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They sent me a picture of this one which I think they did for comparison. The only thing I worry about in getting a single head plant is that from the only examples of locally grown Hercules that I’ve seen in person are the ones in the shopping center by Cortaro rd and I-10. They were put in there as very small specimen and they all seem to have started branching out at around 9-12 ft. There’s about 7-8 of them an neither branched out sooner. I’m wondering if maybe it was that particular batch? Maybe how they were watered? Soil? Tucson weather? I know getting a branched out young one might come with some problems as well like possibility of branch splitting or monsoon winds knocking it over.

Fausto now a Cat #2 and headed west, Genevieve now on the board, and expected to become the basin's first significant hurricane of the year ..possibly reaching Cat 4 status per current forecast thoughts. As for Fausto, while it is supposed to diminish to Tropical Storm status in the next couple days, track takes it to somewhere near / in the Hawaiian Islands sometime this week.. Current, Key message from the Hurricane center regarding what to watch for out there.. It and Genevieve will continue to send rounds of 4 -7' swell to -at least- Southern CA beaches this week. On another note, Blob of activity on the T.C. Sat. view this morning in the south central Gulf ( of CA ) = what remains of Bertha. Moisture from it will need to be watched closely as the potential exists that some of it rotates northward toward Southern CA over the next couple days. Result would be a round of mainly dry thunderstorm activity if that occurs. Some moisture from it being drawn into an inverted trough currently over west central New Mexico / far eastern AZ may be what helps break the weekend heatwave here.

Using your last image, if the specimen you were looking to acquire is that one specifically.... Red = most likely would be the dominant growth point / direction it heads in.. Orange, ..potential co -dominant, future trunk. Other growths on that plant could fill out, or snuff themselves out eventually as a majority of energy for growth is directed to the dominant and / or co - dominant portions of the plant. Don't ever think i've seen a Hurc. where the trunk stayed short n' fat.. These things like to go up, one way or another. Trunk itself will fatten up as the plant itself heads sky ward, esp. if it gets plenty of water during the warmer months ...Though avoid applying any during portions of the summer when night time temps exceed 82F. Like all C.A.M. plants, watering them when night time temps exceed that threshold = plants suffocate and turn into piles of hot stinky goo. Regardless, that one isn't a bad specimen to start off with at all, but my eye points me toward some of the others in the background in the shot, esp. if offered at the same / a similarly reasonable price point. Assuming you've checked all the local specialty nurseries down there for reasonably priced specimens?

True; babypalms is not responsive, nor very polite. He is my last option. He has decent size palms at good prices

Ha Tracy……that breakfast mix ought to keep you regular. (or a visit to the ER) Tim

I’ve been looking for a younger Hercules that already has multi head/branched. Ideally I would love one that’s going to branch out around 5-7 ft but I’m not willing to pay the money for one that size. I found this guy for sale from an online shop and was wondering if those of you with more knowledge could tell me if this is a good plant or not? Will that main trunk stay small with the other branches growing at their own rate/direction? Will the main trunk grow as well or just beef up to hold the weight? Thanks ahead of time for any insights.

I am SO SAD these pictures in the original post are no longer visible 😭 any chance you can share again please?!

Acrocomia totai…. Where could i possibly find one ??

WoW! Those are every where in your area. I had one years ago. I lost it to some pink rot. WAS VERY BUMMED as I got it from Louie Hooper. A great palm to have!

Good advice from Darold. I would not use any heat, these pop up as volunteer seedlings here, room temperature is fine. Never let the seedlings dry out!

Whaaaaat!? 😍

Butch, would love to hear more about your time there. The history of these grounds is vast. We stay at the inn a The PResidio which was the officers quarters at one time. I am sure y9ou are aware of it. 1968 in SF must have been a heck of a time! Thank you for sharing.

I got a lot of my royals from another member as seedlings they would just pull them up and send them to me so it is possible that they are not all the same variety!!! I also have a lot of other palms that turned out not to be Royals!!!

I was stationed at the Presidio, and lived in those red barracks in 1968… There were so many of those spectacular views of the fog shrouded Golden Gate Bridge to see there… I only wished that I had had a camera at the time… Butch

A little goes a long way, less is best. A good rich well draining soil medium is another good way to feed palms, get your soil right from the start and a lot of your nutrient deficiency problems are less of a problem. Also overwater will cause a lot nutrient problems, locking up your soil. This is critical to container growing. If in the ground good rich healthy mulch will greatly help, and animal manure.

New to the palm world so this might be ignorant of me to say but Fairchild botanical garden has a Lodoicea maldivica “Coco de mer” they have stated it to be doing well and growing more lush then before. results through the reverse osmosis water process they use.

I do use the regular osmocote a lot for all my other plants. The higher phosphorus isn't an issue?

Had the coldest morning in 3 years today. -1.2C at a weather station about a km away. White lawn, crunchy ice in the bird bath. The forecast was 4C so was expecting a 0C. Albany got down to 2C. On Thursday night I’d put layers of frost cloth over parts of my nursery area just in case we went below zero. I was busy all Friday and went out this morning to check how the frost cloth had worked and to my horror, the previous days wind had blown it all over the place and it had all come undone and it did nothing. I was worried about my Pritchardia schattaueri so covered them. Well they had ice on them. Damage always shows up later but they don’t look any different so maybe they can handle frost. It was amazing though to check out what got frozen and what didn’t. You can really see how well the canopy protects things. Canopy is your biggest security from frost. Water bodies like lakes are not as much of a protection from a radiative freeze. Choose canopy all the time for frost protection. Under canopy everything was snug and dry. The next few days will show up any damage but today everything looked ok. Such is the issue with growing palms in an area that sometimes turns into an ice box, where the crisper in your fridge is actually warmer than your garden.

Liquid seaweed extract, fish emulsion, osmocote or nutricote slow release. Chicken pellets. There are so many different brands of fertiliser out there on the market. What is available in Australia may not be available in other countries. It depends on if you want organic or synthetic fertiliser.

I am curious if community members would share their preference for the type of fertilizer they use on their palms. I have been using Carl Pool for a few years with very nice results, but I see so many different palm specific products out there and just wanted to get some crowd-sourced input on what people think is the best. Share your thoughts!

After over a year of waiting, some Butia lallemantii is showing activity!

How about some pictures of these palms 13 years later?

Iam lucky enough to live near the habitat of linospadix monostachya. They make a fantastic garden palm, predictable size and growing patterns. They flourish with good water, cool tolerant wet deep shade understory is there perfect habitat. Somewhat similar growth habit to lytocarum weddlianum and similar growing conditions being a little dry tolerant once established. They look amazing in habitat by the hundreds covering the forest floor under the canopy.

About the only chamaedorea hybridisation in my garden has been with male chamaedorea adscenden pollen, accidentally cross contamination with chamaedorea genoformis. This happened when I was hand pollinating my adscendens. As I only have female genoformis in my garden and I get seeds from them know and then. So something has jumped the fence and I suspect adscendens. The resulting seedlings are a much more wider looking genoformis leaf.