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Palmetto Genetics


NC_Palms

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Two sabal palmettos (presumably from Florida) planted at the same exact time. One made it through the past winter and is flourishing, while the other one was fried. 

 

Chocowinity, North Carolina 06/21/18

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Edited by NC_Palms
  • Upvote 3

Zone 8a/8b Greenville, NC 

Zone 9a/9b Bluffton, SC

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They are from FL. And they look like they were planted in the last year or so. Growers dig up large ones from habitat or areas of construction or road work. They are dug leaving a minimal rootball (Sabals regrow new root systems anyway), all fronds but the spear are chopped off. When an order comes in they are trucked to the planting site and put in the ground. It's done here all over and a significant % of palms do not survive the procedure, probably for myriad reasons. Now ship those FL palms 700-800 miles north and top off their ordeal with a harsh, cold winter while they are trying to establish themselves and 50% mortality makes sense.

  • Upvote 3

Meg

Palms of Victory I shall wear

Cape Coral (It's Just Paradise)
Florida
Zone 10A on the Isabelle Canal
Elevation: 15 feet

I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.

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1 hour ago, PalmatierMeg said:

They are from FL. And they look like they were planted in the last year or so. Growers dig up large ones from habitat or areas of construction or road work. They are dug leaving a minimal rootball (Sabals regrow new root systems anyway), all fronds but the spear are chopped off. When an order comes in they are trucked to the planting site and put in the ground. It's done here all over and a significant % of palms do not survive the procedure, probably for myriad reasons. Now ship those FL palms 700-800 miles north and top off their ordeal with a harsh, cold winter while they are trying to establish themselves and 50% mortality makes sense.

In addition to 100% agreement with Meg, also throw in the basket that sabal palmetto genetics are extremely variable as you mentioned in the title of the thread.  You can get them with boots, without boots, thick, skinny, etc.  When you grow them from seed, it's pot luck.  If you harvest a mature specimen, you know what you got.

Me personally, I prefer to grow from seed and spin the wheel.

  • Upvote 1

Lakeland, FL

USDA Zone 1990: 9a  2012: 9b  2023: 10a | Sunset Zone: 26 | Record Low: 20F/-6.67C (Jan. 1985, Dec.1962) | Record Low USDA Zone: 9a

30-Year Avg. Low: 30F | 30-year Min: 24F

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Coming from a Nurseryman and Grower Regenerated sabals are the only way to go. The DOT is even specking them on most of there new projects. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 6/23/2018, 10:51:03, PalmatierMeg said:

They are from FL. And they look like they were planted in the last year or so. Growers dig up large ones from habitat or areas of construction or road work. They are dug leaving a minimal rootball (Sabals regrow new root systems anyway), all fronds but the spear are chopped off. When an order comes in they are trucked to the planting site and put in the ground. It's done here all over and a significant % of palms do not survive the procedure, probably for myriad reasons. Now ship those FL palms 700-800 miles north and top off their ordeal with a harsh, cold winter while they are trying to establish themselves and 50% mortality makes sense.

I do not know why we can't just use NC sourced palmettos. Maybe too expensive? 

Zone 8a/8b Greenville, NC 

Zone 9a/9b Bluffton, SC

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11 hours ago, NC_Palms said:

I do not know why we can't just use NC sourced palmettos. Maybe too expensive? 

Florida has a lot more native palms that they can dig up and sell. If someone were to start growing a bunch by seed (from North Carolina) to sell it would take years for them to be considered worthy to sell. It does sound like a good idea though, and I know that whoever were to do that could probably market better by showing people how their palmettos are more cold tolerant than the Florida ones. Bald Head Island palmettos are the best for North Carolina. So I am assuming that if someone starts selling ones from N.C. those would be the ones. Here is someone who sells N.C. native palms. Maybe he sells them. http://www.garysnursery.com

PalmTreeDude

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11 hours ago, NC_Palms said:

I do not know why we can't just use NC sourced palmettos. Maybe too expensive? 

Probably too rare. NC doesn't have nearly as many as FL. Ripping them out of the ground for commerce would decimate the state's population of wild palmettos. I and many other people question the practice and ethics of doing that in FL except in the case of land development or road improvements. Sabal palmetto is the state tree and I'm surprised the state doesn't have a law about taking of wild palmettos from habitat.

Meg

Palms of Victory I shall wear

Cape Coral (It's Just Paradise)
Florida
Zone 10A on the Isabelle Canal
Elevation: 15 feet

I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.

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