All Activity

This is very common where I live in the AZ desert. On my commute to work before sunrise, it's not uncommon for me to see temp differences of 10-15F as I drive through the mountains (warmer temps being near the higher areas). When there are higher winds or cloud cover the temps are more even.

Hit 45F for a low this morning. Temp went up to near 50F for a few hours lastnight before we managed to sneak in some radiational cooling before sunrise. For the next 7 days, not looking at anything below 50F. For the next 10-15 days, very low chances of dropping into the 40s. Spring is on, but do we get another frost? My guess is probably, or at least close to it, but i think we might just be done with freezes here. Side note, the warmth from the past few weeks (minus the cold snap we just had) has pushed everything to flower and start leafing out here. Everything is doing something at this point, maples are getting leaves now and the birches are starting as well. Oaks will follow sooner than later.

Absolutely. I'm trying to do more YouTube, getting started on Instagram, and then there's that whole 20 page thread in Palms in Pots.

Right now it's 42f just a little bit ago it was 28 typically when we get these cold air drainage nights it always warms up after a little bit.

Must be of a tender variety

This is what it's like living in a valley when it's a clear night in winter. as you can see needmore is at 29f and areas, south and north are in the mid-low 40s ans 50s. When you live in a valley , the area is prone to cold air drainage.As air cools on mountain peaks or plateaus, it becomes denser and heavier than the surrounding air. Gravity then pulls this cold air down the slopes and into valleys, often creating a frost pocket or a localized microclimate at the bottom.

@JLM I was going to suggest a chainsaw too, but for palm trunks a reciprocating saw is a lot easier and safer. One person cuts, the other pushes it over. With no kickback risk it is for sure a lot safer that way. A rope on the one near the fence should be good enough, at least on a non-windy day. I felled 8 queens with 10-15 feet of trunk 2 summers ago. They were right up near the house with no drop zones. So I used an electric chainsaw to lop off 2-3 foot long chunks at a time. I just had to try and drop the pieces *not* on my A/C or any plants below.

Whatever you do hope it works out and please share! And scratch Sancho para mio, amigo.

Did you read the post? These are seedlings that came up after the 2021 freeze from seed left behind by the mother palm(s) in the streetview. Some of the "seedlings" are now taller than the house lol

These are supposed to be 9" 2 pound colocasia bulbs, so they're getting carved up. At a minimum I'm gonna be adding 25 pots to this hot mess and probably more than that. So don't worry. And right about the time I run out of pots and soil is when all of the seeds will sprout!

Sawzall and a shovel, plus about an hour and a half. Thats the method. It felt wrong to cut into my beloved palm, but it needed to be done. One down, one to go. The replacement, a mule palm: And dont worry, the support ropes are not a permanent solution, just something temporary. It was quite windy today, so i needed something right away for support.

I guess I should follow up to this and get completely off topic in hopes of 😲 actually starting a conversation on here. But I watched Episode 2 of @teddytn and @Sabal Kings podcast and they were talking about how they like the bags because they're easier to ship and you can cram more into your areas. I guess what I should really start doing is throwing what I plan to sell in the bags and what I plan to keep into pots. I still love palms and they'll always be my first love but I'm finding myself getting more and more into tropicals and aroids. The ADHD makes me forget the bags are even there. I shipped a plant in a $250 order in a Wendy's cup once, too.

You might think that for something like this, AI scrapes the internet for information about the various palm species and then synthesizes plagiarizes the information to make these articles. What it actually does is even lazier and much stupider: it just makes up plausible sounding facts out of thin air, and then fills in the requested fields (like the incredibly detailed care information) with completely generic and useless information. This site is now some of the most prominently accessible information on the entire internet when you search for these species (google ranks sites like this that claim to be selling something very highly). This information also gets fed right back into the next plagiarism machine that comes looking for it. Garbage in, garbage out. It would be funny if it wasn't so scary. https://www.viriar.com/blogs/palms-tree-encyklopedia/hyophorbe-amaricaulis https://www.viriar.com/blogs/palms-tree-encyklopedia/ravenea-musicalis-river-palm https://www.viriar.com/blogs/palms-tree-encyklopedia/sabal-pumos-pumila-dwarf-bush-palmetto - These are just a few quick examples of information that is, for the record: completely false, that I was able to find in a minute or two of clicking around. Last year I noticed that the International Aroid Society redesigned their website and included an wholly AI-generated encyclopedia of thousands of Aroid species. Just like this one, it was completely nonsensical and full of misinformation. Unlike this one, it was hosted by a legitimate organization which is the official registrar for the Aroid family, and also a non-profit that promotes education and conservation. After a few months and some negative feedback that section of their website is currently not active, but we are teetering on the edge of completely losing our grasp on collective reality, as this dangerous technology is pushed on everyone.

Welp, I have struggled with germinating things outside. Not because of the weather or whatever, but the feral cats. I've made peace with most of them, and most of them leave my stuff alone, probably after a virus spread through the colony and I buried about 6 or 7 of them. But there's one - I understand that this is a family site so I'm gonna hold back but I can't stop from at least calling this cat a bastard. This one bastard pees on everything I touch. He knows I'm the one who brings in the packages, he pees on all the boxes. I swear he knows what day of the week it is, I take the trash out Tuesday night and he pees on the trashcans every Tuesday. He's peed in the fresh air vents in the car. He's peed on every pot I've ever left outside. When I first moved back here, I had some palms I left on the patio. He actually had diarrhea all over the pot of my spindle palm. The rest of them leave my stuff alone, I talk to them, sometimes they follow me when I walk Sancho, they're a little skittish but we're cordial. But in the next few weeks, I'm gonna be bringing a lot of stuff outside, I'm gonna be digging a lot of holes. I'm not saying that I'd harm another living creature, I'm just saying I've got holes to dig. Anyway, for that reason, I have a plethora of heat mats. I've actually got a couple big ones still NIB. I'm probably gonna throw them on the floor for these colocasia bulbs. But I hate this goddamn cat.

Best I can do is gallon bags. I think that liner there is the only one that didn't bust on me. Pirateship is cheap as hell, though. I highly recommend it to everyone for their shipping needs.

Lots of adventures but when time to post such as on the bus rides, no Wi Fi. Perfect WiFi at each beautiful hotel, but sleep called. I’ll update with more photos and captions later… Leaving again now:

I’d pot up further sprouts in liners and ship them small and inexpensive.

Almost EVERYONE on Palmtalk including myself will say QUEENS ARE NOT LONG TERM in Houston, never were and probably never will in our lifetime. Those are unicorns, got lucky nothing more just like a 100 year old person. A very very very small percentage survived my friend but I like your positivity.

I admire your determination, and the well that’s growing palms out of there native habitat situation! Winners and losers but the garden must go on so to speak! 🪴

That’s the plan, wack em in the ground next good rain event. They are a nice palm but not my cup of tea anymore, I have bigger and better fish to fry so to speak. Although they would e good in containers at the community markets! Richard

Does it warm up quite a lot during the day?

No, no, no. You simply have to replenish your supply of seeds and plants in little pots. Just because you don't own them doesn't mean they aren't out there looking for your care and expertise! https://www.facebook.com/reel/1234298341622472

To add a bit to the discussion -- yes, some commonly call this an areca palm. And there are many other common and colloquial names -- golden cane, butterfly palm, yellow palm, bamboo palm (but not cat palm). Unfortunate, because this is at a minimum confusing, and also misleading. Areca is a totally different genus of palm. If you can remember the epithet "lutescens" you are halfway to becoming a palm expert. 😉😎 Oh, by the way, plant apps are mostly still in kindergarten. Not to be trusted! Welcome to PalmTalk!

88F at 5:26PM, after making it to 90F, at least briefly ...even with the breeziness at times.. Up, ...at least a deg or 2, tomorrow.. Neighborhood numbers around 4PM: Hump - day P.V. check: Could it be ..closing time???

The freeze put a beating on the garden and all of the other gardens in the area. Most of the tropical and subtropical palms in the area suffered heavy damage or are dead already. More will likely die as the temperature rises and fungal infections spread. Some of the palms that I figured would die are still alive, and some that I figured could survive the onslaught are slated for the bone pile. It's not all bad news. The last 15 years were a period of experimentation and success with the survivors of 2010 and their offspring proliferating. After this event, there will undoubtedly be less of a local seed stock. Whatever is left has certainly passed a big test in regard to advective cold. Come spring, the garden will begin to take on a different look. There should be more open space and some different plants taking their shot at becoming staples in the landscape. With recent rainfall patterns and winters not as amenable to growing true tropicals, there is a garage full of more cold-and-drought tolerant species that are slated to make an appearance. Stay tuned