be true in my garden (albeit with a very small sample)!  Maybe our consistent high humidity helps?

[Sir Oxylon]

Its just weird that they are not easy to grow humidity or not but that great that they are easy in NZ. Some of the places I saw them in New Cal were quite dry. I visited in the dry season and the soil they were growing in was not moist but dry as well-I would definitely water if it was the soil in my garden. 

They are not impossible in Aus of course-mine is growing ok and my climate isn't the best for growing palms. 

[PalmatierMeg]

I really wanted to grow B. vieillardii but failed - I think my sweltering summer nights gave it no relief. I have a couple B. hapala in the back yard jungle in the shade and they are slow. But they can't take FL summer sun either so are a balancing act.