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I'd hoped to wait until next week for the final update of the month but, unfortunately, .... Contained within the bi -weekly case map updates, we have our first NWS detection on the board for Sonora, with a continued rise in cases for Sinaloa, and another case popping up just south of El Paso. Like a majority of cases thus far in this surge, detection in Sonora was made in Cattle. Ciudad Juarez case, detected in a dog, is a bit more concerning since, if you look at recent cases from areas in Mexico where NWS cases are high / continuing to rise, dogs seem to be rising in the rankings, placing 3rd or 4th behind livestock animals like Cattle, Sheep, and Goats. This development leaves the Baja peninsula as the only NWS free region of the country. As mentioned in the past, while the weather here, ...and to our south in much of Sonora thru the summer.... has been a pretty formidable barrier against rapid dispersal / widespread establishment, due to NWS's aversion not handling 110+ deg heat and dryness too well / Larvae being killed by much hotter ground temps as they complete development, now that we are headed into autumn, while it may stay warm, general direction temps will head is lower, which opens up a favorable dispersal / establishment window before winter arrives. Add to this the high ikelyhood of wetter than average precip conditions suggested for both September and October across the region ..and the likely hood of an an El Nino enhanced active Eastern Pacific this fall and.... Warm ..but not too hot to kill, + wetter conditions = ..... ....Hate to say it, but, if cases in Sonora end up surging over the coming weeks, as they have in most areas in Mexico after NWS settles in, i won't be shocked to see detections creep closer to the borderlands ..if not pop up somewhere down there, on the AZ side, by mid October. Same suggested pattern will extend east into west TX / southern New Mexico over the next two months, so those areas may be where cases stemming from Juarez / Chihuahua could turn up out there. Magenta = Mexico states where total cases are closing in on 1K Related article: https://www.drovers.com/news/screwworm-sonora-will-first-case-halt-scheduled-aug-24-border-reopening Will be interesting if this development puts the breaks on the reopening of cattle movement between Sonora, Chihuahua and AZ / New Mexico scheduled for ....next Monday. Beyond anything Beef / livestock - related, now that NWS appears to have reached ...very remote, and hard to access areas along the northwestern face of the Sierra Madre Occidental, if NWS does gets itself established in some of these deep and warm canyons down there, it will be much more of a challenge to completely eradicate.

I germinated a batch of these Jan 2026, coming on strong now in their second summer. I've got a couple extra, free to any local palm gardeners willing to pick up or meetup in the Ft Myers area. I have other misc seedlings around too, feel free to message if you're local I'd like to find good homes for them.

Could you copy Dowe’s description mate? I’ve seen references to it online but not in full detail. I’m mainly interested in whether it mentions the presence of ramenta on the abaxial surface of the leaflets (I couldn’t tell from your pics but it should be pretty clear at the size of your plants if you can get photos of the underside of leaflets) and the fruit and seed size. I’d probably defer to those with more experience, but just my 2 cents: Archontophoenix have been cultivated for generations now, particularly A cunninghamiana and A alexandrae. Although there’s clear evidence that they can hybridise (Albang and reverse and some purpurea hybrids on this forum), my experience is that seed from a specimen in a garden with other Archontophoenix sp will generally stay true to the mother. There are also areas of overlap with the native habitat range of A cunninghamiana and A alexandrae yet natural hybrids are extremely uncommon from what I know. I’d guess Archontophoenix sp are nothing like Chrysalidocarpus sp which almost seem to act functionally dioecious when multiple species exist in the same garden. I’m not sure the risk is huge in Richard’s case for example, but it is something that’s good to be aware of.

Stanhopea orchid flowering ( not sure of the species ) I have inherited a few specimen's from my father and I'm not really an orchid person per se, so I'll see how I go with them...

thanks for your quick reply. I appreciate. I had more. From seed. Now down to 2. Both have the same problem. So I do think there is a systematic issue. But who knows. In general, I am very space limited. So, too many specimen of one species is not an option. In fact I noticed that with only very few specimen, I tend to put more attention to them. All the best, Matti

Hello @Cherry been reading on responses from some of the experts here, great question! I was wondering how the process was for you and any tips/pointers for a newbie also following the same but in a different state? @Harry’s Palms and @happypalms thanks for the repotting tips! I perhaps could use some help with the seaweed extract topic and products in states, could not come up with much while researching for it. The idea of using an old wooden barrel or square homemade wooden containers is fantastic! Having seen them outdoors in California and Florida, they are always beautiful but I didn't think of indoors use; obviously would need to be smaller for a 5G or the next size up pot. If you or others who have palms indoors could share ideas where to locate or create such barrels and pictures of what Palm Pots people use indoors that would be fantastic for choices to research! I have had a fancy expensive looking plastic pot picked up way before I could the Palm but I am not 100% convinced that it is the best choice there could be for my centerpiece Kentia.

Thank you for the responses and suggestions, really appreciate it and look forward to a great palm! Appreciate the buy pointers as well and I will try to make it to the next Central Florida Palm Society meeting, thanks! Given the differences of light/humidity in coming from a nursery - indoors with not as bright as it may be used to plus the humidity changes, I am leaning towards not repotting and letting it adjust before I repot in Spring/Summer. From what I have been reading, they do not like root disturbance much so that compounded my idea but correct me if wrong. I'm sure it will be in a decent soil it has been growing in and hopefully can continue as-is while I learn how to best do that and routine care. I aim to keep humidity a little higher indoors using a spray or a humidifier as some suggested. I've had my other houseplants vacation outdoors at times for a bit of shower or repotting, flushing the salts out. After one brought in an unwanted hitchhiker and multiplied quickly indoors, the quarantine and treatment process was not pleasant for me and the other plants as well. I tend not to do that much anymore or with care in my neck of the woods and with gardens around carrying lots of insect/plant diversity - good and bad.

Yeah, it is strange that such a unique variety has been overlooked by growers for so long, maybe just a question of luck...most people who go to Eungella turn left at the top of the hill towards Broken River, rather than right to Mt Dalrymple, so I guess it’s just been off the radar. We went to Paluma about 20 years ago, but there were some people lost in the bush up there, helicopters and police buzzing round which flipped the kids out, so we didn't stick around long. The Laccospadix though is everywhere up there, fantastic. Might leave Mt Elliott to people more committed than me by the sounds of it!

Greetings from the land of down under, where kangaroos roam and the sky is blue. When you repot you can carefully hose some of the old soil away, when you repot just drop the container gently and new soil into the potting bench to get the new soil in between the roots. Beccariophoenix are are hungry palm, I have a few in tubes and they are on the light green side, so long as you don’t have leaves with dry edges or spots and rather ratty looking nutrient deficient leaves. A bit of green colour lacking is not a major issue for my style of growing. I take it the end resulting palm will be planted in the ground and then it should get on with life with no problems. When you have a lot of palms you will notice some are better than others with each one requiring different needs. One trick I do is if I have the opportunity to purchase a wanted palm I try to buy 2 or more, this way if one is growing really good and the other one isn’t then you have a chance to see that difference. Oh ok one is great the other isn’t so what’s going on you say, both the exact same soil and cultivation techniques. What’s going on at least this way you can get a better picture and become a better grower. But just one pslm it’s difficult to judge what’s going on. Good luck !

Again my words probably weren’t chosen right. I don’t know how this palm was overlooked and never entered widespread cultivation is what I should have said. However what you’ve said Richard is quite correct. If you live in an area where Archontophoenix are wild and you grow a number of non native Archontophoenix in your garden, there is an increased risk of hybridisation and contamination of the wild environment.

Interesting it’s said it escaped from cultivation, thuu oy a iscthe one fear I have with any of my archontophoenix species, cross contamination with the local population of Bangalows in my area sooner or later. With it known in my area that archontophoenix have moved habitat from birds ( blueberry's farms attracting birds) expanding their habitat. So what will happen in the years to come when my archontophoenix species set seeds and are dispersed throughout the mountains and valleys. For sure cross pollination is going to happen and the local gene pool will be split up. So it’s a dilemma that needs to be addressed, so do I cut down my Alexander and purpurea, myolensis, tuckeri, it’s a mixed bag of lollies out there!

San Diego Palm Protection is representing the owners of the historic Alfred Beach House in Old Escondido to place a collection of mature palms and cycads with qualified collectors, nurseries, landscape projects or institutions. The specimens may be considered individually, in selected groups or as a complete package. Collection includes: - Approximately four Canary Island date palms, ranging from container/approximately 35-gallon scale through roughly 6, 8 and 10 feet of clear trunk. The CIDPs are healthy in appearance and maintained under an active preventive treatment program. - One distinctive mature multi-trunk Mediterranean fan palm. - Two large established multi-trunk cycads/sagos, including one mature specimen appearing consistent with Cycas thouarsii, subject to buyer confirmation. Mature specimens of this scale and architectural form are rarely offered and difficult to replace. - Three pygmy date palm offerings, including one grouped planting. The attached collection package contains current photographs and additional details. Access review, measurements and coordinated site inspections are available for serious buyers. CAVEAT EMPTOR: All specimens are offered AS-IS, WHERE-IS. No warranty is made regarding species identification, present or future condition, survival, transplant success or fitness for a particular destination. Our priority is to find appropriate new settings for these established specimens rather than see them lost during future property work. Serious inquiries and offers are welcome. John Krause San Diego Palm Protection (262) 492-3135 Uploading Attachment... Uploading Attachment... Uploading Attachment...

Hi there, thank you for your insights! I agree, I will avoid to start mixing my own fertilizer. Its just that my alfredii need some solution. The mangan or iron doesnt get into the plant in sufficient volumes. I have tried various levels of sun / light. Would you change the soil when repotting? Generally I always hear that people just add soil with the next bigger pot. I do see that many different species have different needs. But on the other hand, most palms seem to be fine with the "usual" special palm mix. I do find it logical, that rainforest understory palms get a significant amount of their nutrients via the water dripping from the big trees. So, I want to try this with my Kerriodoxa, Chamaedorea, Joey, and so on. In very low dosis of course. Many greetings to down under, Matti

Hi Tom, thanks a lot for your thourough info. Most appreciated. While most of some additional 30 species of all sorts of palm trees grow pretty well here, these alfredii give me a headache. They grow these very bright fronds for some more than a year already. Unless its heat wave I let the soil dry out. They are in more than partial shade. I agree: I rather avoid playing with adding single elements. I am using the RPS fertilizer for two years already. My tab water is not very hard. But it seems that it makes the soil alkaline (lime build-up). I read that Madagascar has rather acidic soils. Some ai also assumed that this is a problem for alfredii in the whole Mediterranean. In short: I will try to do foliar feeding with a low level of the RPS fertilizer. And see whether this is getting me anywhere. Greetings, Matti

Good to know about temperatures

Here is a pic of my 5 plants . It will be at least a year before they can be planted , maybe longer . They are just starting to send their second leaf . Harry If you look , they have that gloss to the leaf , much like my C. Lanceolatus.

This tree is dying completely but I would like to note think about that this minute. Lipstick palms can do it a majority of the year on the east fringes of the coast provided it has heated water and is in a protected spot but it’s the drops down to 5 and two you have to watch particularly July and August. Due to cyrtostachys renda being cold sensitive lacking in natural oil I have learned it’s best to keep them in heated water inside with lighting. The best palm to grow outside in the Sydney region east coast preferably and is cold hardy and provides more colour is the Areca vestaria

Epic lightning and thunder last night at 2-3AM, woke me up. I looked at the radar and it raining north of here between here and tampa. As it approached my place, the radar image of precipitation just vanished. Then 15-20 minutes later, the thunder roared and rumbled to the south. I am hoping rain fell in substantial amounts somewhere nearby to help relieve the drought. At my place the accumulated rainfall was so little, it didnt wet the bottom of my straight walled rain gage bucket. I'll call it getting spit on, 0.0x whatever. Still I am hoping it fell and accumulated somewhere so we can get back to normal irrigation schedules.

They certainly like cooler climates . I’m afraid I’m a little too far inland , like my friend Dave. It would probably grow but struggle . Harry These are growing very well , about 5 miles from the coast in Ventura California. Towering over the second story of apartment building where they were planted by the Sullivans. They are on the north side of the building so they got plenty of shade when they were young. When I was first introduced to these palms , they were still well below the building .

The stem on that one is certainly dark in color. As far as I know , mine will be as @tim_brissy_13 says . It probably won’t show signs of C. Blacki until many years . It will look pretty much the same as C. Lanceolatus . This variety is more robust , from what I have read. It gets its name from Larry Black who first noticed it in cultivation here in Southern California. The seeds came to me from @DoomsDave and germinated easily but I only ended up with 5 plants. I am hoping all 5 will go on to be plants now that they have passed the early stage . Harry

So, Richard, let's hope and pray that the good Lord grants us a long life. I had this species and I really liked it. (many of your seeds have germinated,again thanks) Even if we are far away, I always thank you

The lightning and thunder last night was the most intense ive seen since i moved here. 1.75 inches isnt the most in a storm, but a significant amount still- especially this summer. Hopefully rainy season comes back for a little while until october and doesnt leave the first day of the month.

I wouldn’t really say it’s a hothouse, more like a cold frame with plastic over it. It is a hothouse but the temperature would have only been up two around 22 degrees celcius. And dropping down to 6 degrees celcius. At least it’s a warm place that’s better than a greenhouse in winter.

All I know about this palm is black stem, so iam really trying to find what it really is. And if Harry’s palm has any resemblance and from what you say it sounds like it won’t have any resemblance. Back to the drawing board for this palm as to what it really is.