Chamaedorea tepejilote

[Jonathan]

Hi all,

I had some C. tepejilote plants that were getting all wobbly on their shanks - so decided to try a method of forcing some stilt roots that I'd read about in a PACSOA magazine article.

I cut up some 90 X 200mm plastic pots and placed them around the base of the trunk, filled with damp sphagnum moss.

A few months later....Bobs your Aunts husband....stilt roots!

You'll notice the string tying all the plants together - that shows how unstable they had become through years of neglect. I hope that when the new roots hit the potting mix these palms will really take off.

C. tepejilote with pants on....

....closer....

....whats in there?....

[Jonathan]

.....stilt roots!

There were 8 or 9 new roots on this plant.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Tassie_Troy1971]

They certainly look good in the flesh ! how cold hardy are they reported to be ?

[John in Andalucia]

That's invaluable info, Jonathan. Thanks for sharing.

[Walter John]

Superb Jonathan, I was tipped off on that one by Jason of WA but I never got round to it, way to go.

[Jonathan]

Thanks, it was a very useful experiment as far as my C. tepejilote are concerned.

I'll post some more shots in a few months to see how they developed.

The trunks at ground level on all of them had been slowly drying and withering for a few years, till most of them were only holding on by one or two roots.

I'd noticed the roots trying to break out on the trunk but the lack of humidity always stopped them growing.

Do palms that grow stilt roots generally tend to replace their seedling roots as they get older? I've seen a few photos of maybe a Clinostigma spp.(?) that looked as though you could walk right under the trunk. Very cool!

Troy - I don't know how much cold C. tepejilote can take - but I used to keep the plants in the photos outside in Newtown (Tasmania) under 50% shadecloth. They never missed a beat. But they never saw any direct frost either.

I think they are fine for Hobart under canopy, which they prefer anyway. I intend to put mine back outside as soon as I can conjure up a windless microclimate for them. South Arm is a bit rugged for them at present!

Cheers,

Jonathan

[chris.oz]

The trunks at ground level on all of them had been slowly drying and withering for a few years, till most of them were only holding on by one or two roots.

I'd noticed the roots trying to break out on the trunk but the lack of humidity always stopped them growing.

Cheers,

Jonathan

Inspirational. They are nice robust looking plants.

I think I will pile up some leaf litter around the base of mine to see if I can encourage the stilt roots in the garden.

[MattyB]

Interesting technique, thanks for sharing. I had the same problem and here's what I did: Pull them out of the pots, cut the bottom half of the rootball off and repot them lower, raising the soil level around the trunk. The "stilt" roots will now form under the soil line and rejuvenate the palm that way. It did not mind the cutting of the roots. Chamaedoreas are tough.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Good technique Jonathan! I remember reading that same article, either in the journal or online somewhere... Wasn't the author doing this with Socratea?

Maybe I can do this with my top heavy Socratea seedlings?

[Jonathan]

William,

yes it was Socratea, wasn't it? I havn't been able to find the article since I took the photos.

But I'm sure thats right - and he mentioned C. tepejilote as a side note.

I would definately try it with your Socratea plants.

One thing I found that worked well was to tie the cut pots together with cheap coir string. This stuff gets weaker as it gets older and wet, so when the roots are ready they simply push the pots open and break the string.

Chris - thats a very good idea (the leaf thing), let us know if it works.

Good luck,

Jonathan

[www.dadluvsu.com]

Ok, I've been diggin around (curiosity wouldn't let me sit idly in front of the TV!)... Palms and Cycads issue 98, page 19

Was your sphagnum moss constantly wet? Did you have fungus troubles or anything weird?

[Jonathan]

Issue 98...thanks.

The sphagnum dried out between watering, but only for a day maybe.

No trouble with fungus - but - and its a very big but - our climate is very dry, and the greenhouse doors are always open at both ends - so it has constant ventilation.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[SubTropicRay]

I do something similar with Physokentia insolita, not to promote new stilt roots, but to keep the palm alive. Physokentia requires that the aerial roots constantly have a high level of humidity. Before I started doing this, our drier winters would cause this palm to lose more leaves than it could generate. It would lose 2 leaves for every new leaf it would put out. Once the roots were encircled by oak leaves, sphagnum moss and other organic matter, the palm made a huge turnaround. This process has yet however, to induce new stilt root formation.

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

Just wondering if there are any "update" photos on the stilt roots for these guys. Would love to see them now!

[Jonathan]

Just wondering if there are any "update" photos on the stilt roots for these guys. Would love to see them now!

Hi Ken,

I'd forgotten about this thread. I'll try to remember to take some photo's in the next few days, so keep an eye out.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[tjwalters]

I never gave mine any special treatment...they just did it on their own...

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

Thanks Jonathan!

Tom, those look awesome! Thanks for sharing! I can't wait until mine finally gets a little size to it.

There is a pic of my little one on palmtalk over here

[Jonathan]

As promised, some updated shots of the stilt root development.

The root development has been pretty good on most of the palms given the sphagnum treatment.

Unfortunately a major spidermite infestation knocked all my Chams around pretty badly last summer, so the crown development has been a fizzer.

Anyway, here is a shot of some well developed adventitious roots. This palm now has seven or eight new roots as thick as a finger growing into the potting soil, a huge improvement on its earlier root system, if you look carefully you can see the spindley little original roots in the very centre:

Here is another one, where the sphagnum filled pot got dislodged early on, and I never got round to putting it back on again - this is what all the others looked like before:

This is further up the trunk on the one from the last shot - its a girl. Lack of roots doesn't always equal lack of fruits!

Here is one that is just plain weird:

All in all I'd reccomend this technique to build a bigger, more robust root system on Chamaedoreas, but I would suggest potting them into a wide diameter pot, as some of my tepejilotes poked roots out at nearly right angles and ended up outside the rim of the pot - ok when they finally go in the ground - useless for now.

Tom - Maryland must have a nice humid summer! It's way too dry here for the roots to develop like that naturally, another great example of how palm growth varies in different climates.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[peachy]

Mine are all in the ground now but one started getting little stilts then snapped off. I replanted it anyhow and it eventually came good again. Been about 12 months now and its doing fine. As you say, tough little beasties. BTW mine have survived well below freezing and a nasty frost event although under a light canopy.

Peachy

[Jonathan]

Thats encouraging news Peachy.

Cold resistance is a definate bonus in my part of the world!

Cheers,

Jonathan

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

Thanks for the updated photos Jonathan! Looking good there! I live not too far from where TJ lives (in old town Alexandria, VA, about 7 minutes from the Washington Monument) and I can attest we usually have extremely HUMID, and usually very hot summers. So that technique would probably work great here I would think. Usually we see on average about 25 days or so with Temps of 90+, but this summer so far its been 51. (record is 67) It is almost ALWAYS very humind June thru Oct here, with dewpoints often running in the upper 60s to mid 70s.

[Tyrone]

Mine don't even care about our winters. They're all under canopy of course and they kept chugging through our string of cold below 5C nights for weeks on end. A very satisfying Chamie to grow. I've got literally hundreds of these around the place, and now they're fruiting I'll have tonnes more. None of mine have gone stilt rooty though. Gotta keep those misters going in summer then.

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

Mine don't even care about our winters. They're all under canopy of course and they kept chugging through our string of cold below 5C nights for weeks on end. A very satisfying Chamie to grow. I've got literally hundreds of these around the place, and now they're fruiting I'll have tonnes more. None of mine have gone stilt rooty though. Gotta keep those misters going in summer then.

Oooh.... pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

[tjwalters]

Jonathan,

Ken nailed it - very hot, humid summers here. Didn't notice you were posting from CA - that would certainly explain the difference.

[Jonathan]

Jonathan,

Ken nailed it - very hot, humid summers here. Didn't notice you were posting from CA - that would certainly explain the difference.

Tom,

I'm not posting from CA, I'm posting from TAS, as in Tasmania (Australia)!

Similar climate to San Francisco though.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[peachy]

Tasmania is in Australia ??? I always thought it was off the San Jose turnpike...or did you kangaroo riders down under name a place after the real tasmania in the US ? Are you sure that TAS ain't short for Tallahassee ? Well I guess one day our President will order tasmania to be bombed and then we will know for sure where it be situated.

Georgia Peach

[tjwalters]

Jonathan,

Ken nailed it - very hot, humid summers here. Didn't notice you were posting from CA - that would certainly explain the difference.

Tom,

I'm not posting from CA, I'm posting from TAS, as in Tasmania (Australia)!

Similar climate to San Francisco though.

Cheers,

Jonathan

LOL! - dunno where I got CA from. I need a vacation!

[tjwalters]

Tasmania is in Australia ??? I always thought it was off the San Jose turnpike...or did you kangaroo riders down under name a place after the real tasmania in the US ? Are you sure that TAS ain't short for Tallahassee ? Well I guess one day our President will order tasmania to be bombed and then we will know for sure where it be situated.

Georgia Peach