RHAPIS CULTURE

[PalmGuyWC]

This thread is to consolidate the three threads on this board concerning Rhapis.

Jeff, my experience with blooming and seed setting of Rhapis goes back to when I lived in Florida, and that's been many years ago, so maybe my memory has become a little foggy.

I lived off and on at Paul Drummond's in Coral Gables Fla. for about 7 years, with two years in the army during that period.  Paul had several large clumps of Rhapis excelsa growing around his garden and they were all from the same clone and they were female. They would bloom each year, and they would grow "dummy" fruit because he didn't have any male plants. He finally located a gentelman with a male plant, so they exchanged plants. It seemed most of the Rhapis growing in Florida at that time were female plants, and males were hard to come by.

It took a few years until the male plants became established and started to bloom. Both clones were what I called the "Giant Florida Green." They were very robust plants.  Paul had mixed the male plants with the female plants, so that they would pollinate naturally. The first few years the females would produce a few viable seed, but not very many.

As with many palms, the male plants would start flowering a couple of weeks before the females, so Paul learned to cut off the male inflorescenses when they were dropping pollen and store them in a paper bag. (You could tell when the males had reached anthesis, just by sight, but they also gave off a sweet fragrance). When the female flowers reached anthesis, again detected by sight and smell, he would stick the female inflorecenses into the paper bag and shake it to disperse the pollen.

Using this method, many thousands of seeds would set, and sometimes he would get a 90% seed set. The flowering usually occured in Miami around June or July, and the fruit would usually mature in Feb or March the following year. I remember Paul sold seeds to many nurserymen in S. Fla. as they were in great demand at that time. The seeds were mature when the fruit turned a cream color, and the fruit were soft to the touch.

I'm running out of time.......continued...

Dick

[Ken Johnson]

I worked with Tedie Buhlers collection for years and never realy got to figure them out. I know she had laosensis but the rest were from so and so and such and such, never could remember all the sources. I know some were from Paul D.

Now I am seeing all kinds of names on the market not to mention the special ones from Japan. In the long run most of the lanscapers use excelsa and never heard of anything else. I guess if we could get lots of seed, cheap, there would be more of a market but from what I'm reading here only subtilus sets seed in a big way.

Some years ago the ornamental growers (interior palms) dumped lots of subtilus on the landscape market. Some field growers bought them up (very cheap) and grew the biggest dam things I've ever seen. Some field growers are still at it but this seems to be a small market.

[Jeff Searle]

So it sounds like Rhapis subtilis is the one specie that freely sets seed on it's own. I'm wondering if R. multifida or R. graclis, and R. humilis will be that easy. It's just that these last 3 have not been around that long. Oh, and I forgot about R. laoensis. These all do great in the landscape here.

    Not to change the subject, but's freakin hot outside today. It's got to be in the mid. 80's. We had to turn our air conditioner back on today.  The upside is the palms are still growing beautifully though.

Jeff

[PalmGuyWC]

If it were me.........and I had several kinds of Rhapis, I would keep the species or vearities seperated, and not mix them up together.  This way if you have both sexes of a species they are more likely to come true if they produce seeds. Otherwise it would be a mess of hybrids and you wouldn't know what you had, although some might like the hit and miss method. I think it would be more visually pleasing to keep them seperate too.

R. subtilis is fairly common in Florida now.  It requires more water than some of the other Rhapis and is tropical.  It is also quite veariable in apperance, some with a few wide blades and others with many thin blades...and some a mixture. Some look so different you would sware they were different species.

For landscape purposes, I still think the large Fla. Green is the nicest looking Rhapis, and it's care free once established and will take some neglect. It is also the Rhapis that is featured in the hedge near the front of Fairchild Gardens on the west side. It's also the most readily available in S. Fla.

R. multifiida is somewhat new on the scene, but I've seen beautiful clumps of it growing in S. Fla. It tends to clump, but I'm told if a sandy loose surface is used around it, that it will produce rhizomes which will allow the plant to spread. I'm also told it is as cold hardly as R. excelsa. It's somewhat more delicate to wind. It is also quite veariable, some with wider leaf blades than others.

More later about the green Japanese clones.....

Dick

[PalmGuyWC]

Drat!!!  I just lost all my text on Japanese clones.........and I've expended all my brain cells for one day. Two more eggnogs and I won't care. Merry Christmas everyone.

Dick

[mnorell]

Both Rhapis excelsa and multifida seem to grow about equally well here in my Natchez garden. Mostly grown on a northish exposure in mostly shade, but receiving a certain amount of glancing sun. My small (6" tall) multifida, planted in the ground under a deciduous Lagerstroemia, went through 22.8F and 25.9F episodes last winter without flinching, including a very long nasty advective event that just about (temporarily) defoliated otherwise hardy Gardenia 'Veitchii' nearby. All I can say is that one clump of excelsa I have that gets morning sun often gets a little burn in the low 20s during an extended freeze, but by June it has produced so many new leaves that the damage becomes relatively unnoticeable. The excelsas in particular seem to love heat and humidity. They look good in southern California as well, but here they seem to have a certain 'perk' due to something, perhaps humidity, perhaps it's the 50"+ of natural rainwater a year...Multifida seems to pick up speed fall and spring if that's a clue. I don't pamper these at all, really don't even water them unless we go a month without rain in the summer. Along with Cham. radicalis and Phoenix acaulis, these are my stalwart, almost bulletproof, tropical-looking beauties, workhorses of the landscape!

[PalmGuyWC]

Michael,

It's interesting you say that your R. multifida pick up speed in the the spring and fall. Mine, which are growing in containers, were damaged in a heat wave two years ago. (+105F) (+40C) The emerging spears were cooked in the heat, and they still haven't fully recovered. I'm thinking R. multifida likes cooler temps., or at least will not tollerate extream heat, and the same goes for R. humilis. The R. humilis I see growing in Calif. look much more robust than the ones in S. Florida.

Most of the "dwarf" Japanese green cultivars that I've seen growing in Florida seem to loose their character after 2 or 3 years in their perfect growing conditions. They tend to grow to fast and become stretched out, or leggy. Soon, they all look alike and even an expert would have trouble trying to identify them.

To maintain their distinctive characteristics, the dwarfs must be grown in pots and have their roots restricted, be grown in special mediums, and not be over fertilized.

I'd be interested to hear from those growing the "dwarfs" in tropical climates what your experiences have been.

Dick

[mppalms]

Happy holidays to all!

My little 2-foot R. multifida also seems to grow better in cooler times during summer or during the spring/fall.  I've seen no issues with hardiness thus far, but no real test either.

Jason

[eastern.nurseries]

Dick , what is it that you where about to say?

[PalmGuyWC]

Jon,

I'm not sure what your question means? I think I had said it all.

Dick

[eastern.nurseries]

Dick, I was hoping for ' more later about the Japanese clones'.

[PalmGuyWC]

Jon,

Guess I should have explained. Because the climate is so nice in S. Florida, most people don't want to bother growing the dwarf rhapis in containers, and using the cultural practices that are required to grow the dwarfs as they are in Japan. So, they put them in the ground, and with such nice growing conditions, and with plenty of room for the roots to spread, many of the palms lose their "dwarfness" and they grow larger. They become stretched out and lose their character.

I have a friend in Miami who I gave R. Kodaruma, Koban, Taiheiden, and Daikokuten and he planted them in his garden. Soon, after a few years, they had lost most of their distinctive characteristics and they all looked almost alike. R. Kodaruma, one of the smallest of the Japanese dwarfs, grew fronds twice the size of the ones I grow in California. The Taiheden which has a heavy textured, leathery frond, lost most of the heavy texture and looked like almost any other green Rhapis.

I'm not saying they lost all of their distinctive chartacteristics, but they became so subtle that it was hard to tell them apart. My friend, who I gave the Rhapis too, said they all looked alike to him.

Jon, this is only from my limited experiences. What are your thoughts?

Dick

[eastern.nurseries]

Dick,

I tend to agree with you. Once they are in the ground most varieties mature to a common leaf shape. This however was not their intended purpose. The ' koten engi' or individual exhibition of the juvenile morphology is the attraction and this is best maintained by pot culture that limits the potential of the root system.

[PalmGuyWC]

Whew, Jon,

I was hoping I got it right.  Thanks for verifying.

Dick

[eastern.nurseries]

Dick, I've been trying to sort out the sex of these varieties so far Daikokuten has all been male, Koban all male, Kodaruma all female and produces the largest seed, Aikokuden seems to be hermaphrodite and Zuikonishiki, male, female and maybe hermy, how is that possible if it all comes from the one selection? I don't think it does. Have you any observations of sex in your Rhapis? If you were to plant a seed orchard which varieties would you select for commercial seed production?

[chris.oz]

I dont bother much with the miniatures,  I just use R. humilis as a screen to block out the neighbours.

It grows fast and tall here.

[PalmGuyWC]

Jon,

My climate is such that my Rhapis are not grown under optimum conditions. Because of my clool nights, winter and summer, the Rhapis don't know what season it is, and they may bloom at anytime, but mostly, not at all. My R. humilis planted outside blooms almost every summer, but there is never a heavy production of pollen.

My favorite Japanese cultivar is R. Taiheiden, followed closely with Koban, Mangetsu, and Daikokuten and of course there is kodaruma, which seems to the be most dwarf of the Excelsias.

Even a novice can spot the difference of R. Taiheiden with its thick leathery foliage, and wide leaf blades. It's somewhat slow, but is a heavy producer of new pups, and it's easy to divide.

For me, at least, R. Koban is the most prolific, and pups like crazy, and it seems to retain it's juvinile form with few and wide leaf blades longer than the others.

R. Mangetsu is also very nice, but very slow growing for me, but I like the way the fronds make a nice circle, almost like a full moon, as the Japanese describe it. It also has a fairly heavy texture. The rhizomes tend to circle the pot in the soil, and grow down, so I'm constantly repotting them and forcing the rhizomes towards the surface. I have no R. Mangetsu planted in the ground, but I expect with their long running rhizomes they would spread pretty fast, and the same for R. Daikokuten.

I have a few other green Rhapis, all very destinctive, but I don't know what they are, so I give them pet names. It would be very hard for me to pick out a favorite, because I love them all.

Unfortunately, I think Rhapis culture is a lost cause, except with the Japanese, and a few diehards like ourselves. Growing dwarf Rhapis to profection is an art form and it takes a lot of patience and experience to grow perfect plants. I cring when I see a beautiful variegated Rhapis planted in the ground, because that ain't the way it's done, but each to his own.

Jon, as far as a seed orchard is concerned, I would plant whatever is the most prolific growing for you and flowers regularly, and go from there.

Dick