All Activity

Oh yep, they do become a tiny problem eventually

Phoenikakias: I ordered a few different palm species from that Germany-based supplier a few years ago and also didn't have any germination success... except for one (1) single seed of Dypsis (Chrysalidocarpus) onilahensis that sprouted. Too early to tell if it'll be the droopy or the upright leaf form.🤨

If i could send you one I would! I did see a one on palm talk in the for sale, but unfortunately no postage to California! Richard Track it down and get it sent to wherever you can, then repost to your address or better still drive a million miles to get it. That’s if it’s still available in the for sale column! Richard

It's only a temporary condition, they roll pretty fast once they get moving!

Looks to be a fat trunked hybrid, with some strong filifera traits. Leaves are not quite divided enough, but do have some minor split ends. Nice palms! Major splits on 13 year old filifera 14 month old also showing up. That is the fourth leaf after the strap leaf.

There has been a lot of cloud cover, thunder, and lightning here. The only thing we didn't get was the rain.

They should trim the hedge so the Parajubaea can be seen better.

And that's the nub of the issue really - the huge range of A cunninghamiana. It would seem more incredible to me if the Eungella population was not at least a distinct sub species to the palms at Batemans Bay in southern NSW...nearly 1600 km to the south...a similar distance to that between San Diego and Seattle. The population at Eungella is further isolated by around 200km of Brigalow, ie seasonally dry woodland pretty hostile to palms, so there can't have been much, if any, gene flow from other populations since the formation of the Brigalow belt. It's a fascinating scenario, and would be great to get some scientific input at some point...we need a botany grad looking for a phd thesis!

@Keys6505 Anything interesting from Floribunda? I just placed an order with them.

These are at the corner of N. Delaware and 1st. Thought I would share pictures, as these are starting to clear the hedge in front. Nice old house back there too.

This is as Lakes Park in Fort Myers. Very distinct from Sabal palmetto seen nearby. Leaflet tips don't droop at all, unlike the big S. causiarum types I'm used to seeing. Tons of large seed on the ground - 12mm in diameter x 8mm high. Any info?

I’m also trying Panama tall to see if there is a difference

I can't tell from the photo the size of the pot. I would go up to the next size for now. A cheap nursery pot is fine. Drench it once to help the soil settle in the new pot. For display, set the nursery pot into a decorative pot.

The rainfall pattern has definitely been interesting this year even in the Panhandle. July was quite dry compared to average (supposed to be the wettest month of the year). Finished out July with 4.23". August has been much better so far and things continue to look decent in the rain department after we take a couple day long break starting likely tomorrow. Current total for August is sitting at 6.83" pending anymore rain tonight and also the medium to high rain chances that start up in the middle of next week. The last several days have honestly been exceptional. It has rained everyday since the 15th, with daily amounts varying. The storms have also been intense particularly with the lightning. Heres my daily totals since the 15th: 8/15 - 0.26" 8/16 - 0.12" 8/17 - 0.47" 8/18 - 0.90" 8/19 - 1.30" 8/20 - 1.74" 8/21 (Today so far) - 0.54" I have added 1 inch to the total for 8/20. This could very well be an underestimate. The power tried to go out at the beginning of the storm, which caused the internet to go out. For whatever reason, this caused the rain gauge to stop reporting during the heaviest part of the storm. The gauge did not report for at least 25 minutes. While other nearby stations were reporting rainfall rates up to 4 inches per hour, my station was reporting no rainfall. It was quite aggravating to say the least. The same thing may have happened on 8/19, the power actually did fully go out *twice* during that storm, but i have not had the chance to review other nearby stations to try to make an estimate for a more realistic total for that date. The palms are definitely happy, except for the Trachy. I cant seem to water that thing enough.

Thank you @Silas_Sancona , I was able to watch the video and read the article . I wonder what caused this , after so many years . Old age? There are some here in Ventura county that I remember when I was a kid on my Sting Ray , riding down C Street in Oxnard . I would see them swaying in the wind , wondering why they didn’t fall over! They had to be about the same age . I haven’t been back in many years to check on them. I am sure there is a life expectancy. Harry

Photo of mine

Hi Tracy, I haven't experienced banana moths, Len is the expert on that, but it looks like rot to me. I've been using a cocktail Dennis Willoughby recommended a while back of Cleary's, Daconil, and Dithane mixed together very concentrated, like a slurry. I've rescued a lot of palms with it. If you want some Cleary's, I have more than I'll ever use, and it works well without the dithane too. Can you get a photo of the crown and the full palm? The petioles look a little different than mine, which I got from Floribunda, and the Floribunda 'jurassic park' is now pilulifera as far as I know. Mine is super cool. Will post a photo from my phone

I'm still very confused about about the differences between A. alexandrae, tuckeri, maxima, and myolensis - only having access to potentially mislabeled or hybridized material here in the States. A. maxima in particular is an enigma here, I think that name gets applied a lot to plants that have nothing to do with the Walsh River species. I've spent a lot of time looking at Dowe's description and any other online sources and have no confidence in being able to tell them apart, even when looking at seed. Meanwhile A. cunninghamiana displays at least as much variation across that huge range and is lumped together as one species, I agree I would love to see someone look at the genetics.

We are having ideal Geonoma weather here. 62 degree highs, soaking wet mornings thanks to heavy fog and mist, a real rain forest. The Geonoma undata has never been happier and now it’s big enough that the slugs don’t bother it too much. (The Lepidorrachis obtained from Darold last winter is pretty happy too.)

I’ve wondered about this. If you think about some species like Prestoea acuminata, various Geonoma sp like G undata, even Washingtonia filifera now that W robusta is lumped in, then the differences between Archontophoenix species (I’m thinking especially A alexandrae, maxima, myolensis and tuckeri) are relatively small. Recently genetic study is becoming much more accessible and affordable so hopefully there can be a study to understand the relationship between all of the Archontophoenix species.

Ramenta develops very early in A cunninghamiana. If your palms haven’t got it now, then they never will. Until last week I always thought of A cunninghamiana always having ramenta, but you’re now the second person to have confirmed plants in cultivation from seed collected from this population stay true to type and do not exhibit ramenta. Yeah agree with all that. One of 2 things must be true - the Dalrymple purple Archontophoenix are a new species, or the description of A cunninghamiana needs to be updated to include possibility of absence of ramenta ultimately it comes down to the question of ‘what is a species’. Perhaps genetic study can help decide if there’s enough difference between these palms and other A cunninghamiana from other locales vs the differences between other Archontophoenix sp.

It's one of those moments when we're willing it to be something new, lol! Agreed though, it's pretty cool either way. Maybe Archontophoenix, like Rhopalostylis, just has a small number of highly variable species? The isolation of a population like the one at Eungella is potentially a first step towards speciation.

Surprised the claim wasn't, 'Risk of Falling Coconuts'. Usually writers have zero topic knowledge.

Here is an update, my Royal grew until may and died today my maximas are doing well my mango and starfruit and Barbados cherrry survived. My big coconut grew 4 new frawnds in 2 months everything is doing well. I’m just scared for this winter. Plus all my other coconuts very found around Jacksonville at random nurseries or gifts. Or found in south florida

Well here’s the thing. If Dowes description is 100% correct, Archontophoenix cunninghamiana has ramenta on the midrib. His description doesn’t say - sometimes absent. So maybe we are looking at an undescribed species due to that one thing, or, it is Archontophoenix cunninghamiana without ramenta. Either way is purely an academic discussion. Probably worth further investigation. It’s pretty cool though.