Large Armata in El Paso, any more in NM?

[Axel Amsterdam]

I saved this old picture from a large armata  (posted on another forum) in El Paso. I'm always interested in the large filifera's but noticed that armata are really scarce. Why is that, availability? 

[Josue Diaz]

Armata are very slow, and don't seem to reseed as readily as washingtonia. If there's a washingtonia in your neighborhood, you can count on seedlings coming up across the neighborhood as birds eat the fruits and deposit the seeds. Not so with brahea armata.

[Axel Amsterdam]

https://goo.gl/maps/oPseiCUwTiD2

 

Thanks, here is the location of the largest? Armata in El Paso

 

 

Edited March 16, 2018 by Axel Amsterdam

[TexasColdHardyPalms]

You don't see them available because they are very difficult to field grow and transplant and the valley growers only like to grow quick "dig today & load/sell tomorrow" palms. We will be the only place that I know to field grow Armata. They must be root pruned over the period of several months like Bismarckia when large to survive.

[Axel Amsterdam]

https://goo.gl/maps/84wZwC7A63RbyGsc9

 

The El Paso Armata got a haircut in 2019. Still impressive and most probably intact as I understood El Paso wasn't hit as hard as other places in Texas.

Edited March 20, 2021 by Axel Amsterdam

[Collectorpalms]

El Paso missed out on this winter. They had their statistical hard freeze in 2011. 
I have a Brahea Armata and after a low of 4F and 7 days of at or below 32F it is not showing signs of life. Its trunk still feel heavy, so I have hope. Our freeze was much longer in duration than what El Paso or New Mexico ever experienced. If it recovers it will take 4 years to regrow it’s crown, they are that slow.

Edited March 20, 2021 by Collectorpalms

[Axel Amsterdam]

Yes, I have read all the info on the recent hard freeze. Very interesting to me as the pattern of multiple subzero days accompanied by snow is what a cold front looks like here too. I am still amazed at the hardiness of the filifera's out there. I have 2 smaller ones that were protected by a heating cable wrapped around the growing point and a tarp on top. Just like the armata's they easily survived.

A smaller unprotected filifera seems dead though.    

Edited March 20, 2021 by Axel Amsterdam

[Axel Amsterdam]

I performed surgery but the spear seemed to have sunk in the meristeem afterwards

Edited March 20, 2021 by Axel Amsterdam

[Collectorpalms]

Is that Damage from this current winter?
I may be trunk cutting some palms very soon unfortunately as a last resort.

[Axel Amsterdam]

yes, although the main difference is that our spring is rather chilly.  So it's not to be expected that filifera would start to grow already, but nevertheless I was hoping that the spear would stay more solid after cutting.  

[aegean]

Try cutting off all the mushy, rotting plant tissue.

The pictures show a "surgery" I have done some years ago with a Washingtonia filibusta (robusta dominant, coldest Temp was around 13 Fahrenheit, but many freeze nights in a row). I suppose what You can see inside is the heart of the palm tree. Although this Washingtonia (as well as 3 other W. fulibusta)  didn't come back I performed the same surgery with a young Phoenix canariensis and this did come back after some months !

I think the earlier you cut off all the damaged tissue, the better the chance for a recovery. 

 

[Axel Amsterdam]

Thanks, I will cut a bit more, although the mushy spear looks similar to your robusta. 

Edited March 21, 2021 by Axel Amsterdam

[Matt N- Dallas]

I have four b. armata in Dallas, TX z8b that were blasted last month during the Valentine’s week massacre.  They experienced a low temp of 3*F (-16C) + more than 150 hours below freezing.  All survived and are starting to push growth. 

[jwitt]

I remember reports of Armatas surviving in Sunland Park in 2011. That would be NM, although a suburb of El Paso.  Also some in Las Cruces that survived.  It is a very rare palm and not seen much. Even in palmy Phoenix they are uncommon.  Unless you visit in and out burger. 

 

Personally, I have tried two small plants(1 gal) but both died after single digits. I believe when they achieve some mass, they are much hardier.  I would like to try again. I just don't like to protect, and my experience says a smaller Armatas will need some protection here(central NM). Maybe not once they are larger.  My favorite palm. 

Leaf and plant lethality are nearly the same (10-12f) on small 1 gal plants in my experience.   And those temps are an average winter in my parts.

 

Here is a bit of a discussion including Armatas some time back.  https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2156113/pictures-of-some-of-the-old-timer-palms-in-el-paso

Edited March 22, 2021 by jwitt

[Axel Amsterdam]

On 3/20/2021 at 4:17 PM, Axel Amsterdam said:

https://goo.gl/maps/84wZwC7A63RbyGsc9

 

The El Paso Armata got a haircut in 2019. Still impressive and most probably intact as I understood El Paso wasn't hit as hard as other places in Texas.

According to streetview 2022 the large armata in El Paso was cut down. 

[ChrisA]

3 hours ago, Axel Amsterdam said:

According to streetview 2022 the large armata in El Paso was cut down. 

That's a bummer. I wonder if it did recover from 2021?  El Paso definitely missed out on the worst of the cold, they still got cold.  I was driving through west Texas just as the cold front was pushing westward.  The Davis Mtns and Alpine were draped in ice fog and temps in the upper 20's on that Saturday when all hell broke loose. By the time I got just a bit west of that mountain chain, closer to Van Horn, it was blue skies and almost 60 degrees! From what a nearby weather station shows, that area of El Paso only got down to about 15F on two consecutive nights, and zero days below freezing.  I'm sure it could've lived through that!

 

Would be such a shame if they'd cut down that palm down if it survived, or would've survived.  Such a Beauty it was!!

[SeanK]

First one I ever saw was a 5-footer in Cananea.  I wasn't even sure what it was. Later I saw larger ones in Phoenix. They are truly beautiful but a multi-generational investment.